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Summer Sanders To Help Runners 'Figure It Out' Before Half-Marathon

By David Matthews | March 24, 2015 6:03am | Updated on September 1, 2015 2:43pm
 Olympian and television personality Summer Sanders said she started running as soon as she hung up her swimsuit.
Olympian and television personality Summer Sanders said she started running as soon as she hung up her swimsuit.
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MAGNIFICENT MILE — It's been about two decades since Summer Sanders won gold at the Barcelona Olympics (or hosted game shows on Nickelodeon), but her fitness regimen is still on track.

The Olympian and television personality, along with professional runner Lauren Fleshman hosted a Google Hangout in March to discuss running tips in advance of The Magnificent Mile Chicago Women's Half Marathon & 5K on Labor Day Weekend. 

Sanders, 42, ran the Chicago Marathon in 2011. A mother of two who lives with her husband, fellow Olympian Erik Schlopy, in Park City, Utah, Sanders knows the importance of making time to exercise.

"I want to be more than a weekend warrior," Sanders said. "What's hard is managing time, the balance ... my husband knows it's a happier house when I get a workout in."

Sanders also knows a marathon, or even half of one, is "excruciating," and shared a few tips with DNAinfo on how to prepare: find a running buddy, stick to the plan, and, naturally, swim.

"You need to be swimming if you want to have a long career running," said Sanders, an Olympic swimmer who won four medals at the 1992 Summer Games in Barcelona. "Swimming is the original Zen workout."

Another tip: committing to the race by signing up well in advance.

The half-marathon and accompanying 5K run step off at 7 a.m. Sunday in Grant Park. Both races feature the Magnificent Mile as a key part of the course, with the half-marathon continuing south along the lakefront before looping back. Sanders will lead a "shake off" run the day before the races at 9 a.m. Saturday at Pioneer Court. 

Proceeds from the race, which debuted last year, will benefit Girls on the Run — Chicago and the American Cancer Society.

Catching up with Summer

Sanders said she picked up running not long after hanging up her swimsuit, and quickly grew to love the pastime ("You can chit-chat while you're running and can’t do that swimming," she joked). She ran her first marathon in New York while working for "NBA Inside Stuff" with Ahmad Rashad in the 1990s.

Of course, many readers of a certain age might best remember Sanders from her time hosting "Figure It Out" — a Nickelodeon game show where celebrity contestants guess the hidden talents of children — for four seasons.

Among her favorite memories from the show: frequent contestant Danny Tamberelli of "The Adventures of Pete & Pete" (he was "awesome," she said), the time two primates acting as waiters bumbled over a tray of clues, and the episode starring now-country star Hunter Hayes:


"When I knew him he was on accordion and calling me ma'am," Sanders said of Hayes.

But that was then. Now, she works for "We Need to Talk," a CBS Sports Network show with an all-women cast including Laila Ali, Lisa Leslie and Dara Torres. Coming soon, Sanders will host a new game show called "Keywords" on HLN.

"And then I'm a mom," she said.

Visit the race website for more information.

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