Bolt and bond

By NATE HUBBARD/Staff

Teenagers do some crazy things to celebrate their high school graduations.
Chelsea Carter was no different.
In June – on the same Sunday she received her diploma from George Wythe High School – Chelsea ran.
Ran 63,360 feet. 21,120 yards. 12 miles.
Zip ahead to Nov. 1 – and zip you must if you hope to keep up with her.
It’s a Sunday again and Chelsea is at it again.
Mile marker five flies by. There goes 10.
11.
12.
13.1 – a half-marathon.
Quite an accomplishment, no? 18 years old and already clipping off nearly as many miles as her age.
But wait.
Chelsea isn’t resting on her laurels just yet.
Because Dad’s not kicking back on the couch either.
Forrest and Chelsea Carter pulled off an impressive father/daughter feat in Raleigh, N.C., on Nov. 1 when they completed their first marathon and half-marathon, respectively.
“It is a little nuts sometimes,” said wife/mother Teresa Carter in an e-mail message about sharing a house with two avid runners. “Life seems to revolve around their running and/or workout schedule. Suppertime is NEVER at a set time.”
In Raleigh, the Carter running duo braved frigid, wet, windy weather as they traversed the hilly course.
“It just monsooned us to death,” Forrest said.
The marathoners and half-marathoners took off from the same starting point and ran the first eight miles on the same route before the runners doing “only” 13.1 miles turned around and headed back to the starting line.
Running the shorter distance, Chelsea, now a student at Wytheville Community College, took off at a faster pace than Forrest and ended up passing him going the opposite direction as she headed toward the last third of her race.
More than 2,700 competitors participated in the two races, including 2,000-plus in the half-marathon.
Chelsea finished in 1:50:50, good enough for third place in the half-marathon among female runners younger than 20.
“I just wanted to finish under two hours,” she said.
With the miserable weather, Chelsea said the post-race awards ceremony was canceled so she didn’t find out about her placement until later when Forrest was checking the race results online.
Forrest, a lieutenant with the Wythe County Sheriff’s Office, also turned in a good performance in his race, finishing in the top half of the marathon field with a time of 4:18:58.
“When I got to 18 miles I was feeling really good,” he said, adding that he continued to keep a good rhythm into the 20-mile range. “That last four miles was really hard, but I kept going. … I just kept running.”
For most of the race – “until he passed me” – Forrest was accompanied in pounding the pavement by veteran marathoner Lee Harrell, Forrest’s regular training partner and Wythe County’s deputy commonwealth’s attorney.
Harrell’s start-to-finish time didn’t show up in the online race results, but he said in an e-mail message that he finished the course in about 4:16.
While Forrest, who turns 50 later this month, credited Harrell with helping him stay disciplined in his training, Harrell said he might not be able to keep up with his running buddy for long.
“Fifty is an age when most people are slowing down … not so Forrest,” Harrell said. “It appears he is just getting going.
“To be honest, I had retired from marathons but Forrest inspired me to do this. He is talking about running an ultramarathon. … [He] won’t be blessed with my company for that!”
Chelsea and Forrest also had support from the rest of their family on race day as Teresa, along with Chelsea’s brothers and Forrest’s sons, Joshua, 22, and Lucas, 15, served as cheerleaders and photographers.
“Me and our two sons got up at 4:30 a.m. and happily stood in the cold rain at the starting line and cheered on Chelsea, Forrest and their friend Lee Harrell as they took off,” Teresa said. “… Once they were out of sight, we quickly found a warm, dry coffee shop, where we waited until we thought they might return, then went back with our cameras and cheered when they crossed the finish line.
“I think the three of us are always happy to support them and cheer them on, as long as we don’t have to run with them.”
Despite their commitment to running now (Forrest’s reaction to his first marathon was: “I can’t wait to do another one,” and Chelsea’s was to run 12 miles during her first supposed-to-be-light jog a week after the race), neither Chelsea nor Forrest are lifelong runners.
While Forrest said he’s always been interested in fitness, he said he’s only gotten serious about running in the past three or so years.
Chelsea said she caught the running bug in 2008, after she said she felt out of shape while playing soccer for George Wythe during her junior year.
She started running at the Wytheville Community Center the summer before her final year of high school – slow at first, and just a mile every other day – and kept right on going through her senior year.
As a senior, she joined the track team and ran the mile and two-mile for the Maroons. She also played soccer again, but often could be spotted on a training run around town after a game.
All her work culminated in her graduation day 12-mile run when she and Forrest ran in the Law Enforcement Torch Run to benefit the Special Olympics.
As Chelsea and Forrest have both developed their passion for running, they’ve seen their relationship blossom as well.
“This bond that they share has really brought them closer in the past two years,” Teresa said. “[Chelsea] has always been her daddy’s girl, but now they share something that the rest of us don’t really understand.
“I think Forrest is so happy and proud that one of his children has that same passion for physical fitness that he has always had. And Chelsea is happy to be doing something that makes her dad so proud. It’s funny because if either of them has to miss a run or a work out, they can’t stand it. It makes them crazy.”
During their training for their recent races, Chelsea and Forrest occasionally ran together, but with different schedules and programs they were more likely to pass each other running around town.
Forrest had another explanation for why he and Chelsea don’t always run together: she’s gotten too fast.
“She’d run with [Harrell and me], but then she started getting faster than me,” he said. “It got kind of embarrassing.”
For her part, Chelsea said being able to keep up with her dad is a major motivator.
“It felt good to bypass him because he’s the one person I felt like I’d never catch up to,” she said.
Chelsea and Forrest, though, are much more allies than rivals.
“He helps me a lot,” Chelsea said about her dad. “He pushes me and keeps me going.”
Forrest said their shared love of running ensures he and Chelsea never lack conversation topics.
“We got something to talk about,” he said.
The father/daughter duo is likely to grow even closer in the coming months as Chelsea now has her sights set on tackling her first marathon.
The pair plan to run together in a Virginia Beach marathon in March 2010.
“I’m pretty motivated right now,” Chelsea said about trying the longer distance. “I’m really excited about it.”
Forget about keeping up with the Joneses – the Carters are the pacesetters in these parts.
“I can’t think of myself not running as part of my life,” Forrest said.
Chelsea echoed her dad’s sentiments.
“I like,” she said, “to train.”
Nate Hubbard can be reached at 228-6611 or .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).