Barry Spitz
Friday, May 31, 2013
MEGAN MCGOWAN
MEGAN MCGOWAN
Megan McGowan, the girl who captivated
Marin by winning the Dipsea at ages 9 and 10, was not actually lost. There were
no missing person posters, no photos on milk cartons, no computer-generated
aging images in tax booklets. Nonetheless, the running community searching for
Megan—for the 100th anniversary of the Dipsea in 2005, the 100th running of the
race in 2010, for the Dipsea Hall of Fame—could not find her. But a lucky click
on yet another Google search has resolved the mystery. Megan, who changed names
to Kaltinger, then McGuire, and is now Megan Sawyer, is a happily married
mother of two, living in Kansas.
Though
burdened with a birthday in May-- young Dipsea contenders born just AFTER the
June race gain extra head start minutes—Megan’s brief Dipsea career is among
the brightest ever. In 1989, her stepfather and coach, Michael McGowan, began
driving 7-year-old Megan the 800 miles roundtrip from southern California to
train on the Dipsea course. She ran in the Runner Section, easily qualifying
for Invitational status. A year later, as a 60-pound, second grader, Megan led
the entire race, by as much as six minutes atop Cardiac. But the peerless Sal
Vasquez caught her a half-mile from the finish. Her time was one hour, nine minutes.
In
1991, Megan lost two handicap minutes but improved to 1:05:32 to best Hall of
Famers Eve Pell, Mike McManus and Vasquez for the win. In ’92, Megan lost four
more head start minutes—down to 16—and was written off by local pundits. She
proved them wrong by running 58:09, not only winning the race by more than a
minute but also the Women’s Best Time Trophy, at age 10! It remains one of the
most astonishing performances in Dipsea history.
In
’93, Megan turned in another still-standing age-record, 59:13, missing the Best
Time award by just a single second. But with her handicap slashed four
additional minutes, she finished fourth. She has never returned.
“I was a happy kid,” Megan says of those
Dipsea years, which also yielded several national age road records. “Running
was really fun. I was winning all the time. I was beating adults. I was winning
a gazillion trophies.”
A
growth spurt—six inches in ten months—and overtraining led to the debilitating
knee ailment known as Osgood-Schlatter disease. She came back to run in high
school, but no longer at a national class level. Still, she impressed the coach
at the U.S. Military Academy. Megan applied, never expecting to get in; West
Point’s acceptance rate is among the lowest of any college and she had been
rejected by U.C.-Santa Barbara. But she was admitted. (I wrote one of her
letters of recommendation.)
“West Point is not an easy place to be,”
says Megan. “I was busy keeping up academically and running stopped being fun.
I realized I wanted to pursue an advanced degree rather than serve five years
in the military.” It was also a tough time at home. Her mother (Kathy) left
Michael, and Megan split permanently from him as well, taking her mother’s name
(Kaltinger). And her natural father died. Megan dropped out of West Point in
her sophomore year.
An
old friendship with then U.S. mile record holder Steve Scott led her to Cal
State-San Marcos, where he coached. Again she ran, again without passion.
“One day, I just told myself that I’m
done with racing,” she says. “At once, I felt a great weight lifted from my
shoulders.” Megan, now 31, has not been in a single race since, though she
still runs and plans to enter a brutal obstacle race, the Tough Mudder, this
fall.
A
marriage to another West Pointer stationed in Kansas did not last. But Megan
stayed to study at Kansas State University and now works at the KSU Biosecurity Research Institute.
She and husband Aaron Sawyer live in Manhattan, home of the university, with
daughters, Adalynn, three, and Harlow, who just turned one.
“Megan takes initiative to learn new things on her own and always
strives to do the best job possible,” says her supervisor, Julie Johnson. “She’s
the only person I know with a master’s degree in microbiology who’s also
crazy/ambitious enough to train and compete in the Tough Mudder.”
“My wife is self
motivated, strong and driven, whether at home, with her career, or training for
a future race,” says Aaron. “She is also a loving mother and wife; wanting
nothing more than to enjoy the time we have together as a family. I can only
imagine what our daughters will achieve in life with their Mother nurturing and
guiding them toward their hopes and dreams.”
“I definitely want to return to the
Dipsea,” says Megan. “No one would recognize my last name so if I run really
slow it wouldn’t matter!”
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