What would you say if I were to ask you, “What is something that less than two percent of the people who have walked the earth have ever done?” The answer would be running a half marathon. Even more extreme is a full marathon. Recent statistics show that less than one half of one percent of the people who have ever lived on planet earth have ever run a full marathon. Now, you could say that people who do such things must be either amazing or insane. However, you must admit they are extremely unique.

That is why you can say that three Wagner residents are certainly very unique. On Sunday, June 6, 2021, Mieke Slaba, Julie Cartney, and Tom Cartney all participated in the Deadwood Mickelson Trail Marathon and Half Marathon. For those of you who are not familiar with the distances, the half marathon is 13.1 miles and the full marathon is 26.2 miles. Along the race route, each one of them had to run into the wind, through the woods, up the hills, down the valleys, and through the meadows before they finally reached the finish line.

There are a variety of reasons why each of these Wagner residents, and all runners, choose to challenge themselves to run long distances. Distance running provides the opportunity to increase your endurance, strengthen your heart, improve your circulation, challenge your mental and emotional limits, cope with stress, and learn to press on through pain and problems. Every distance runner knows that there are many points in the run when you are tempted to quit. However, when the runner presses on through those temptations to quit, they learn how to persevere through doubts and obstacles. This skill transfers into many areas of life.

In the event you are wondering how each of the runners did in the race, let us begin by saying every runner who finishes has already won a major victory. In the half marathon, Julie Cartney finished with a time of 2:42:41. Mieke Slaba finished 8th in her age division, crossing the finish line with a time of 1:45:55. Tom Cartney finished 1st in his age division, and 37th out of 285 runners. His final time was 3:43:12. Each of them was able to celebrate the completion of hours of training and a goal well-achieved. So, if you ever see someone running through town, chances are pretty good it just might be one of these three people. Feel free to honk, yell an encouraging word, or simply wave. If you are really daring, grab yourself some running shoes and join them. While it will be hard at first, it will pay off in the end. And who knows…you too may just do something that ninety-eight percent of the humans on planet earth have never had the courage to attempt.