If Linda Brandt invites you to go for a walk -- be prepared.
Her invitation led two of her HSPHD coworkers, Beverly Mackey and Gloria Weaver, to join a group of 10 women who walked Grandma's Marathon in Duluth June 19.
Medalled marathoners, left to right: Linda Brandt, Gloria Weaver, Beverly Mackey.Brandt says, "I've walked 11 marathons -- it's a good experience and a good physical challenge, so I wanted to recruit a bunch of women to do it with me."
She called Mackey, who had reached a plateau in her weight-loss program after dropping 40 pounds last year. "I thought training for this would be a good way to get the weight off," Mackey says. She participated in 5K and 10K races and a half-marathon before Grandma's, "to see what a race is like."
Weaver says she also was interested in training for the project to help with weight loss, and because she had had a good experience with a big physical challenge once before. "In 2002 I did the three-day breast cancer walk in San Francisco for my fiftieth birthday," she says.
In preparation for the marathon, the 10 women did many training walks, separately and together. Says Weaver, "We started with one lap around Lake Calhoun. On Saturday mornings we'd walk three or four hours" -- from Boom Island to the University of Minnesota, through the downtown skyway system, and at the Mall of America.
During the marathon the walkers were surprised and grateful for the support they received from the sidelines. "Obviously, we came in several hours after the runners, but the neighborhood people were out there in their lawn chairs, cheering us on, giving us water and apple slices," Mackey remembers.
Weaver is especially appreciative of the assistance she received when she struggled with serious blisters on her left foot. She wrote to friends after the race, "Mile 16/17 I had to visit the medical tent and met one of the most caring and gentle volunteer fireman medics, Eric, I could wish for. Not only did Eric take care of my foot, he gave me his fireman's cap -- I had lost mine during the walk and I really needed the visor. The sun was fierce."
At mile 21, she wrote, " I was really getting into trouble -- my breathing had become very labored; my walking partner Linda [Brandt] was getting pretty concerned although she did not let on to me. She kept talking to me and trying to get me to talk and drink water...a complete stranger, Mike, and his daughters came to my rescue -- they came with water and bananas and just got me through the next two miles. Mike's daughters had noticed my struggles and encouraged him to help me. They had just come out of their house to head for a walk down by Lake Superior. Can you believe it?"
The team is home with their official T-shirts and medals. Weaver is still limping with second-degree burns on her foot, but she says she is proud of her "battle scars."
"It's kind of a badge of honor," she says. "I even took a picture of my foot!"
Mackey says the marathon was a good exercise for her mind as well as her body. "My motto is, I can grow old bitter or better -- and I choose better," she says. "We noticed there were not a lot of women of color in this -- and we felt like we wanted to say, 'If it's something you really want, do it -- set a goal and follow it.'"
Interested? "We're still recruiting," adds Brandt, who is planning to walk the Twin Cities Marathon this fall.
