(Here’s a
story I did long ago that I thought of after last Monday night’s terrific
Donald Danforth Plant Science Center tour)
Running has
become almost as natural to Donna Ford’s environment as caring for plants. It’s just that her interest in running has
taken a bit longer to germinate.
For more
than two years, Ford has attended Washington University while performing post
graduate work through the Missouri Botanical Gardens. The Central West End resident recently began
a five-month hiatus of plants studies in Chile and Argentina.
Ford
disliked grade school science classes, but her outlook abruptly changed after
her family became members of their hometown Cincinnati Zoo. Donna not only took summer education courses
there, but she assumed the title of junior zoologist.
“Between my
junior and senior years of high school, I went on an African safari with about
16 other teenage zoologists,” Ford said.
“The purpose was to collect insects for our insectarium, but I was more
into botany.
“I think I
got more into plants because my family always had plants in the home and
gardens, and there were always a lot of plant barks. Plants are easy to carry around and identify,
and they can’t run away from you.”
About the
same time that Ford became certain of her preference for the comparatively
immobile tendencies of plants, she got caught up in the running craze at her
high school.
“When I got
to tenth grade, I said, ‘I can’t do sprints,’ so they said, ‘Why don’t you do
distance events?’ After they saw me the
first day, they said, ‘Yeah. You’re a
distance runner’ because I could already run with the ones who went out the year
before. They thought I’d do three laps
and stop, but I did all eight just like everyone else.”
Ford’s
Colerain High School track coach was so impressed by her stamina and natural
ability that he recommended that she and another girl run with the boys’
cross-country team.
That turned
out to be outstanding training experience for Ford’s future 5K and 10K runs,
although she admitted that winning was virtually impossible in that atmosphere.
“Sometimes,
it was like a no-win situation for me,” Ford said. “One day, the coach really rapped on some
guys because I was close to them in a practice run. He told them, ‘You’re barely beating the
girls.’ I thought that was a sexist comment.
But the only time I beat one of the guys was when he dropped out of a
race. I didn’t know any of the guys’
faces, but knew all of their backs.”
Shortly
thereafter, Ford helped organize the local running club of Oxford, Ohio while
earning Bachelors’ degrees in botany and mathematics from nearby Miami University.
From there,
Ford kept her studies at a maximum and her running at a minimum. In 1985, she received a Masters degree in
plant biology from the University of Michigan, specializing in plant systematics
and evolution. She worked at a
biological station in northern Michigan and at the Field Museum of Natural
History in Chicago before arriving in St. Louis.
Ford got
back into running several years ago and experienced most of her greatest
successes during the 1987 season. Not
only did she finish second overall in the Ballwin Days’ 5-mile run, but Ford also
helped her Washington University team to first place in the St. Louis Corporate
Challenge 10K race.
Considering
Ford’s outlook on running, it’s not surprising that she was the top female in
the April 1987 Cystic Fibrosis 5K Run for Breath, and in the August Westport
Plaza 5K Run Against Cancer.
“When there’s a good cause, I run my heart out,” Ford said. “But personal health is one of the main reasons I stuck with running. I feel good about myself and what I can do. I’m not really into it for competitiveness, but I do it for fellowship and for physical and mental health.
“Maybe my
love for running is similar to my love for plants. It’s a good sport for me because I enjoy the
outdoors. If I didn’t run, I’d probably
be into biking. They’re both appropriate
for my personality because they’re individual things. Studying plants requires attention to detail,
patience and persistence.”
