Saturday, March 10, 2012

Dear Gary Bjorklund Half Marathon,

Well, it finally looks like it's going to happen.  I'm going to run you, Gary Bjorklund Half Marathon.  I may not have won one of your 6,000 spots for runners, but I've found an even better way.  I'm running with the American Cancer Society's Team DetermiNation.  So not only can I conquer my personal goal of running a half marathon, but I also get to raise money for a great cause.

Buy why you, Gary Bjorklund Half Marathon?

Well, you'd have to go back to my childhood.  Grandma's Marathon was a big deal for Duluth.  Thousands of extra people coming to town once a year, packing Canal Park, eating spaghetti.  Those were vivid images.  My mom tells stories of us giving water to the racers on London Road and me charming rich, old ladies to let us into their mansions to get more water from them.  In those days, I knew the marathon was a big deal, but I never thought about running in it.

Flash forward to seventh grade, the day I went out for the cross-country team.  Distance running?  Sounds fun, I thought.  I left the gym with the other runners, ran to the corner and sat down on a stump and waited for everyone to come back.  For the time, I decided that I was no runner.

Flash forward again, to 1999.  I add "Run a Marathon" to a list of life goals.

Since then, I've checked off almost everything on that list.  Gary Bjorklund Half Marathon, you're the next logical step.

Flash forward again 12 more years and I bought a house in Minnesota.  Round about the time the marathon was happening.  All of those images from my childhood came flooding back.  Why not run the following summer, when I'd be a resident of Minnesota once again?

Things run in circles, Gary Bjorklund Half Marathon.  I'm coming home and I'm running.

In-training,
jason

ps.  Go here to help me raise the money for my race!  It's for the American Cancer Society.