More than just a run
Busy weeks go by very fast, and this one zipped by as if there wasn’t a week at all. It seems like everything was packed together into one day, with each event seeming to last only a few minutes each. That wasn’t the case though. Looking back to the start of the week, it was time to prepare for another Freedom Run, this time starting in one state and ending in another. From Minnesota all the way to Wisconsin we had to run this time around, that’s a long ways! Unless you’re looking at the map and seeing the start line stationed in Stillwater, with the finish in a city called Hudson. Okay, maybe this won’t be so bad afterall.
To start the week, some bad news, but in a sense maybe good, considering the circumstance it’s been for the last eighteen months. Mahnomen County Deputy Chris Dewey, who was shot in the head and in the abdomen on February 18, 2009 just a block away from where I work at the radio station (KRJM Radio) and only a block and a half away from my residence, passed away Monday August 9th around 10:30am. I caught the news on our noon news as I was up in my hometown, Red Lake Falls for work related meetings. You knew it was going to happen from the reports given just a couple weeks prior to it, but when you heard it, things just seemed shocking. You think back to that day you’ll never forget – leaving home after being told to go down the next couple of blocks to see all the cops that are blocking off the roads…not believing a word said by the source who told me. You go by the scene, or I should say, as close as you could get to the actual scene, which was a couple blocks. Seeing all of the county cops, state troopers and soon there after, FBI, SWAT team members and so many other media outlets that came to get the scoop on what’s happening in a town with the population 1,200 that many don’t have a clue where it is…and definitely don’t know how to spell it. Mahnomen, MN was on the map, and our tiny little radio station in a small market that “no one listens to” was all of a sudden the flag ship station to several outlets in Minneapolis/St. Paul and surrounding sections of the state. We did a couple of runs to honor Chris after the incident last year – one near his hometown Cambridge in August of 2009 at the Mora Half Marathon, followed by the Dick Beardsley Half in Detroit Lakes, MN the following month. I know it’s been a long road for the Dewey family, but Chris is in a better place now, in no pain. He served the way he was supposed to, and unfortunately lost the battle he had fought for so long. May he rest in peace. (His funeral service will be August 18th, 2010 down in the Twin Cities area)
The following day after work, it was time for my last prep run, which happened to be an actual 5K event, in Mahnomen, aligned with the Brain Development Conference being put on at the casino. I was invited to be part of this with a couple other runners that are here in Mahnomen to lead the pack. That we did. The run started around 4:15pm that afternoon and we did what we needed to do, despite a big down pour that most people would have given up in. Some wind, heavy rain and wet clothing, not to mention a drenched flag on the shoulder that weighs you down a little more – probably not a good mix. You got that right…it was a GREAT mix to get you to the finish line that much faster! I set a personal best time in those conditions, finishing just over 23 minutes behind three other runners. My friend and fellow runner Teddy won the thing, so we were giving him some crap about how great he is and that some day we’ll be able to run as fast as he can. He finished #1 overall with a time just over 20 minutes in those same conditions. It was a fun time even in the rain. Heck, it helped keep us cool on a hot/humid day in August.
After Tuesday, it was time to rest the legs and body. Preparing mentally never really stops, but I try not to think too in depth about the event that is to come until the trip there…so that’s what I did. I had plenty of time to think about it – four and a half hours in fact. The trip started on Thursday the 12th. I took a half day so I could gather my things and leave at a decent time, plus that gave me the chance to go do the whole packet pick up thing that night when I arrived into the cities. On the way down, I made a pit stop in Wadena, MN to say hi to a good friend of mine that is part of the Patriot Guard Riders – Karla Richardson. I stopped into her work and we chatted for about thirty minutes before I continued on my journey down south. It is always good to see members of the PG when I can – they do so much for the fallen and their families it’s unbelievable. All you have to do is get inducted and you’ll see with all the emails that are sent of different missions and agendas that come through, it’s great. It’s more than just for the fallen, but for war vets and currently deployed troops too.
It was nice, they had three days of packet pick up for this run which was called the Gopher to Badger Half Marathon, which I would recommend to you if you’re into running. Probably not a first time event for you though, it is a fairly hilly and challenging course, but the sights are great!
After picking up the packet, which didn’t take long at all, they were really organized at the Running Room store which is in Woodbury, MN…I headed down the road to Wayzata, MN where I stayed. That night, met up with my friend Scott and headed down the road to Delano, MN for some supper at Applebees. That was a good time, relaxing plus always good food there.
The following morning had to head out around 8am for a meeting in Edina, MN. You’re going to hear a lot of town names in this blog – I was all over the place this weekend. Toured almost the entire state of Minnesota it seemed, along with a nice portion of western Wisconsin.
In Edina I had to meet with a publishing company that had been in contact with me prior to the trip down to talk about PFT and what we do. It was a great opportunity to chat with Jordan and Milt that were there that morning and explain the story.
After that meeting, which was scheduled just right, time to head out to Stillwater, MN for the Bryan McDonough American Heroes Foundation Golf Classic. It’s an annual event that’s held there and this was my first time being part of it. I’m glad I was…this event is awesome! If you haven’t been to it before, I’d recommend getting three golfers together, signing up as early as possible and taking part. What a beautiful course, so well organized by Tom, Renee and their family along with several key players part of the foundation. I got to volunteer at it. In the disclaimer for the tournament it stated “if you leave more than one divot on the course, your team is automatically ejected from the tournament”. Ok, so it didn’t say anything like that…but I would have exceeded that and then some, plus lost the rest of my golf balls in my bag that remain. So instead, I took some time that day to hang around, help with registration, carry some bags, drive and clean up carts from the morning session and just chat with other volunteers and golfers part of the day. I showed up around 10:45 that morning and helped with what was needed to be done until around 3:30 when I made my way over to Hudson to check out the area, check into the hotel, see where the finish line was going to be set up and get a feel for how much time I need in the morning for preparation and travel. I also managed to squeeze in some hot tub time within that two hour period too. That was pretty relaxing, not going to lie.
Around 5:30, it was time to shower up, head back over to Stillwater and enjoy a great meal they put on for the event. Along with that, they had a program which included a video with pictures and music along with audio clips of when the blast occurred back in 2006 that took the lives of both Bryan McDonough and Corey. After that, John Kriesel, who was also in that vehicle during the blast, spoke – about his friends that he lost over seas – his experience and his book that recently came out that he was selling and signing at the event. If you haven’t gotten your copy of Still Standing by John, log onto www.stillstandingstory.com after you read the rest of this and get a copy. For $20 – you get inspired, educated, and provide financial support to charities who reach out to troops, vets and fallen soldiers. Forget about how much it costs, just buy it, you’ll be glad you did.
After the program was all over, I made it a point to meet John’s wife Katie, say good bye to the people there that I had met earlier in the day along with letting the McDonough’s know I will coming to visit them the next day after my run, then it was back to Hudson to rest. They had a dance and all kinds of fun at the course club house after the dinner which I would have stayed for so I could try and beat Kevin McDonough in a dance off – since I had a hard time beating him in anything else this weekend. Although I did win in pool twice, but he helped me out so I didn’t even have to try – then he just dominated in Big Buck Hunter that they’ve got at their cabin on Webb Lake. I’m not even going to post the score of that on here, let’s just say he could have beaten me at that blindfolded. Yeah, it was pretty bad.
On Saturday morning it was up and at ‘em just after 5am. I take some extra time on race days to gear up slow, pace around and just thinking about the run and how to get things going. I had plenty of time to do that at the parking lot of the finish area too.
The finish of the race was in Hudson, WI – while the start of the race was in Stillwater, MN. With that, they needed to bus us to the start line, so we’d be able to get to our vehicles after the race. Worked out pretty good actually.
I got to the park in Hudson around 6:10am. The buses started going about 6:45am and continued all the way through 7:20 for the half marathoners. Thirty-five minutes was plenty of time to walk around a little bit, listen to some music and get more mentally ready for the run. Focus gets fairly intense when you’re nearing the start of the race. It’s hard to explain what you go through, you just get in “the zone” and thoughts start shooting out one by one of what you need to do and what you try not to do during the actual race. I tried something different this time around while sitting on a curb by my car prior to the buses arriving. I pictured myself out there running already, mile by mile, going through the mental process of how to break down the race. It sounds like a lot, but it’s really not. The technique that’s used to keep your mind off the big picture of running a half or full marathon works well, so I tried it before the race even started, and that helped relax the mind a lot during the run itself.
Once the buses started coming in, one by one they started to fill up with runners anxious to get to the start line. I wasn’t one of those anxious ones. They were regular school buses – I didn’t want to sit on one of those for any longer than I had to. The curb sounded a lot more exciting for me at the time. Then a guy got on a mega phone – barking orders to everyone participating in the half marathon to get on the buses now. Worked pretty well, a lot of people started piling over to the location where the buses were and started packing it. I stopped in front of the next bus in line waiting for the door to open. One of the volunteer guys came up to meet and told me to get in line for the bus in front. I told him all the buses are going to the same place and that that one will be filled up with how long the line is anyway. I think he understood.
We got rolling down the road on a trip that took about a half hour to get to the start line. Once we got out, we had some time to stretch, walk around some more and do a light jog if needed. I just stretched, did some final thinking and talked with a few people that were there, including race director Mark Bongers. He greeted me just as I got off the bus pretty much. I had been in touch with him by phone and email before the race, but finally got to meet face to face about half hour before the run. He was pretty fired up to have someone there that was going to carry the flag during the race. I’m glad I could be that guy.
Right before I headed down the street to get lined up with all the other runners, a lady came up to me and asked me if I was there to sing the National Anthem. She looked at me like I was from another planet when I told her my intentions. Her final words were, “Wow, well, I hope you can make it so we can see you at the finish line.” I told her I’d do my best and see what happens.
I had to walk through a big crowd of people to get behind the huge pack that would most likely run me over if I tried to start up front. One of the guys saw me go through and approached me later on, right by the finish in fact…I’ll talk about that later.
The run itself started out great. Nice and cool, with the sun shining, only to mean that the day would eventually get hotter and possibly humid too. That’s exactly what happened. The first four miles were great; next nine took a lot out of you. The three H’s you don’t want in a run: Hot, Humid, Hills – we had them all.
The race started only about a mile from Oak Glen Golf Course, where the tournament was held just the previous day. We started running by a couple of the holes there and a guy running next to me mentioned, “Man, that’d be nice to be out there golfing a round.” I agreed with him, not knowing right away that was the course I was just at Friday afternoon. Sure enough, there was the sign and the huge club house, which I did recognize.
Running through parts of Stillwater you’d go up and down some big hills. Some were steep, others just rolling hills that seemed to last forever.
The majority of the run was in Minnesota, only the last two and a half miles were in Wisconsin. So with that being said, as it was called the Gopher to Badger Half Marathon – looks like the Gophers win 11.5 to 2.6.
There were two parts of this run that were pretty cool. One happened at mile 9.5 – I had latched on with a lady by the name of Kirsten from Woodbury, MN. After starting out a little too strong, sounds like she got tired out and the legs were starting to get worn down earlier than expected. I told her I’d run/walk with her to make sure she keeps going alright and gets to the finish line okay. We had passed and gotten passed by some of the same people a couple of times, but one time walking, a guy came up behind us and started singing to me. Yeah, that might sound a little strange, maybe even haunt your dreams a little bit, but it was funny. If you’re familiar with the oldies tune by the Dixie Cups titled “Iko Iko” … well he made a little parody of that song about running with the American flag. There’s a part in that song that talks about “flagboy”…which goes like this:
“My flagboy and your flagboy, sittin by the fire, My flagboy told your flagboy, I'm going to set your flag on fire”
Thankfully he didn’t add anything about setting this flag on fire, or he would have had the bottom of the flag pole slammed right into his face. Instead, he had something that went:
“My flagman and your flagman, running down to Hudson; my flagman told your flagman I’m gonna run this race and then some”
The way he sang it was pretty cool. That was when he passed us. Then we ended up running again, passed him and while passing he asked if we wanted to hear it again…so of course I said yes! Gave some of the other runners a little entertainment too.
The other part that really stood out was when we were crossing over into Wisconsin from Minnesota. You go over a very busy road, I-94 that has a bridge over the St. Croix River. We’re on a side walk that is guarded by cement block so there’s no way you could fall onto the interstate incase you passed out from the intense heat and humidity. That point of the run was nearing mile 12. The block was low enough where the drivers could see most of your body and of course saw the red white and blue passing by. I counted as we were crossing how many semi’s honked. Four of them did. Only four passed us, all four honked long and loud. Cars started to honk too when passing by, one of them had a big group of people that rolled down their windows and were waving, yelling and one even stuck his head out the window while giving a thumbs up. Not the safest situation, but none the less, awesome to see the support.
We started nearing the finish and the energy level started to crank up an extra notch like it always does. The last portion was up hill and winding around left and right on a trail/path in the park. You could see the Finish in your site then all of a sudden…here we go to the right…now back to the left….to the right….to the left…up hill….and….oh, there it is, finally. The sign I just saw 10 seconds ago is back in sight at the top of a nice hill that we finished on. That was tiring. So tiring, that the medics thought I was having some trouble when I took a need to talk to Corey directly after finishing.
One of the ladies from the medic tent came over to me when I had the flag wrapped around me on one knee asking if I needed help. I told her I didn’t. She insisted, “Sir, we can help you, you just need to get up if you can.” Maybe I should have told the director what happens after each run so no one thought I was hallucinating and about to pass out. I finally had to tell the lady that I was fine and to get away from me. When that happened, she had one of the guys volunteering come over to me and ask if I was alright. The process of taking a knee, saying a quick prayer and thanking my friend for what he’s done to help me become a stronger person, all of a sudden turned into a task similar to swatting mosquitoes away. After I was finished, I was handed the medal and told the kid who was concerned for my health thank you for being concerned and told him my situation. He understood completely. I also found the lady who was part of the medic team later on after I had caught my breath to apologize to her, and thanking her for checking to make sure everything was alright for me.
I also tried to catch as many of the volunteers who were around the finish area to thank them for their service at the race. It was seriously some of the best I’d seen at all of the races I’ve been a part of. Most of them were younger guys and girls, maybe part of different organizations that were on hand to help, I’m not too sure, but I do know they were very positive, upbeat, ready with water/juice and willing to point you in the right direction when you needed help. Some of them looked a little surprised when I came up to them thanking them for volunteering. Maybe no one had done that before.
Right after the finish, I even got my first request for a picture with some people. They were from St. Paul and in fact, the lady mentioned to me that she had some other pictures from during the race that she will be sending off to us. Thank you! We had another girl that told me the same thing and that she was going to find me on Facebook too…we’ll see if that happens…there’s a lot of Kurt Philion’s in the world you know.
One other guy I have to mention, who unfortunately I can’t recall his name right now…but if you go on the site with the results for the Gopher to Badger Half Marathon – he took SECOND out of all the runners for males there. He opened up the box with the plaque in it when I was by him…his buddy mentioned to him, “Man that’s you!”. The picture of the guy crossing the finish line looked just like him on the plaque, it was pretty cool. But he had some connections with military so he was wondering about Corey and why we do what we do. He got my card and information so I hope to see him at another race or two in the future. Maybe by then I’ll be able to take second, right behind him. Ok, so I won’t, but I’ll try.
After the run, rehydration, and consumption of food to get some energy – all the good stuff…it was time to head back to the hotel, shower up and relax in some cool air for a while.
From there, it was off to Webb Lake, WI for more relaxation – with the McDonough’s. It was Tom, Renee & Kevin that were there. So just us four, met some of their neighbors and friends out at the lake, took a pontoon ride Saturday evening, ate with them at Oak Ridge Inn then just hung out for the night at a few different places before heading back to the cabin for the night. They had a long day Friday, waking up at 4am, setting up for their golf tournament and not getting out of the clubhouse until 2am Saturday…almost 24 hours straight of non stop work and running around to make that tournament as successful as it is!
Today (Sunday) after getting up, Renee cooked us breakfast, I got to relax in their hot tub for a while, rested some more, got dominated in that buck hunter game by Kevin, then they took me out for a 4-wheeler ride before my departure back to Minnesota. It was a great time, and an excellent way to cap off an incredible weekend.
I had never met them until this weekend, but they treated me like they’d known me for years. There was one time when Tom introduced me to one of their neighbors out there, was about to explain who I was, but forgot my name. He had just looked at my car with the Philco’s Freedom Run logo on it and maybe was thinking Phil and knew that wasn’t right? I’m not sure, but it was kind of funny. I was called four different names this weekend though. Kurt was one of them, so was Phil. One lady thought my name was Corey and another guy called me Craig. I answer to pretty much anything. I was very rarely Kurt in high school, I usually went by Kevin.
That’s about all I’ve got for this time around. It took me a while to type this, so hopefully it took you just as long to read it.
Another run, another success. Corey and all of the fallen soldiers are getting the recognition they deserve at each run we’re at. It’s spreading nicely. Events like the one the McDonough’s put on each year is another reminder of what these guys did for us. Hopefully you get a chance to take part in something that is dedicated to a soldier some day if you haven’t already. You meet a lot of great people at the events.
Maybe we’ll see you at the final run of 2010 – Bismarck, ND on September 18th. I know a lady out there that might be able to pull in quite a few supporters wearing the red, white and blue that weekend.
Until next time, rest up, because I know I’m going to!
