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By Gianna Perani

The frosty weather conditions in Minot, North Dakota, forced Valeria Curtis to train for the 2020 U.S. Olympic Team Trials - Marathon by running almost 100 miles a week on a treadmill while watching her favorite shows on Netflix. 

Curtis’ indoor training worked as she ran 02:43:08 in the 2019 Fargo Marathon to qualify for the Trials, set for February 29 in  Atlanta.

Curtis is prepared for a much different climate and terrain. Training on the treadmill did not replicate the hilly landscape of the Atlanta course. Also, the weather won’t be nearly as cold as in North Dakota. Curtis can draw on her experience from an earlier marathon run in Atlanta.

With her husband moving from post to post during a career with the Air Force, Curtis has been fortunate to run all over the United States. Curtis ran her first marathon in Atlanta back in 2011. It has been almost nine years and she feels as though she has come “full circle.”

“I’ve run almost exactly one hour faster” since then, Curtis said.

Curtis wasn't always bound to the treadmill; her running journey started off a little different. Her love for running started early in her college days. 

She completed one year of track at Southern Utah University, but soon felt burnt out. She never fully stopped running, though, and has taken it farther than she ever thought possible with help from some role models. She started her running career doing local 5ks, but could not get the idea out of her head that she was capable of more. Now, with more experience under her belt, Curtis still remains optimistic. 

“Yeah, so this will be my 13th marathon and I kid you not, I feel like I'm still learning things,” said Curtis. 

A mother, wife and substitute teacher, Curtis sought balance between her life as a mom and her life as a runner, even if that meant unorthodox training sessions.

“I was super inspired by a lot of people that had similar backgrounds as me,” Curtis said. 

North Dakota weather conditions can get dangerous. There is usually no other option than to run indoors. 

“To be honest, more than half the time why I have to run indoors is because of how I see surfaces are and just the lack of good surfaces to run on as far as being able to run fast and getting good traction,” Curtis said. 

Training on the treadmill is never ideal, especially when preparing for a hilly race like the upcoming Atlanta marathon. When it comes to running on a treadmill, it takes a lot of self discipline and accountability, but Curtis is relentless. Her long distance coach Matt Nark says Curtis ran 90 miles on the treadmill last week.

Curtis plans to take her treadmill training to the streets with the idea of surprising herself.

“I like to leave the doors open for possibilities and let it happen organically,” Curtis said. “I let myself get inspired to find the next step on my own without forcing it.”

Leading up to the 2020 U.S. Olympic Team Trials – Marathon, Atlanta Track Club partnered with the Grady Sports Media program at the University of Georgia to profile some of the competitors in the 2020 Olympic Marathon Trials. The authors of these stories are undergraduate students enrolled in the program and have been lightly edited by the Club. See all of the stories at https://www.atlanta2020trials.com/news/uga-trials-project.