Fifty States!

Ten years ago, 2004 on Labor Day I ran my first 5K. I had always run two or three miles for fitness a couple of days a week since my daughter Stacy was born in 1991. But the summer of 2004 I met some amazing geology teachers up in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula at a graduate class in mining. We blasted rocks, climbed rock piles and I ran every morning with some of the teachers. That Saturday there was a 10 mile race, the Canal run in Hancock that some of my new friends were going to run in. I noticed that while many of the runners were amazing athletes, fit with 6% body fat, many of them were like me middle age average folks fighting off those nagging few pounds. I thought maybe I could try and train for a 5K. A friend from the class coached me via email and by Labor Day I was ready to run. It took me 33 minutes to finish my first 5K. I was frustrated that I couldn’t keep up a 10 minute mile. I decided to try a half marathon and little did I realize I was hooked. The challenge of tweaking a race routine, experimenting with different distances, and meeting all sorts of people has kept me pushing and testing my personal limits for the last 10 years.

My journey since then has been a difficult one. Personal challenges: divorce, remarriage,  my son’s life against cancer, and relocating to the Upper Peninsula have kept me exhausted and pushed to my emotional limit. Running gave me a space in time that I could own and be present in. Every year I added races to my calendar. I met some runners from Tulsa that belonged to a club called the Marathon Maniacs. Some people say that my running helped me through those challenges. Perhaps, but it feels like the more life pushed me the more I pushed back. I’m not sure that that extra effort made things easier. I just felt the ownership of those accomplishments and when it seemed that life was pruning and clipping the things that I cared about the most, running was a space that I could own. Many people who have loved ones in harms way, whether it is due to deployment, hardship or medical battles, understand what it means to feel that fear, helplessness and loss of hope. Prayer is the one fortress to allow you hope, and running is the venue that my prayers are most pure.

My mission or objective is so simple, to run a marathon in all fifty states while my health and finances hold out. The beauty of that endeavor is that I have a platform to honor those who have meant so much to me. And I have shared this journey with some amazing people. My fabulously talented daughter Stacy has been with me through this story from the start. She was at the finish line of my first marathon, the Bayshore Marathon in Traverse City, Michigan and is coming with me this weekend to support me. We have battled together side by side, without her I would be lost out on some lonely road somewhere.

My second marathon and first trail marathon was shared with the man that I’ve chosen to spend the rest of my life with. At the time I was reeling from a divorce and trying to figure out what my new identity was. I was surprised when he met me at 5am at the Grand Island Ferry Dock to come support me on the trail. The Grand Island Trail Marathon in Munising, Michigan is still my favorite race and it is the only race that I have repeated. Three years later Gary proposed to me at the north beach of the same marathon.

My first out of state marathon was the Disney Marathon in 2006. It was the first time that I noticed the presence of the purple Team-N-Training folks. They had support out on the course that made me a bit jealous and annoyed, but towards the end of the race I noticed that many of their shirts were honoring loved ones who had lost their battle with Leukemia or Lymphoma. It moved me to tears out there running through Epcot. Little did I know that 6 days later I’d be admitting my beautiful and healthy 21 year old son to the hospital for symptoms that would be diagnosed as PCNS Lymphoma, a form of inoperable brain cancer.  Within three weeks I was being educated and supported by the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society people as how to advocate for my son. Anyone supporting a loved one with any of these conditions can receive the same support at www.lls.org . In the next three years I continued to run marathons as we battled the dragon. Brian proposed to and married the love of his life, Katie. The cancer remitted then relapsed three times, more frequently each time. He demanded to maintain poise and grace throughout, blessing all of those people on his team and in his life. He insisted to live his life intentionally and to not let his existence be defined by the adversity in his life. The last time the cancer relapsed he was undergoing chemo. We lost him that fall. November is a difficult month and I find it fitting to conquer this journey in this month. His goal was a mission to fight social injustice in the world. As I run these races I bring his ashes with me and I spread his ashes in a body of water. He was a lover of the ocean and water. The Chattahoochee river will carry his ashes to the ocean this weekend.

Serving the global good, starts with these fifty states and in choosing the Soldiers Marathon I am looking forward to honoring those who have dedicated part or all of their lives to serve our nation. I am honoring a former student, Matt Weber who gave his life in Iraq. I will be wearing a bracelet in his memory. My two cousins Brian and Clark have dedicated their lives to serving in the Air Force. I will be honoring them by wearing pins that they sent me. I have had the honor to teach with other former service people. They now serve our nation’s youth as educators. I also want to dedicate this run to my students who have served or are currently serving in our military. I have had students in all branches of the military and have written letters of recommendation for many students that have been accepted into the Armed Forces Service Academies. I follow and am proud of their achievements.

In 2007 I ran the Green Bay Celcom Marathon and saw my first fifty state marathon shirt. From that point on I was calculating and looking at calendars to see how I could fit my races in.  That day at the finish line I met Nancy Krusic. When we first met our runs were more counseling sessions, sharing our trials and tribulations. She was there for me when I lost Brian. She and Janet are my first real running buddies. I had always cherished my alone time running, but found such a bond with these two ladies that my training runs were brought to a totally new place. Nancy and I have run many states together. She and her sisters have been brave enough to come some of my crazy adventures. My PR is thanks to Nancy. She called me on a Thursday one April day and wondered if I wanted to go to Dearborn to run the Martian Marathon with her. She knew that I would be crazy enough to say yes. That was a 4:41 race. My goal Saturday is to finish! I don’t know if the excitement of the finishing finish line might power me to a faster race or if it may wear me out. Either way, crawling or leaping I will do my best to cross that line!

In the running adventures I have met many other runners. It always seems uncanny that when I run a race with people at my pace, how many parallels our lives seem to hold. If I tried to name them all this would be a book. Cathy from Texas is one of those people. We met at the Go St. Louis marathon last spring and I asked her what was next on her calendar and she said that she was running the Wild Women Marathon in Washington in July. It was a very small new trail marathon that fielded 300 relay runners and marathoners. Out of nearly 8000 Marathon Maniacs she and I were the only two that had signed up for that race. We ran it together and talked the whole time about our lives. So many losses and joys and similarities, it was a great race.

I’ve shared many races with my friends from Tulsa. This year I had the chance to run the Bataan Memorial Death March. This is a life changing race, dedicated to soldiers and marched by soldiers from multi-national armed services. I marched with German, Canadian, Coastguard, Army, Navy and other service people whose badges I could not recognize. I saw more colors and versions of camouflage than I could have imagined. I ran with John one of our Tulsa friends. He is joining us this weekend. He has a way of finding the most marvelous and challenging race venues. Nancy and John both mentioned the Soldiers Marathon in the past. John’s son was stationed at Fort Benning and Nancy has been invited by military friends to run it before. When considering my running calendar this year I wanted a race that was meaningful and logistically easy for friends to travel to.
Lately when runners ask me how many miles I run per week it doesn’t take long to calculate. I run between 26.2 and 40 miles per week. In 2012-2013 there was a twelve month period when I ran 16 states. So I was either recovering or tapering between races. I have reached a physical milestone this last year as menopause has kicked in. Last winter I reached my pre-running weight. Before I started running I was 152 pounds. In training for my first marathon in 2005 I got down to 130 pounds and kept it off. So it was frustrating to be running so rigorously and gaining weight. The menopause upset my sleep patterns with the hot flashed and to maintain my work schedule and energy I was craving and eating high carbohydrate sugary foods. I’ve never had a sweet tooth, but to get the burst of energy before my after school run I would have a bag of popcorn. Nancy had suggested years before that I try a vitamin shake that she was taking, but at the time I felt confident in my vitamin regimen. In January of this year as I tipped the scales and was energy deprived, I was sharing my frustrations with a friend, Marco and he mentioned the same vitamin shake that Nancy had been taking for the last three years. Her times and health were improving while mine where getting worse. I decided to give Reliv a try. Marco suggested that I try the Soyesentials, Now and Innergize for starters. The first shake that I took lifted the brain fog that had permeated my experience and with a month my hot-flashes were one a day and within two months they were gone! I have lost 14 pounds and am not craving sweets. I have recently decided to choose a vegan lifestyle and am feeling stronger then I have felt in years. This was the best health decision that I made since starting to run. I wish that I had done it when Nancy first suggested it.

I am a sixth grade teacher. I spent the first 25 years of my career teaching higher grades. I’m enjoying working with the younger students and have a map of the United States posted on the wall. I have recent race numbers taped around it and have marked off the states that I finished. Last year one of my sixth graders told me that I had inspired him to try and play a golf tournament in each of the fifty states. I told him to enjoy every one of them. I think the last few years I have been rushing finishing, partly do to fears that as I age I might not be able to continue, and partly to save money. Doubles and consecutive weekend summer road trips save travel expenses. I have a friend, Houstotonic Paul, who is managing to run all 50 states in less than 4 hours, and another Cory who is trying to BQ (Boston Qualify) in all 50 states. Lichu Sloan has run the 50 states 3 times, and 7 continents twice. There is a couple from the U.P. who are running all 50 states in alphabetical order. Nancy has BQ’d twice in the last two years and is planning on running Boston. All of these accomplishments eclipse mine.

Many people have wished me well on my Grand Finale. This makes me fearful. I am not done after Saturday. As to my next mission or objective: I haven’t decided what to do next. I have a house project to finish with my dear Gary. He has been sacrificing his summers supporting and accompanying me on my marathons. I think I owe him at least one summer without a month long tri-state journey. I am really enjoying trail races. I just ran my first 50 K in Vermont with my friend Stephanie in honor of her 50^th birthday, so maybe a 50K in 50 states? I love Canada and would love to run a race in each province. Another option is to run the seven continents. Maybe I should do a race in each country in this hemisphere to start with? I feel like a kid in an candy shop. So may races, so little time. I want to be present this weekend, so that decision can wait.

Fort Benning, Georgia: here I come!!