THE MOTIVATION BEHIND THE MILES

Local Fargo Marathon Participants Find Different Reasons for Running

There’s a funny thing about running races. Although everyone takes off from the same starting point, and all aim to cross the same finish line, the path they take to the line up is always unique, always different than the bib-clad runner stretching next to them. Although they are all running the same 3.1, 6.2, 13.1 or 26.2 miles, the motivations behind the miles are truly unique. And for many runners, contrary to the semantics of the word, the race is hardly about winning.

Such is the case for five local women who run in the Fargo Marathon and find motivation, laughter, peace, friendship and solace in the sport. We asked them about the stories behind their passion for running and what motivates them to keep putting miles behind them.

Michelle Donarksi, attorney, 44 years old: “I started running because I have friends in a group, Women High On Running (WHORS). We would dress in pink, wear feather boas and crazy wild wigs when we went to different races. It was a blast. So for me, running is social. I don’t run by myself, I go with a group of girls and we run, talk and solve the world’s problems.”

Sue Knutson, buyer, Minnesota State University Moorhead, 45 years old: “When I was younger, I hated running. When I was in sixth grade, we had to run the 600 yard dash – and I literally faked fainting so I wouldn’t have to run it.”

Knutson’s story jumps to high school, when she found herself in the shadow of her older, super-athletic sister Renee. Both were in track, but only one of them enjoyed it. One night, Renee took her younger sister out for a run, but before long, snow began to fall and Sue decided she’d had enough. Renee kept yelling at her to keep running, but Sue complained and whined until Renee was fed up enough to run to the car to come pick her up. By the time Renee returned with the Green Torino, Sue was so angry that she decided to run back to the school herself.

“So she followed me the whole way back to the school, yelling at me because I was too stubborn to get in the car,” Sue said.

Sue’s sister Renee passed away at 38 years old.

“Because she was so competitive and so athletic, I just really looked up to her. So part of the reason I started running was her pushing me because I remember that snowy day when she was out there yelling at me to keep running. And so when I started doing this, I could hear her in the back of my head saying ‘keep running, just keep running.’”

Leia Bohl, 37, DJ, Radio Fargo Moorhead: “I was at the Run for the Children in 2003 and I had never seen anything like it. My involvement at that point was to cheer on the runners as they passed by with my then radio partner, Dan Michaels. I had binoculars and Dan had the big megaphone and we had a spreadsheet with the runners’ names listed on it numerically. I would look through the binoculars and say “Oh Dan it’s 17” and he would say, “17, that’s Molly Ringdahl.” Then he would get on the megaphone and yell “Molly Ringdahl” as she crossed the finish line. And it just grew. A few years later I was announcing the winners again, and I would see people cross the finish line with only one leg, or see people cross the finish line in wheel chairs. Or see people that were running for their mom or sister with breast cancer awareness shirts. And I thought, I want to be a part of that. I’ve never run in my life, but I wanted to be a part of that. So I started a training program, and I have loved it ever since.”

Bohl trained for and ran a half marathon in 2009 without running more than a mile before in her life.

Jamie Traynor, Fargo, ND: “I have a prayer book at home with people that I pray for. So the last race that I ran I wrote down ten names of the most sick people and taped them to my arm, and then at every mile I would pray for a different person. And that would give me something to focus on while I was running. I feel like I don’t do enough of that during the day, so it gives me time to do it during my run.”

Michelle Keil, Communications Manager, Border States Electric, 39 years old: “Border States was an aid station volunteer during a previous Fargo Marathon. I remember seeing people run by, and it was people of every shape, every size, male, female, old, young and I remember thinking Why can’t I do that? All these people are doing it, why aren’t I doing it? My husband did a half marathon one year, and I thought, if he can do this, I can do this. So I remember trying to run for the first time, and I couldn’t even run around the block … I thought that was terrible. So I found a training schedule and the first thing I did was a half marathon. Again, I just thought if all those people I saw working at the aid station that day can do it, why can’t I?” [AWM]