At an age when many women would prefer to put their feet up and read Martha Stewart Living, two Sebago women were recently living it up while putting their feet to the pavement.

Through blustering wind, over hilly terrain and in heavy rain, friends Sally Hammond, age 80, and Martha Strickland, age 71, walked the Mount Desert Island Marathon two Sundays ago, completing the 26.2-mile course in 7 hours, 53 minutes and 50 seconds.

“We finished at a little better than an 18-minute mile (pace),” Hammond said. “While preparing, we did a 20-minute mile. When you’re in the marathon, there’s a little bit of pressure to finish.”

Television personality and part-time Mount Desert Island resident Martha Stewart was honorary starter for the race that featured about 500 runners and walkers.

A few days before the marathon, Hammond had received a call from Stewart’s show, asking if she would agree to be interviewed.

At the starting line, before the race began, Stewart came up and introduced herself. About 16 miles into the race, the crew clipped microphones on Hammond and Strickland and began filming.

“For 10 miles, we had to watch our language, of course,” Hammond said.

The two were then interviewed at the finish line, said their goodbyes and left for home, after their one moment of fame.

But a moment can sometimes turn into two, and the next morning Hammond received another call from a staff member of Stewart’s show, inviting the two women to come to New York and appear on Martha that Thursday, all expenses paid. The marathon’s organizer, Gary Allen, was invited as well.

The morning of the show, as they sat “in makeup,” Martha Stewart walked by and asked, “Are my people taking good care of you?”

Hammond said Stewart was “very nice” and “a little bit more down to earth” than she had assumed.

Although the two friends did not have time to sightsee, they did get a tour of the studio while they were there.

Though their whirlwind stardom experience was certainly one highlight of their marathon debut, the race was really about the hard work and regular practice that prepared them for the event.

According to Hammond, they had been training for it since April.

“We happened to see in Prevention Magazine the program to get ready for a marathon,” she said.

The article outlined a three-day per week walking regimen that the women followed faithfully. They even walked a practice marathon in September, although Hammond said, “it was a little difficult doing the road in Sebago.”

But the two friends are used to pushing themselves physically. As members of the American Volkssport Club since 1989, they walk regularly and keep a notebook to track their progress.

Spurred on by some of the Club’s suggested walking projects, Hammond and Strickland have walked “at least 10 kilometers” in all 50 states. They’ve also walked most of the USA from A to Z – walking in cities that begin with each letter of the alphabet. With only two more cities to do, R and G, they plan on completing the project sometime this winter.

But the friends do not limit their physical activity to walking. During their summers in Maine, they enjoy kayaking.

And come cold weather, the two travel to Winterhaven, Florida where they pursue their favorite sports in the warmer climate. They feel fortunate to be in a senior citizen’s residential park that’s “loaded with activities.”

They both play golf there and Strickland regularly plays tennis while Hammond prefers water exercises. She began as one of the participants but for the past few years, and has led the group.

Hammond and Strickland don’t know what’s next in their fitness plans but they’re guaranteed one thing – another race in the Mount Desert Island Marathon.

“We have been invited back to the marathon as guests,” Hammond said.

And, as Martha Stewart would say, that’s a good thing.

After Sebago summer residents Sally Hammond and Martha Strickland walked the Mount Desert Island Marathon, they were invited to New York to appear on “Martha,” one of Martha Stewart

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