Running: Run for fun at Run For the Lakes

Riverside staff members Amy Cronquist (front left), Jena Downs, Mary Egan, Jean Martin, Amanda Ramey, Lori Hodge, Ben Schamber, Jared Diem, Norma Hanson (second row left), Heather Leger, Jennessa Spry, Trisha Kramer, Stephanie Lambrecht, Nicole Petrich, Jill O’Grady, Tammy Dalin (top left) and Laura Paulson are involved in this Saturday’s Run For the Lakes Marathon. (Kelly Humphrey, Brainerd Dispatch)

By Brainerd Dispatch

April 28, 2016 at 9:47 AM

The ninth annual Run for the Lakes Marathon events are scheduled Friday and Saturday April 29-30.

The Brainerd Jaycees, event organizers, are anticipating more than 1,500 participants this year.

Events include a 1K kids fun run, 5K, 10K, half and full marathons and a relay marathon. The kids fun run is 6:30 p.m. Friday with the 5K run/walk starting 15 minutes later.

Taking on the relay marathon this year will be a group of 20 teachers and staff from Riverside Elementary School. Of the 20 runners, only three have done the relay marathon before, said Mary Egan, building secretary at Riverside.

The idea came about from some bantering Egan was doing with a third-grade teacher, she said. The teacher challenged her on whose team could complete the race faster and it escalated from there.

"It just spurred from people jumping on and wanting to be part of the piece of that," Egan said.

The school has five teams of four runners each competing in the relay marathon Saturday. Each person on the team will run 6.5 miles, Egan said, to make up the total 26.2-mile marathon distance. The last person runs a bit more than 6.5 miles, in order to complete the final two-tenths of a mile.

"At this point, people are starting to get nervous," Egan said, with a laugh. "Some are sore."

Egan ran the relay marathon about 6-7 years ago with some people from Brainerd Public Schools, she said. She runs a "little bit here and there, but not hard-core, like (Brainerd teacher) Casey Miller," she said.

Egan's team has unfortunately turned into a bit of a M.A.S.H unit recently, as she developed shingles a week and a half ago and had to pull out, with another runner stepping in for her. Another runner on her team "threw his back out," she said, while another female runner "developed a bad hip and vertigo."

"But they're all still going to run it, going to do it, just do our best," Egan said.

The competition between the teams about who will finish first isn't the most important thing this weekend, Egan said.

"We're not going for the time," she said. "This is just pulling together as a team and doing something together as a school."

On Saturday, the marathon, half marathon and relay marathon start at 8 a.m. with the 10K run starting 30 minutes later.

Defending marathon champions are Brian Ropers-Huilma in the men's division and Melissa Jansen in the women's.

On-site registration is available from 2 to 8 p.m. Friday at Grand View Lodge's Norway Center.

Since the Run for the Lakes began in 2008, more than 7,500 runners have participated and more than $50,000 has been raised and donated to area charities. The majority of proceeds have been donated for trail restoration and development throughout the Brainerd lakes area but more than 25 area charities have received donations.

Run For the Lakes Marathon

Friday, April 29

• 2 to 8 p.m., Packet pick-up and last minute registration for all races at Grand View Lodge-Norway Center

• 6:30 p.m., Kids Fun Run, Nisswa

• 6:45 p.m., 5K Run/Walk, Nisswa

• 7:45 p.m., 5K awards, Nisswa

Saturday, April 30

• 6:30 to 7 a.m., Late packet pick-up for marathon, half marathon, relay marathon and 10K in Nisswa

• 8 a.m., Marathon, half marathon, relay marathon start

• 8:30 a.m., 10K start

• 10 a.m., 10K awards

• 11:30 a.m., half marathon awards