Kimmy Gibbler’s only way to relate to runners may be her famously pungent feet.
Yet Andrea Barber, who played the Tanner family’s zany neighbor on the ’90s sitcom Full House, is a veteran full and half marathoner. She will complete her fourth 26.2 in Los Angeles this Sunday, just 12 days before returning to your screens as the non-running yet just-as-quirky Gibbler in Netflix’s reboot, Fuller House.
Barber, now 39 with two children, started running four years ago and has since completed nearly 30 races, with a marathon PR of 4:43. She’s as likely to post a picture on social media after a long run as she is to pose with her co-stars while filming the show. Three days before the L.A. Marathon, Runner’s World spoke with Barber about her new treadmill, convincing her TV best friend D.J. Tanner (real-life friend Candace Cameron-Bure) to run a half marathon, and her love for the crazy running socks fans have affectionately nicknamed “the Gibblers.”
What would cause people to chase her?
I feel good. I feel rested. I am feeling a little nervous about this heat wave though [it’s expected to be in the 70s race morning]. We’ve had this gloriously beautiful, cool, rainy weather these past few months [in Orange County], but now I have to readjust my goals a little bit. I just want to run a safe and healthy marathon and finish upright without the use of an ambulance. I have spent the last few days feeling cranky about this weather, but I just spent some time looking at my training journal and reading about all the work I have put in. I have trained harder for this race than any other. I can feel at peace before I go to the starting line. I can view this as a 26.2-mile victory lap.
When you registered for the L.A. Marathon, did you intend for it to line up so close to the release of Fuller House?
No! I signed up for it while we were filming last September. Had I known then what I know now I might have made a different decision. But running is what keeps me sane; it keeps me grounded. It’s been a great thing to keep my mind off the craziness that has been the press tour. We didn’t know when the show was going to be announced. We thought sometime in the spring. When it was February 26, I thought, “Holy crap! I am running a marathon 12 days before then.” I have to walk the red carpet two days after the race. I am hoping my feet will fit into the shoes. I might be hobbling a little bit, but that’s okay.
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So now that you are tapering, how do you feel before the race?
It proved to be a lot harder than I expected. I finally broke down and tried to run around the Warner Brothers lot [where the show was filmed]. I thought, “This is great, I get to run by all these iconic movie sets.” But it was crowded with people and with tour groups. Everyone kept staring at me. I finally bought a treadmill. That proved to be a lifesaver. I could wake up early and run in the dark.
How to Better Pace a Marathon Based on Effort Full House?
Heck no! I was the opposite of athletic. I was a child actor. That was my extracurricular activity—going to the set of Full House every day. In college I joined the women’s lacrosse team for one day. They said, “Let’s go for a two-mile run to warm up.” I ran the two miles, threw up, went over to the coach and quit. I am 39 now, have been running for four years, and my friends and family are amazed that I have kept up with it.
Kimmy Gibbler’s only way to relate to runners may be her famously pungent feet. ?
It was peer pressure. I had some friends signing up for the Tinker Bell Half Marathon. It was almost sold out, and I decided I couldn’t miss out. I was just a sheep following her flock. I was so scared. I trained really hard because I didn’t want to be swept by the sweeper car. Something happened out there around mile nine where I felt the runner’s high for the first time. When I crossed the finish line I cried. I was changed. I signed up for my next race that night.
You’ve mentioned in the past that you would like to get Candace (D.J. Tanner) to run a half marathon. When do you think that will happen?
I have been trying to get her to run for a couple of years and she keeps promising me she will. She is serious about it, and we will run one. We just need to pick a race and go for it.
So, I have to ask about your socks. You post a lot of photos with crazy running socks. Why?
My favorite socks are Pro Compression socks. I am not affiliated with them in any way, I just love their socks. They are so much fun. It’s so in line with my character that I am always taking pictures of my feet. Kimmy Gibbler has stinky feet, and 26.2 miles in socks inevitably will be stinky when they come out. People have nicknamed the crazy socks #thegibblers. I love it. All of my runner friends are planning on wearing their Gibbler socks on February 26 [the day the show is released]. I do have a copious amount of socks. Let me go look at my sock drawer right now. Let’s see. I think I have about 20 pairs. A lot of them are fun: holiday themed, stripes, one of them has stars. A fun pair of socks can turn your whole run around. They are good motivators.
So now that you are tapering, how do you feel before the race?
I think if the Gibbler ever ran it would be away from people. She would be very fast.
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Gibbler is now a party planner. She is still the same quirky Gibbler, but she is a businesswoman. My thinking is that it would be a party gone bad. It would have epically failed; there would be a fire. And so people would start chasing her.
So even though the Gibbler won’t be putting miles in any time soon, why do you love running so much?
It’s changed my life profoundly. I am a happier person. I run, not just for the physical benefits, but also for the mental and emotional benefits. I’ve gotten more from running in ways that nothing else has been able to do. Especially working in an industry that puts so much emphasis on body image. I love my body for what it can do for me and not just how it looks. My body is going to run 26.2 miles on Sunday, and that is mind blowing!
Kit has been a health, fitness, and running journalist for the past five years. His work has taken him across the country, from Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon, to cover the 2016 Olympic Trials to the top of Mt. Katahdin in Maine to cover Scott Jurek’s record-breaking Appalachian Trail thru-hike in 2015.
