Laura Ankrum didn't plan for 37:44 to become a magic number last year. But that's how it worked out.

During 11 weeks last summer, MR's Female Runner of the Year won Mackinac Island, Catch Your Breath, Tuuri and Cadillac 10Ks in -- ta-da -- 37:44.

Ankrum, 30, of Grand Blanc, calls the Tuuri the most satisfying of those races, because she also won the 5K there that morning in 17:50.

She displayed the same kind of "magic" consistency in the Michigan Runner Race Series. Along with her Cadillac win, she claimed victories in the Volkslaufe 20K (1:19:42) and Allen Park 8K (29:36). She added a second in the Borgess Half Marathon (1:25:18) and fourth among Michigan women in the Crim 10 Mile (1:01:58).

Ankrum, a private-practice doctor, gave birth to her first child in 2002. (Husband Adam is also doctor and runner.) As a result, she didn't race much that year. Ankrum did complete the Detroit Free Press/Flagstar Bank Marathon in 3:09:22 a few weeks after her son was born.

These days the toddler helps Mom with her training. "About 75 percent of the time, I push him in a stroller while running," says Ankrum. "He likes it -- and I do too. It's definitely improved my upper-body strength. I even pushed him through last year's Run Thru Hell 10 Mile."

Although pushing the stroller aided her training, Ankrum didn't have many miles on her running shoes by fall. "During the summer, I was only doing about 45 miles a week," she says. "To run a good fall marathon, I needed more miles than that."

Ankrum hoped to break 2:48 at the Twin Cities Marathon, which would have qualified her for the 2004 Olympic Trials. "I felt really comfortable through the first part of that marathon," she remembers. "I was on pace through Mile 17, but I didn't have the fitness maintain it." She settled for a 2:58:13.

She has since increased her mileage and will try again to qualify at the Las Vegas Marathon Jan. 25.

"It was such a great experience when I ran the Trials in 2000," Ankrum says. "I'd really like to go again."

Meanwhile, she can savor her Female Runner of the Year award. "I'm still surprised I won," she says.

One fellow Front Line Racing Team member is not surprised.

"Laura," says team founder Fred Vanhala, "is such a neat lady, forget running. She could be the Michigan Woman of the Year." MR