A glorious three-day event ending with one of life's ultimate challenges

This is a special time of year for me, bringing out a flood of memories of my past. Starting today through Saturday our city of Bismarck will be full of Nike, Adidas, Asics, New Balance, and other brands of running shoes pounding the streets, at different distances, all culminating with one of life's ultimate goals - a 26.2-mile marathon. For every event, the bottom line is to cross the finish line, no matter how fast or slow. All ages will face their own personal challenge, with their mind and body. Medals will be draped upon the finishers and plenty of post-race hugs. For a look at ALL the events scheduled, click here.

 The most glamorous event is THE marathon

I can speak of experience on this, in my past, I have completed 14 of these, all of them, of course, the same - 26.2 miles - and all of them have separate stories of struggle and triumph. For most of us, the challenge is to simply cross the finish line, the ticking of a clock should not come into play. Every step you take is mostly a battle within yourself, whether your mind or body shouts out "I can't do this..." - somehow you keep going, and this is the beauty of the marathon. As corny as this saying goes, it's 100% true - "A marathon is like life, to cross the finish line is the real reward" - For all of you that are running your first one, I promise you this, you will never forget it.


 

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