Prestwich runs Bigfoot Challenge

On Saturday, May 9, Carly Prestwich ran a half-marathon around and through Malta as a participant in the Bigfoot Social Distancing Running Challenge.

The event, a virtual walk/run, started on Thursday, March 19, and will conclude on Sunday, May 31. The running distances include options of five kilometers, 10 kilometers, a half marathon (13.1 miles) or a full marathon (26.2 miles).

Prestwich, a Malta resident and teacher at Whitewater Public Schools participated in the half marathon, where she posted a time of 1:42:00, placing her seventh of 97 runners in her age group and 140th out of 2,200 runners.

"It was a pretty light run," Prestwich said.

She said that running the race by herself was a lot more relaxing than running the race at a big event.

Prestwich's long-distance running career started with a 5K in Billings during the spring of 2018. She has also participated in runs held throughout Phillips County, including the Malta Beer Run in 2019, and the Color Fun Runs in 2018 and 2019. It was after her first run in Billings, that Prestwich decided that she would train for half-marathon runs. She ran her first 13.1-mile event in September of 2018 at the Billings Marathon.

"I did it all by myself, so it was pretty scary," Prestwich said. "Usually runners go with someone else but a lot of people don't like to run."

Even though she didn't know anyone during the run, Prestwich said that she had ran into familiar faces. She also said that since her first run in Billings, she has become stronger mentally.

"At the end of that first race, I was crying," Prestwich said with a laugh.

Prestwich did not run while she was a student at Malta High School, and didn't start running until she was asked to by her best friend Bobbi Knudsen at age 24. If Prestwich could do it over, she said that she would've run cross country in her high school years.

One thing that has helped with her running experience is her music playlist which has various genres of artists including Eminem, Journey, Shania Twain, and Bryan Adams. Prestwich eventually hopes to involve her family in her running expeditions including her fiancee Nate Hammond and her four-year-old son Chet.

"Chet wants to run with me," Prestwich said. "He just can't keep up. Someday he will be a runner. I try to get Nate to run with me and he said that he wouldn't be able to run to the mailbox."

Prestwich called his bluff and said he keeps up with her and many others in the City's basketball league.

Prestwich has a goal to run a half-marathon a year until she can't run anymore. She also wants to shave a couple of minutes off of her time.

"When I go out there, there are 60 and 70-year-old people running in these events, so it would be cool to be able to do it at that age," Prestwich said.