Hooked on running

Michele Bower has been athletic her whole life, but running was never part of that equation.

Dancing? Sure, she was a professional West Coast swing dancer.

Ice skating? Sure, out of high school she traveled the country with the Ice Capades.

But it took the death of her father, Jim Brakebill, of a stroke three years ago for Bower to learn to love to run. Now the Huntington Beach resident won’t stop; she’s entered in the Surf City USA half marathon this year.

Bower, 51, wasn’t ready for her dad to pass away in February 2007. Few are.

“It was just a very difficult time for my brother and I,” she said. “He was there, and we were here, and I had no control over anything. It took a while to overcome that.”

But that summer, she got a postcard in the mail from the American Stroke Assn. The group has a program where, if you decide to raise money for the ASA, they train you.

Bower decided she was going to walk a marathon. She raised $5,000, which was tops in Orange County. Soon, that decision to walk became a decision to run — in the 2008 Surf City USA Marathon.

“You put up a website where you tell your story,” said Bower. “Of course, mine was about my dad Being a nurse, this was important to me. It’s also very good because it gives you a way to educate people on signs and symptoms of stroke.”

Her husband, Mike, was the runner in the family; he’s run the Boston Marathon. Even her daughter Amanda, 12, runs plenty as a youth soccer player. Michele Bower decided this was her turn, and she ran in that 2008 marathon.

“Nothing she does really surprises me,” Mike Bower said of Michele Bower’s running. “She didn’t like running before. She said it was too hard on her joints and it was too painful. But she put in enough training that it didn’t hurt. That’s what happens when you get in shape, experience that runner’s high. Just walking isn’t enough anymore.”

Michele Bower’s time from that first marathon was 5 hours, 31 minutes, 50 seconds. Because of the rainy conditions, she didn’t even run the whole way. But crossing that finish line, she said, was a special feeling.

“I was running with my head down, rain driving in my face,” she said. “When we got to the finish line, it was just a wonderful experience just to say that I was able to do it. It’s amazing, and now I’m hooked.”

Bower has now hooked up with the Fountain Valley-based A Snail’s Pace running club. She said she’s been training during the week, but the big runs have come during the weekends. Two weekends ago, she ran 13.1 miles — the length of Sunday’s half-marathon. Sunday, she ran “only” 10 miles and is taking it easy this week.

She might have needed her dad as motivation at first, but now nothing will stop her.

“[My dad] would be proud of me,” Michele Bower said. “People have made me things, like ‘Running for my dad’ bracelets. I let everybody who contributed know how I did, and they were amazed. I was amazed I could do it. I think I’ll continue running for as long as my body holds up.”