State-Journal.com - Four good reasons to run

(Photo submitted) Chanda Veno and her daughter Ellie, nearly two years old, jog at the Capital Plaza. Veno was the second female finisher in the recent Buffalo Chase 5K.

(Photo submitted/Chanda Veno) Chanda Veno has her own cheering section when she runs - her children. From left are Chase, 4, Ellie, 1, and Tyler, 6.

State Journal/Tricia Spaulding Chanda Veno, seen here running in the Buffalo Chase 5K on July 3, finished second among the female competitors with a time of 17 minutes, 11 seconds.

Chanda Veno is obsessed. She’s addicted. She can barely control her desire.

Which is why she rolls out of bed at 4:30 a.m. each day, dresses quietly so as not to wake her husband and three young children and heads out the door into the cool morning air.

It’s the start of a new day, and, for Veno, the start of a new day means the joy of a new run.

Her steps quicken as she leaves her house on the corner of Beechwood and East Main. Her body freely falls back into the familiar rhythm – legs churning, blood pumping – that it has known since Veno ran her first mile non-stop in her sixth grade physical education class.

That day marked a personal discovery for Veno. It was the day she discovered her gift.

Two decades later, after an all-state high school career in track and cross country, two years of running in college, a career, a marriage, a family, Veno hasn’t abandoned her gift. In fact, she is using it more than ever.

As a stay-at-home mom, running has become the link to Veno’s previous life, before cribs, diapers and childproof locks entered the picture. She gladly devotes the rest of her day to her children, Tyler, 6, Chase, 4, and Ellie, 1, and husband, Mike, who works at The State Journal. Running, however, is the one thing she does for herself.

“A lot of times (moms) get so caught up in taking care of everyone else that they forget they were a person before kids,” she said.

“(Running) is good for me, but it’s good for my kids, too.”

Her routes vary. Sometimes Veno’s 32-year-old legs take her down Versailles Road or east to Lakeview Park. Perhaps she heads towards the Indian Hills neighborhood or over to East Frankfort Park. It’s peaceful and quiet in the wee small hours of the morning. The streets are deserted. The sun is a just a suggestion on the horizon.

Whether the run becomes an easy eight-mile jog or a 13-mile struggle, it’s not the distance that matters to Veno. It’s the ritual, the chance to peer into one’s soul once more.

“I do it because if I don’t my whole day is out of whack, off-kilter,” she said.

A former copy editor and sports editor, Veno quit her job in Lexington to stay home full-time after giving birth to her second child. She said being a full-time mother can feel isolating at times, but that the moments she shares with her young children are irreplaceable.

“A couple days ago, I told our nearly-two-year-old, ‘I love you,’ and she said, ‘I love you, too, Mommy,’” Veno said. “That was the first time she had ever said that and I wouldn’t miss that for the world.”

And when the home gets too stifling? When bedtime cannot arrive soon enough? Well, there’s a new day and a new run right around the corner.

Of course, Veno isn’t your typical run-of-the-mill morning jogger, either. She’s fast, like Super-Mom fast. As a sophomore at Frostburg State (Md.), she placed third in the 1996 Division III Cross Country National Championships.

She doesn’t run competitively often today, but allows herself one race a year – The Buffalo Chase 5K – where her family cheers her on from the sidelines.

“That’s the only time of year my kids ever get to see me run and see the payoff for all the hard work,” Veno said.

“Hearing the kids cheer for me, that’s more encouraging to me than anything else. It’s really special.”

In 2006, she won the women’s race with a time of 19:06. With prize money sweetening the pot – and amping up the competition – at the distillery-sponsored event, Veno placed fourth in 2009 with a time of 18:27.

But it’s her most recent performance that really left her family and friends breathless.

Entering this year’s race with a goal of breaking 18 minutes, Veno crushed her expectations by finishing in 17:11. She was the second female to cross the finish line and earned $800 in prize money.

“I’m still kind of in shock,” she said. “I felt wonderful and I couldn’t believe it.”

Her kids, of course, revel in their mother’s accomplishments, arguing over who gets to hold her trophies and running everywhere they go. But there is a deeper lesson that Veno is trying to get across to her children.

“It’s important to me that they know there are rewards for hard work,” she said.

“I was more happy to be a positive role model for the kids. That’s more important than any race.”