Cyndi Elias, Kickin' Cancer's Butt

I first read heard about Cyndi Elias last October when I read her story in this "Turning Point" column in the Saint Paul Pioneer Press. At that point, she was training for the 2012 NYC Marathon. She was one of the many registered runners who travelled to NYC, only to (almost immediately) hear the marathon had been cancelled due to Hurricane Sandy.


Cyndi Elias

Fast forward 6 months and 4-time cancer survivor Elias is again featured in "Turning Point." This time she's training for a new challenge, the Million Dollar Marathon Coast to Coast for Cancer.

According to the Million Dollar Marathon website:

On June 21st, The Million Dollar Marathon will begin it’s 4000 mile relay across America. The Team will be made up of all those that Cancer has touched. Survivors, Caregivers, Advocates, all working together to beat this disease. One marathon at a time, the event will cross 15 states and more than 500 communities as the baton is passed from the Pacific to the Atlantic.

During their journey, team members will run from Mount Rainier to the Great Salt Lake, over the Rockies to the Great Plains, on to the Appalachians and past the Chesapeake Bay. As they run, each day will turn to night and clear skies will fill with storms. Yet through the darkness and rain, their baton will not stop – because these runners know that dawn always follows night and that the darkest storms create the brightest rainbows.

As a member of The Million Dollar Marathon team, [runners] will be dedicating one marathon, one day to the cause. Each day the team will run 4 marathons. In total [participants] will run 160 marathons. During this extraordinary journey, [participants] will take more than l0,000,000 steps. Ten million steps to honor the past and inspire the future. Ten million steps toward a cure.

Elias is hoping to raise $7,500 in pledges. Visit her personal Million Dollar Marathon page for more information.

From Elias fundraising page:

"I’m running the Coast to Coast Marathon for myself, to show cancer that I’m going to keep kicking butt. I’m also running in honor of so many people that I’ve met along this journey, cancer patients who continue to inspire me, and especially those who have lost their battle with this horrible disease. Since we won’t be running through Minnesota, I’m not sure where I’ll run – I think I’ll request the most beautiful, most remote stretch of the course!" — Cyndi Elias

Upper Midwest Races, Serious about their Series

Yesterday, Grandma's Marathon in Duluth, Minn., announced another interesting partnership – the Great Lakes Marathon Series.

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The Great Lakes Marathon Series is a collaboration of 25 marathons in the U.S. and Canada that take place along North America’s five Great Lakes.

The group has partnered with the Alliance for the Great Lakes – a four-star rated independent citizens organization devoted to the Great Lakes’ ecosystem and economies – to raise awareness of conservation and restoration efforts.

By partnering with the Alliance for the Great Lakes, the series’ goal is to invite the running world to enjoy the unique beauty of the individual races, while simultaneously raising awareness and funds needed to protect all five of the Great Lakes.

Participants will receive awards at various benchmarks throughout the series along with a grand prize after completion of all 25 races, regardless of how many years needed to complete the entire marathon tour. Registration for the Great Lakes Marathon Series itself is available at [above link] and is free to all those interested.

Runners will be required to pay each individual marathon entry fee in order to participate, and signing up for the Great Lakes Marathon Series does not guarantee entry into any race. Also, only participation in races in 2013 and future years will be recognized as part of the Great Lakes Marathon Series.

The first marathon in the series is the Medical Mutual Glass City Marathon in Toledo, Ohio, on April 28, 2013. Registration is currently available for this race, and registrants who use the promotion code “water” and register before March 31 will receive a $10 discount. The last marathon in the series this year will take place on November 3, at the Hamilton Marathon in Ontario. 

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The one notable exception to the list of 25 participating marathons is the Milwaukee Lakefront Marathon. I emailed Jon Mueller, the new MLM race director for 2013, to ask him about this. As of this posting, I had not yet heard back from him.


The Great Lakes Marathon Series is the second such announcement from Grandma's this year. In January they announced a collaboration with Twin Cities Marathon and the American Birkebeiner to create the Upper Midwest Endurance Challenge.


The Series concept is not entirely new to upper midwest runners. The Upper Midwest Trail Runners, for instance, host a Trail Series with races of varying distances.

Locally-owned Minnesota running store, TC Running Company, hosts the Endless Summer Trail Run Series, with four races at different Twin Cities parks. Race distances from 5K to 7 Miles.

The Minnesota Distance Running Association (MDRA) hosts a Grand Prix series every year for members. The Grand Prix schedule features races throughout the year including one indoor track meet, a cross country race and numerous road races. With race distances from 1 mile (indoor track and road race) to marathon (Grandma's and TCM), the Series is challenging and fun.

The United States Track & Field Association, Minnesota (USATF-MN) hosts a Team Circuit for its members (who also need to be part of USATF-MN registered teams) every year including road races from 1-mile to the marathon.

Long Run(ning Stories)

I'm a fan of long-form journalism. I've always enjoyed reading well-researched, in-depth articles on topics that matter to me. Recently, two such running-related articles caught my attention.

Tim Danielson
NYTimes.com

"After the Mile" in The New York Times
Tim Danielson was among an exclusive group of runners who had broken the elusive four-minute barrier. Now he is a runner shackled, charged with killing his ex-wife.
...
On June 11, 1966, competing at Balboa Stadium, where the San Diego Chargers and the Beatles had performed, Danielson became the second American high school athlete to run a mile under four minutes. It was an achievement so extraordinary that only three prep milers have done it since, running four laps around a track, averaging less than a minute per lap.
...
(Read the entire story at the link above.)





 "Becoming the All-Terrain Human" in The New York Times Magazine 
Kilian Jornet, who has won dozens of mountain footraces up to 100 miles in length and six world titles in Skyrunning.

Kilian Jornet
NYTimes.com

Kilian Jornet Burgada is the most dominating endurance athlete of his generation. In just eight years, Jornet has won more than 80 races, claimed some 16 titles and set at least a dozen speed records, many of them in distances that would require the rest of us to purchase an airplane ticket. He has run across entire landmasses­ (Corsica) and mountain ranges (the Pyrenees), nearly without pause. He regularly runs all day eating only wild berries and drinking only from streams. ...

 (Read the rest of the article at the link above.)

Luck of the Irish Ladies' Night at TC Running Company

This popped up in my email yesterday. What a fun idea!

Running, shopping, door prizes, massages, food & drinks? What's NOT to like?

And for those of you who like to celebrate Saint Patrick's Day all weekend, this should make for a GREAT kick-off event!



The run will be a fun run suitable for everyone.

Store Manager Kurt Decker says the prizes will include "Lots of cool stuff," including a Nike GPS watch, "many pairs of shoes," and some clothing items. They'll also be giving away free race entries.

For those not quite lucky enough to win shoes or clothing, there will be store discounts all evening!

Massages will be courtesy of Future Concepts Studio + Spa, a mall neighbor of TC Running Company.

For directions to the festivities, see TC Running Company's website.

Rocky Mountain High on the Prairie

Yesterday, the Colorado Running Hall of Fame announced the inductees to their 2013 class.

Three of the athletes have impressive running histories in Minnesota as well.

Jane Welzel

Jane Welzel was the National Marathon Champion (2:33:25) in 1990 (Grandma's Marathon, Duluth, Minnesota). She also won Grandma's in 1992 (2:33:01, a personal best). She has the distinction of being one of three women who are five-time U.S. Olympic Women's Marathon Trials qualifier (1984, '88, '92, '96, '00). The others are Julie Peterson and Minnesotan Janice Ettle. Only Minnesotan Bev Docherty completed the first six Trials (1984-2004).

Doug Bell
(photo: Juan Leal)

Jay Johnson, who grew up in Lakeville, Minnesota, ran the 1977 Paavo Nurmi Marathon in Hurley, Wisconsin, when he was just a high school student. He ran a very impressive 2:28:45. Coincidentally, Minnesota-born Dick Beardsley ran his first marathon (2:47:14) at the 1977 Paavo Nurmi.

Doug Bell holds a number of Minnesota road racing records spanning more than a quarter century of racing.


Minnesota Age Group Records

Age Group	Distance	Rank	Time	Age	Date	Race
40-44	5K	#1	14:36	41	10-3-92	TCM 5K
	13.1 Mile	#2	1:08:43	41	9-13-92	City of Lakes 25K (split)
50-54	5K	#1	15:51	51	8-4-02	Hennepin Lake Classic
55-59	5K	#1	16:18	56	8-5-07	Hennepin Lake Classic

Minnesota Single Age Records

	Age	Time	Date	Race
5K	39	14:43	10-13-90	TCM 5K
	41	14:36	10-3-92	TCM 5K
	47	15:42	7-19-98	Race for Action
	51	15:51	8-4-02	Hennepin Lake Classic
	56	16:18	8-5-07	Hennepin Lake Classic
8K	36	23:42	3-15-87	Saint Patrick's Day 5 Mile
10 Mile	48	54:50	10-3-99	TC-10 Mile
13.1 Mile	41	1:08:43	9-13-92	City of Lakes 25K (split)
25K	41	1:21:24	9-13-92	City of Lakes 25K

Doug Bell's race records are courtesy of the Minnesota Data Running Center.

Like Mother, Like Daughter: Beth Heiden Reid & Joanne Reid

When Colorado Bulldog Senior Joanne Reid won the women's 15-kilometer freestyle mass start at the 2013 NCAA Skiing Championships yesterday, it was even more momentous than handily claiming a national title.

Joanne Reid (photo courtesy: Colorado Buffaloes - cubuffs.com)

Almost exactly 30 years earlier, Reid's mother, Beth Heiden Reid, earned the first-ever NCAA nordic skiing championship crown for women (individual 7.5K freestyle cross country.) Joanne's victory yesterday was at Rikert Nordic Center (the home course for Middlebury College in Vermont.)

As I was growing up in the Milwaukee area in the 1970s to mid 1980s, I couldn't help but follow speedskating. According to the Pettit National Ice Center website: "Starting in 1967 with the outdoor Olympic Ice Rink at Wisconsin State Fair Park, Milwaukee has served as the center of U.S. speedskating. The old outdoor Oval not only gave birth to U.S. Speedskating, but also paved the way for the state of the art Pettit National Ice Center which opened in 1992."

Eric Heiden was a big star of the sport at that time. But his sister Beth was an amazing athlete in her own right. An Olympian (speedskating), World Champion (road bicycling) and NCAA Champion (nordic skiing) she excelled at every sport in which she competed. Cross Country Skiing became an NCAA "co-ed" sport in 1983 – and the always-competitive Beth Heiden promptly took home the first title.

Beth Heiden (photo courtesy: WisconsinHistory.org)

Yesterday, the Colorado Bulldogs also took home the National Team Title. In a somewhat ironic twist, the third place team, Vermont, had led after the first three days of competition but fell to the number three position by the end of the final day.Vermont is Beth Heiden Reid's alma mater.

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For more on Beth Heiden Reid:

Beth Heiden's procyclingwomen.com profile

Beth Heiden's wisconsinhistory.org profile

Beth Heiden's University of Vermont Athletics Hall of Fame induction

Beth Heiden (photo courtesy: NationalSpeedSkatingMuseum.org)

 



Forest for the Trees - or Who the Heck is K.V. Switzer?

In the 1980s, I was deep in the throes of track & field fever. The 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles had only solidified my burgeoning love of this new (to me, at least) sport.

I was in high school at the time and went back to school in the Fall still hyped up from the just-completed Olympics. In an English class we had to give speeches about people who inspired us.

I chose to wax poetic about my hero: Evelyn Ashford. I was a sprinter in high school and no one seemed cooler to me than Ashford (well, maybe Paul Molitor or Rick Springfield, but those are stories for another day.)

I'm sure I went on and on ad nauseum about this hero of mine. The teacher was nodding knowingly. Everyone else looked a little glazed over, but I soldiered on. It wasn't until after class I realized that, except for the teacher, I don't think anyone knew who I was talking about.

And I'm not sure I backed up the story enough at the beginning of my speech so people would know. That suspicion was confirmed when a classmate came up to me afterwards, laughing and kindly asked, "WHO IS Ashley Ashford?"

I had missed my mark, indeed.

For the record, THIS is Evelyn Ashford. Five-time Olympian (if you count the U.S.-boycotted 1980 Games), Olympic 100 meter champion, former 100 meter World Record Holder (5 years) and all around cool woman. My hero.

A little bit further back in U.S. Track & Field history is the late, great Wilma Rudolph. Although I admired her, I'm REALLY glad my speech wasn't about her. Pre-internet, ESPN and Biography Channel, my classmates definitely wouldn't have heard of her.

This all brings me to the point that we can immerse ourselves in something so deeply that we no longer remember what it's like NOT to know something.

Today, as I was reading this article in The New York Times, "Redefining Women's Work," the writer, Anita Gates, did a nice job previewing a PBS program that was debuting tonight. [Makers: Women Who Make America.] She provided highlights of the key points of the special including naming women who would be featured prominently.

However, I was struck by the oddity of one particular passage. Gates is describing this program, covering decades of the women's movement, and this is one part that stood out for her:

"The shocker is the 1967 Boston Marathon, then an all-male event. Its director reacts to a woman who had entered (using her first initial in registering) by running into the street and trying to remove her physically himself. Seriously. There are pictures."

This mention was so disjointed relative to the tone of the rest of the article. As though KATHRINE SWITZER was just "a woman" who decided to jump into a little race and was then never heard from again. And as though no one had ever heard this story before. AND there are PICTURES?

"A woman?" Seriously? This article was written more than 45 years after this "woman" broke down a huge barrier (and was almost tackled to the ground in attempting to do so.)

Gates mentioned Betty Friedan, Gloria Steinem, Hillary Rodham Clinton, Oprah Winfrey, Nora Ephron & Billie Jean King by name, because each of them, of course, went on to contribute greatly to the women's movment in their respective ways.

It seemed so strange to me that an article, written almost 46 years after an event considered historic, not just in running, and not even just within women's sports, but rather in the history of the women's movement generally, would refer to the great Kathrine Switzer simply as "a woman."

After her historic debut at the 1967 Boston Marathon, Switzer continues to be a great leader as a runner, a broadcaster, an author, a motivational speaker and, perhaps most importantly, a role model and champion of women runners. Certainly earning her the "right" to have her name among other female leaders of her era.

For the record, Switzer has run 39 marathons, including the 1974 New York City Marathon, which she won. The following year, her 2:51 Boston Marathon was ranked sixth in the world and third in the USA in women’s marathon. She is still running marathons today.

And, for those of you for whom she is not a household name, this is K.V. Switzer, as she registered for her marathon debut, aka Kathrine Switzer:

 And these are a few of those infamous 1967 Boston Marathon shots. Seriously.

 

 



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For more information about Switzer:

The Real Story of Kathrine Switzer’s 1967 Boston Marathon (KathrineSwitzer.com)

Boston, 1967: When marathons were just for men (BBC.com News Magazine)

Kathrine Switzer's books:

Marathon Woman: Running the Race to Revolutionize Women's Sports

Running and Walking for Women Over 40 : The Road to Sanity and Vanity

26.2: Marathon Stories

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