Teacher’s passion extends outside classroom

A poster on the door of Danielle Zankich’s fifth-grade classroom at Hawes Elementary says it all.

It pictures a man with a trail in front of him, along with the words, “You can’t get anywhere unless you start.”

Zankich has one specific destination in mind, and it’s 3,000 miles away. She wants to run in the prestigious Boston Marathon in 2011. She can get there if she finishes the Surf City USA Marathon — scheduled for Feb. 7 — in 3 hours, 45 minutes or faster.

The lifelong Surf City resident still calls it the Pacific Shoreline Marathon, which was the 26.2-mile race’s name up until 2007. She has always loved to run, even when she was played soccer at Edison High under former Coach Colleen Silva.

“She really was all about whenever you play or do everything, you have to play with 100%,” Zankich said. “You have to give your whole heart into everything. She really just taught me to give it all you’ve got, every time. She was very inspiring.”

Yet, following the poster, the person who Zankich would probably credit with helping her get somewhere is her former neighbor Linda Johnson.

They were both runners prior to becoming training partners, but Johnson has helped push Zankich.

Now, it’s not just a casual thing. Now, it’s getting up at 3:45 a.m. to go to the gym before school.

Now, it’s running up to 50 miles a week in preparation for the marathon.

“I heard somewhere that if you’re running and you’re comfortable, you’re not working hard enough,” said Zankich, 38. “I told Linda that and every time we run we’re always going, ‘OK, we’re not uncomfortable. We should be running harder.’ She’s always inspired me to run longer and harder and faster. Every time I run with her, I’m always telling myself, ‘OK, just keep up with Linda.’ I’m always having fun, but I’m never relaxed anymore.”

Running has been good for a high-stress job like school teacher. Plus, Zankich and her husband Vince have two kids, ages 9 and 7.

“I tell my husband that it keeps me sane,” Zankich said. “It’s such a stress release. It’s the only time I’m not thinking about what I have to do next, or what I have to do tomorrow.”

Johnson, 48, said she knows Zankich can do well at Surf City, which Johnson is also running.

Johnson ran at Boston, in 2008, an experience that she called “amazing.” Now, she wants her friend to have that experience.

“Danielle has always been very active,” Johnson said. “She’s always either taking her kids around on the bicycle, or trying to roller-blade with them, or skateboard. She’s always been up and down the neighborhood. Every time I looked out there [on the street] she was always out there with her husband or her kids, walking or running, walking her dogs.”

“ I told Danielle, I totally know you can [run the Boston Marathon]. You’ve got the speed and the endurance, and the excitement about it.’ ”

The speed is the part Johnson has helped a lot with. Zankich previously ran the Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon in San Diego in 4:01:35, so she would have to shave more than 16 minutes off that time to qualify for Boston.

Yet, with the mileage she is putting in, she’s very confident. And she’s not the only one in her classroom that’s in love with running, either.

Three times a week, Zankich takes her fifth-graders for a run outside on the blacktop. They aren’t so enthusiastic at first but learn to love it, she said.

Kind of like waking up at 3:45 a.m. to go to the gym.

“There’s really not much time between 3:45 and 4 [a.m.] that I’m feeling so excited to go to the gym,” Zankich said. “For those 15 minutes, I’m going, ‘Just get back in bed! Just go back to sleep!’ But when I get to the gym and I leave, I come back home and I’m like, ‘Today’s going to be the best day!’ ”

“The kids totally know if I’ve been on a run in the morning or if I’ve not. They’re like, ‘Mrs. Zankich, you need to go for a run.’ ”