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Tuesday, May 02, 2000 By Ray Fittipaldo
Mary Beth Buchanan is a United States attorney who also serves on the board of directors for six charitable foundations. During what little free time was left, Buchanan, 36, from Fox Chapel, decided to try and squeeze in a few hours of training each day for her first marathon.
Buchanan, who before December had never run more than six miles at one time, will try to complete the 26.2-mile UPMC Health System/City of Pittsburgh Marathon Sunday.
"I've been running the Great Race since 1988," said Buchanan, who graduated from California High School and California University of Pennsylvania. "I always wanted to run a marathon. And I figured why not start in the Year 2000."
Buchanan, a federal prosecutor whose typical workday begins at 8:30 a.m. and ends at 6:30 p.m., had to run early in the mornings or late at night. In order to maximize her efforts, Buchanan joined Team Leukemia, a group of trainers who help people train for the marathon.
"Team Leukemia can train you, even if you don't have any marathon experience," Buchanan said. "Chris Gibson is the trainer at the executive fitness center at the Doubletree. I've followed his schedule. It started off at three miles, and the most I ran while training was 20 miles."
That leaves six more miles in six more days.
"But experienced marathoners have told me that with the excitement of the crowd, it really carries you to the end," Buchanan said.
Buchanan's husband, Tom, joined his wife midway through the training, and he also will run his first marathon.
"I've enjoyed it so much that I'm considering running another marathon in December," she said.
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