From one state to the next
In the last four days, it’s been two more steps forward, along with a bit of a road trip between them. In five running events this year, I’ve now set five personal records (PRs) and accomplished three goals.
To start the year, my goal as noted in previous blogs was to accomplish a 5K in under 24 minutes (done on May 1st in Eagan, MN) and a half marathon in under two hours. That’s actually been my goal ever since my first half I did back in 2007. My goal for that run was two and a half hours, which I did in two hours and ten minutes. From that point, I wanted to do a 13.1 mile journey in sub 120 minutes.
That was finally accomplished this weekend.
Before that I talk about that run, I need to go back to Thursday evening across the river in Hillsboro, ND. That evening to help kick off their Hillsboro Days celebration, they hosted a burger and hot dog feed (the SADD organization did) and a 5K/10K walk and run put on by the Hillsboro Running Club. Both were a great success. Not only weather wise, but the set up, the volunteers working together and making it a memorable experience for everyone involved.
Going into that race I didn’t feel as confident in my ability to accomplish a new goal, but I knew for a fact that I’d set a new PR. I don’t know if you ever have that feeling, that mental faith in yourself that something good is going to happen, but I only did partially going into that run. My legs didn’t feel up to par, when I’d stretch after a warm up, they felt tight and like they weren’t going to loosen up. I think it was too much thinking again. I tried to stay as loose as possible not only physically but mentally too before the run. If you know any of the members of the Hillsboro Running Club, they make it pretty easy t o stay loose mentally too. Easing the tension by having a conversation or in this case joking around and having a good time. Lots of sarcasm and what I like to call “harassment”, they seem to give that to me pretty well over in Hillsboro. Luckily for everyone’s sake I can take it, but I can also dish it right back out too…usually. That did really help me relax mentally, but I still couldn’t get it out of my head that I could get the new goal of beating 23 minutes with Old Glory in hand…until just before the race started. Craig, one of the run club members I had met and ran with back in April asked me right when I arrived while they were setting up if I was ready and if I was going to get that new record. I told him “I think I can.” He gave me the chance to speak right before the National Anthem, to give an abbreviated story, a teaser if you will, about why I am doing what I’m doing that night. I could hear the conversations slowly diminish while I started talking, within about fifteen seconds it was completely silent from all the runners, volunteers and spectators there. I had their complete attention after the first two sentences of my talk. There was over 350 people in attendance for this run and when that happened, right at that point, looking out into the crowd lined up ready to race, I didn’t just think that I would get my goal time, I knew I would. I knew the other runners would help me get there. They didn’t have to say anything or encourage me. They listened to me speak, they understood the importance of every run I do and that silent energy alone gave me the added energy to get me through this race. That’s what I needed…silence. To clear my mind from “what if” or “how should I start pace wise” or “do I latch on with someone and hope they’re going at the pace I need to get this done.” I needed to hear silence, no one talking, they were listening to what I was explaining. The crowd helped me clear my mind leading up to the National Anthem. Where I reflect on not just the guy who’s on my uniform each run, but all who have served and are still doing so today. Tightness in the legs was gone…I was now prepared to accomplish my goal.
It was pretty hot when you got to certain points of that run, but it was “only” three point one miles. That’s what I thought when we started. Just go hard and you’ll be done quicker. Easier said than done, right? Yes, but it was much easier to be done quicker too. I took one stop to get water a little over half way through the race then got back on track. I helped one guy pace for his 10K run but then he was able to get out ahead of me after I stopped for water. I caught up to him with about ¾ of a mile remaining. I was pushing it towards the end. I think that helped the younger kid who caught up to me and eventually passed me. Kody was only 12 years old, finished the same time as me! Take half my age and he still wouldn’t have been born yet. Someone asked me (jokingly, I think) after the finish if I was embarrassed that a 12 year old kept up with me. I told him no way, that is awesome that he can run like that! In fact he passed me, but it wasn’t until I came over the last bridge and around the corner that I realized something…my goal was in reach! The clock showed 22:46 when I saw it in that last maybe tenth of a mile and I turned on the final switch to let out what I had left. I had fourteen seconds to beat 23 minutes and I didn’t do it. The clock read 23:01 when I cross the finish line. I try not to look at the negative of how I was so close yet so far…instead I thought to myself, well at least I beat my previous best by almost a minute!
After a few conversations with people around the finish I went to get some food and to check on the results that were being posted. I just about choked on the chips I was eating when I saw the post. I did it…I got my goal. It took two seconds for me to get to the start line with the chip timer starting then, I did it. 22:59 official time. Holy poop, I did it! Not only that, but I was 20th place out of over 235 in the 5K. Satisfying? I think so. No no, I don’t think so…I know so!!
After the race and awards before heading home I made sure to thank the staff from the running club for letting me come to the race, yes, I say letting me come to the race…I think they’d go crazy if they had to put up with me for more than a few hours! I got a picture with them as a group as well before departing. Also before departing, just as I was about to pull out of the park, a man came up to my vehicle to thank me for what I’m doing. I can tell you how great it feels to accomplish a goal or set a personal record…but what’s really hard to explain is what this meant to me personally. I honestly can’t remember his name, but he was the father of the kid who I finished right next to, the 12 year old. This guy was a war veteran. If you’re reading this right now sir, thank you again for stopping by to let me know what this team means for you. Those are the moments at these events that I never forget.
The next morning it was time to head out to Duluth, MN for run #2 within a 36 hour period. This time, it was a half marathon. The second of four in the 4:13 race schedule for 2011 – the Garry Bjorklund Half Marathon in line with Grandma’s Marathon. What a great event!
The trip out seemed long, mainly because I was tired. I purposely stayed up a little later than I should have, so I’d be tired all day Friday, making it easier to fall asleep and crash Friday evening as I’d have to go to bed earlier than I’m used to.
Upon arriving to Duluth, I went straight to my cousin’s husband’s work place. Paul is his name, much easier than typing cousin’s husband every single time. He showed me around the place and met some of the veterans that stay there at their housing while waiting for Fox 21 to show up. They were doing an exclusive on my running in Duluth, which was set up by Paul (thank you, Paul!!). I don’t remember how long the interview actually took, but Tracee asked a lot of questions which I enjoy answering about why I run and who Corey was. One thing I’ve never been fond of is cameras. I always forget to put make up on, maybe that’s why? It works out fine, plus it gets the word out about my teammates – those who have sacrificed their lives to keep us free. I will do newspaper, radio or TV talks anytime when it comes to promoting the men and women who have served, are serving today and those who lost their lives serving the United States of America like my friend Corey.
Not only did they do an interview at Paul’s work place, but they came with down to the packet pick up and caught some footage of us walking through the place, getting the packet and conversing with some of the people there. Now THAT was weird. Not in a bad way…just that I never thought I’d have a TV crew follow me around like some reality show. Or in this case being it was Paul and I…more like the movie Dumb & Dumber. I won’t say which one I am.
After we got the packet, we stopped over to Grandma’s, an actual bar/restaurant that Paul used to work at in fact. We hung out for a while there before heading back to the Pedersen Inn to meet up with my cousin Heidi. From there, it was off to get some food and boy was it a lot of it. Pasta and meatballs, the size of the entire table we were at it felt like. I finished the whole thing though. Almost didn’t get to, there was two bites left and the waitress tried to take my plate away while I was catching my breath.
From supper time, it was back home to relax and eventually go to bed early. 3:45am comes quick, I’ll tell you that much. We had to be to “the mall” by 5am so I could hop on a bus that took us to the start line. The ride over was great. There was a group behind me that was laughing and having a good time, joking around with each other, getting that relaxed mind set before the race. It helped me a lot just listening to them. Kind of like the crew over in Hillsboro prior to the race there.
Once we got out of the bus, we had twenty minutes before start time. 7,200 runners packed onto a county road. It was nuts! It took me six minutes to get to the start line and I was in the middle of the pack. For some it had to be close to ten or twelve minutes. The start of the run I thought to myself, “looks like no PR today.” It was so slow to start, basically like a very slow jog for the first 2-3 miles. As we got to a different road, things started to open up. The flood gates were opened and here comes the sea of runners! I found someone going at about a ten minute per mile pace and stayed with them for about two miles. When I got to the half way point, it was time to step it up a notch. To a nine minute mile pace and try to build up from there. When I got to mile eleven of all places, I did something I had never done before…kept track of how long it took before I got to the next mile. Seven minutes and ten seconds. Holy poop again. That didn’t help the gas mileage for the final 1.1! Didn’t matter though, there was so many people around that final stretch, I was energized. I was in pain I know that, but I didn’t feel it. I didn’t even know my feet were bleeding until I took my Vibrams off at the house when we got back. My mummified feet that I taped in the morning to stop blisters from popping up and loosed and slid around with the rain that we had to walk through before the race. It looks like paper cuts on the top of my feet and my heels are a little tender but that didn’t stop me. I honestly did not feel anything that would have informed my body that this was painful. We came around the final right turn going down the last stretch and it was Go Time. Give it all you’ve got, pushing it as hard as possible to the finish…dead sprint if possible. I started it too early…I thought the first set of balloons was the finish line. Nope, still another two blocks past that! Oh who cares, keep going, only fifteen more seconds. I saw the timer as I got closer giving it everything I had and it showed 2:02 and some odd seconds (or maybe they were even, I don’t know). I didn’t let it soak in until I got passed that final mat, which would calculate my official time for me. I raised my flag as high as I could and threw my right arm up while looking up to the sky and yelled, “We did it man, we got it!” I think I scared the lady next to me, but she’ll get over it.
I had no clue right past the finish what my time would be, I just know it took a long time to get to that start line from where I was. Longer than when we were in Fargo for sure, which was three minutes. That put a smile on my face knowing that as I walked down the chute ready to down some water. Again I felt really popular…had a newspaper guy and another TV station wanting to talk to me. I requested they wait until I catch my breath. Not only that for me personally, so I can take in the moment. That very quick moment before you hear one of the volunteers scream with a raspy voice “Move along! Keep moving! Go, walk, keep moving!” I talked to the news paper guy as we walked down the chute which I thank him for his patience…He took one heck of a picture and had a nice little caption with it on the front page of the Grandma’s Marathon section in the Duluth paper. With what I described above…hands high in the air, yelling to Corey, scaring the lady next to me.
The TV interview was another good one, they ask the right questions and did a nice piece on it that night too. Duluth was very supportive of military I came to find out on the course as well, as there were plenty of National Guard members lined up throughout the race helping out or just supporting the runners.
There was a lot of people there to support, from the UMD students offering runners beer as they ran by; to the guy in the Gorilla costume giving everyone a high five until I came along, he ran beside me for a few steps and told me “thanks for doing this, you’re awesome man.” That was one of the strangest things I’ve encountered during a run this year…looking at the face of a gorilla costume, this guy had blue eyes and when he talked of course you couldn’t see a mouth moving, it was just a gorilla face right in my face. At that point I think I was running a five minute mile pace...also known as, a sprint.
Of all the points throughout the race, the one that got to me the most was around mile eight…an older gentleman that was a war vet, stood tall, removed his hat and slowly saluted the flag as I ran by. He was tearing up while he did it too. I’m guessing he was a man who lost some friends over seas while serving. He knew the sacrifice and that things maybe wouldn’t be the same when he returned but he was willing to risk everything for his country. Another moment that I won’t forget.
I didn’t check my time until we got back to the house, I had showered and got cleaned up to go get some food. On the way to the restaurant I clicked into the Grandma’s Marathon website to find out the truth. Typing in my bib number, I was just hoping it was right around 1:58 or 1:59, showing me that I beat two hours. I was in for a special treat; 1:56:36 official finishing time! Not only did I set another PR, this time by over four minutes from the Fargo run…I broke the barrier. That two hour time I kept thinking “how am I going to beat this??” I finally did it. I was pumped up. So were Paul and Heidi hearing that. Man that felt great, knowing the hard work has paid off. Not only help in the gym and other places to get me prepared, but help from above. WE did it. WE accomplished this one again.
Later on that day into the evening we were invited over to a place where we were going to meet a lot of great people. One of them also ran with a flag, but in the FULL marathon at Duluth. Her name is Jean, she was a student of my dad’s when he taught in Gonvick, MN. She got in touch with me back in January about running with the flag and she did an excellent job for a first time finishing in just over four and a half hours. That right there is accomplishment! We got a chance to chat quite a bit then take some pictures with the flags and showcasing the medals. The medal I received I can tell you right now will not be in my possession for very long. Within two weeks, it will be handed off to my team captain. I won’t be able to place it in his hand, but instead on a stone with his name on it. On the weekend of the 4th of July, celebrating our nation’s Independence day, I will bring that medal along with the medal from Hillsboro to give to Corey. I feel it’s only right. He’s the one that motivated me to do this and without that, I may not be running at all of these different races, honoring our fallen soldiers. I’ve been asked that at other locations, if I’d be running if Corey was still here. It’s a hard question to answer, but the answer is “probably not.” He’s pushed me to a level I didn’t even know or think existed in me. He’s made me a better person not by words, but by action. Losing his life for me and millions of people he didn’t even know. That to me is honorable, something you can respect and should respect more often. There are a lot of questions that you just can’t answer, like why did Corey have to go at such a young age? 20 years old, he had his whole life ahead of him. He is one of few kids that ever told me before graduating his “10 year plan.” The fact is, it happened and you keep moving forward, one step at a time.
To finish this novel, I want to send out a thanks…to Heidi & Paul for their excellent hospitality, chauffeuring skills and willingness to let me stay with them during the weekend of this run. They got up just as early as me that morning to bring me to the bus stop, getting yelled at by the Perkins bus boy and finding places to figure out a good spot to cheer me and the other runners on and take some pictures. I’ve got great family, all over the place. I wouldn’t be able to thank them enough for their support!
To all of the media outlets that provided us with coverage of Freedom Run #6 this year…including Fox 21, Channel 10 (ABC), the Duluth Tribune, Fargo Forum & Grand Forks Herald. As much as I don’t like being on camera, I will do it to recognize our troops any day, even on a bad hair day.
To the volunteers, staff and spectators at Grandma’s Marathon…unbelievable event you hold! I had such a great time, it was organized well and the volunteers were great in getting us water and cheering us on too.
To the service men and women who were there too, keeping us safe from traffic and escorting us through the route.
To the dancers between mile 11 and 12 – sorry I was going so fast and couldn’t stop to join you. I was trying to set a record and I did. I’m sure you understand.
To all who took the time to read this entire blog, thank you so much for your support! It means so much to me, you don’t even know!
Lastly, I thank all of you who have served in the military, are serving today or had a family member or friend lose their life serving. I think about you often and you’re with me at every race. When I hear people chant “U-S-A! U-S-A!” When I see people salute. When I see those kids want a high five because “that guy” is carrying the American flag! I think about you. Every step of the way. You will never be forgotten, we’ll make sure of that.
Fox 21 TV story video & article: http://www.fox21online.com/news/flag-runner
ABC Channel 10 story & video: http://www.wdio.com/article/stories/S2162602.shtml?cat=0?video=YHI&t=a
