Heidi Westover, a native of New Hampshire, is one of the country's elite road racers, but largely flies under the radar as she balances her running with her career as a grammar-school teacher.Judging by her 2:35:02 PR in 2009's Vermont City Marathon and he 2010 results, she is doing a pretty good job.
This season, she has finished 10th in the U.S. 20K Championships, running a personal-best 1:10:49 in New Haven, Ct., and seventh in the U.S. Half-Marathon Championships, running a personal-best 1:12:59 in Houston. In April, Westover finished 18th overall at the Boston Marathon in 2:39:14.
On Nov. 7, Westover will run her fourth marathon of the year, at the ING New York City Marathon, where she hopes to improve upon last year's 13th-place finish. As part of her preparation, she competed on the U.S. squad at the IAAF World Half-Marathon Championships in Nanning, China on Friday. Under tough conditions, she finished 41st in 1:18:06. We spoke to the 29-year-old briefly after the race to get her impressions.
Q: Firstly, how does a fifth-grade teacher get time off to China to race in a half-marathon in China?
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