01 SC Mag 02-24

a bike trailer or a jogging stroller.
“Once I had that, I could start running
with it, and I’d find myself going
two miles with it today and then it became
three miles,” Vande Vegte said.
It went so well that in 2004, she
entered her first race: the Tulip Festival
Road Race. Since then, it has been
a new way of life. She has been in 25
marathons and an Ironman. Not bad
for someone who did not do any running
growing up.
“Nobody loves waking up super
early to get a run in, but it’s just part
of things now. I wake up really early
in the morning, and it just feels right.
If I don’t start my day now with that
run, the rest of the day feels weird,”
she said.
Now 46 years old, the Sioux Center
Middle School secretary has kept
up a regular schedule, running six to
10 miles every day but Tuesdays or
Thursdays, with the mileage increased
when training.
In addition to the Sioux Center recreation
trails, she frequently makes
use of the trail out to Sandy Hollow
Recreation Area east of Sioux Center.
Regardless of her route, she utilizes
her Garmin smartwatch to track her
distance, making sure she is reaching
her goals. That device has been a
game-changer for her.
“I can’t remember running without
it. It makes it a lot easier. Otherwise,
you couldn’t weave through town and
know how far you ran. You wanted to
run in big squares, so you’d know how
far you’d gone. Or I’d get in my car
or on my bike after work and drive it
or ride it to see how far I had gone,”
Vande Vegte said.
She appreciates running during
the winter cold and the summer heat
equally; to an extent, she likes the extreme
weather the most.
“Those are actually fun runs. You
come back and you’re really frosty and
your eyelashes are so long, you’re just
one big snowball when you’re done,
and chunks of snow are falling off. If
it’s super hot, I think there’s something
about that, too, that I really like
when you’re standing there and sweat
is just dripping on the ground,” Vande
Vegte said. “I don’t know what it is
about that. I don’t know if it makes
me feel like I’m tougher or what, but
I do like the extremes. Of course, the
middle ground is very enjoyable in
itself. That’s when you’re getting in
those 15-mile runs and you feel really
good when you’re done.”
Whether she is running alone or
with friends, every run has something
to offer. Running, she has found out,
can be a good way to bond with others,
including her kids. All four of her
children have run for school.
“They’ve all picked it up. I don’t
know if it’s because they grew up
thinking you have to run or what. I
hope they love it as much as I do,”
Vande Vegte said. “On family vacation
this last summer, my husband was the
only one in the house, and we all went
out for a run all together. That was a
lot of fun. ‘Run’ — we were at 11,000
feet in the mountains, so we kind of
mostly walked.”