WASHINGTON — Thousands of runners will hit the starting line of the St. Jude Rock ‘n’ Roll Running Series Washington D.C half marathon this weekend.
Among them will be a Virginia eighth grader who is aiming to run farther than she’s ever gone before. At just 14 years old, McLean’s Grace Fumich will be the youngest female runner to hit the start line.
“I am pretty excited,” said Fumich during a ZOOM interview. “I’m a little nervous because it’ll be the longest I’ve ever run.
Fumich does, however, have some experience under her race belt. She started running as a fourth grader when the pandemic struck in 2020 and was looking for creative ways to fill her spare time. Since then, she has worked her way up to running longer distances.
“I did the Army Ten Miler and I felt exhausted after,” she said. “But right after that, I knew I wanted to do something longer because I enjoyed the process of training and working up to it.”
While it could be intimidating to run among thousands of people, many of whom have been training for longer than Grace has been alive, she says she’s not intimidated by joining them at the start line. Instead, she says, it's empowering.
“It feels pretty good [to be the youngest female runner in the event]. It motivates me to know that I’m the youngest because it makes me want to do a lot better to show people that even though I’m the youngest I can still beat a lot of people,” she said, adding a big smile and a laugh.
While a lot of teenagers are often reluctant to take parental advice, Grace will seek out help from her father, Frank Fumich, who is a frequent race competitor and has run ultramarathons on all seven continents.
“I have asked him a lot about my pace and he gives me a lot of tips on training advice,” she said.
Grace’s number one goal is obviously just to finish the race. However, she says she would also like to run each of the 13 miles in under 10 minutes.
She’s eyeing a position on Bishop O’Connell High School’s cross-country team when she and her twin sister start high school in the fall.
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