Start Line Stories: Portland Runner Returns to Eugene to Run in Memory of Her Sister
Ilene Vu and her niece Jenny after the Run Like Hell Half in Summer 2022.
In the spring of 2012, Oregon runner Ilene Vu was preparing for her second career marathon. She had started running in 2009 – in her mid 30s – and completed the half marathon in Eugene in 2010, followed by her first full marathon in Portland in 2011. Next up on the race calendar was the Eugene Marathon in 2012. Then she received the tragic news that altered her running trajectory and her life story: her sister had passed away.
She had to cancel that year and deferred to the 2013 race, but was unable to train for it. She stopped running for many of the years following her sister’s death, but a commitment to a friend which she’d made in 2011 (to run the Portland Marathon every five years) kept her going; and in 2016 she did Portland and set her sights on returning to Eugene someday.
11 years later, Ilene will be there, on the start line in Eugene on April 30 – running for her sister and with her niece by her side.
Here's a little more about Ilene’s Start Line Story:
Where is home right now?
King City, Oregon
Why did you choose to sign up for Eugene in 2023?
The first time I did Eugene was the half marathon in 2010. I was training for Eugene again – to do the full in 2012 – when my sister passed away on April 4. It was so close to the marathon date, but I just couldn’t continue training. I asked to defer to the following year, but I couldn’t do that one either. I stopped running for many years, but last May my dad passed away and I started running again. That October, I did the Portland Marathon for him and then I immediately thought about Eugene and my sister. The Eugene Marathon in 2023 will be in her memory.
What is currently motivating you to get to the start line on April 30, 2023?
There’s a group of us ladies that meet every Saturday morning to do long runs. Without them, I don’t think I could do it. They keep me accountable. We talk, we laugh, time goes by faster, and you don’t realize how long you’ve run. On some of the hard, cold days this winter, I’ve definitely said: “we’re the only people out here in this weather.” I used to be the one in the car driving by and wondering who those crazy people were. Now I’m that crazy person! … I wouldn’t be out there without my running group.
What type of training plan are you following and do you have a specific goal for the race?
I do have a plan, but I’m not religiously following it. I use one of the Portland Marathon training plans, but I’m not sticking to it. I’m doing good on the long runs days because of my group, but weekdays have been difficult. … My goal for the race is to finish. When I started running in 2009, I always had two goals when I would race: the first was to finish, and the second was to PR. Now my goal is simply to finish.
How many marathons have you completed?
I’ve finished four marathons and a bunch of half marathons (I don’t remember exactly how many).
Why run and why choose to run marathons?
I actually don’t like running at all, but I love that feeling that I just finished a run. It’s so amazing! Getting there is hard, but once I’m there, I don’t know how to describe it – it just feels like such a sense of accomplishment. At a race with all the noise, the people and all the excitement – the start is always really great, but after the start, you just start to wonder: why am I doing this? But you keep going and then you finish and that’s the best part.
I run marathons because one of my girlfriends and I set a goal in 2011 that we would do the Portland Marathon every five years. And my friend said we had to stick to it. We did 2016 and then in 2021 it was cancelled because of COVID, so we did 2022. My niece loves to run too and we started thinking about Eugene. She’s faster than me, but we are doing it together.
I’m really looking forward to the whole thing – checking in at the hotel, going to the Expo, carb-loading the night before, and running along the river – that was my favorite part of running the half marathon in 2010.
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The good news for Ilene is that the full marathon has many (many) more miles along the riverside path than the half marathon. And that finish line feeling on the track at Hayward Field is sure to be something special! We are excited to welcome Ilene and her niece to the start line on April 30 and honored to be the race that she runs in tribute to her sister. If you see Ilene and Jenny in your start corral be sure to say hi.