Happy but tired, this group ran a 200-plus mile relay from Winona to Minneapolis two weeks ago as part of the Ragnar Relay. (L-R, front) Lauren Rogahn, Tracey Peterson, Melissa Morell, Lori Yecoshenko, Kathy Bernier (No. 214) and Tina Juckich. (L-R, back) Brian Marx, Nick Schultek, Megan Conde, Keith Graupmann, and Becky Grams. (Not pictured: Sylvia Garcia.)
Both of their finisher medals say “200 miles-ish.” The ish might stand for the 95 to 100 degree heat or the seemingly endless hills run through the heat, but anyway around it, Kathy Bernier and Lori Yecoshenko (former resident of Grand Marais) were glad when the 200-mile-plus Ragnar Great River Run from Winona to Minneapolis was done.
“Basically I had 40 hours with no sleep,” said Bernier. “The first night we slept on a football field and it was too hot to sleep. The next night they crowded about 200 runners into a gym and besides being hot, it smelled like 200 stinky runners had been crowded into a gym! No sleep for me that night either.
“When it was finished I said never again. I was so physically and mentally exhausted. But then, the next day after I had rested and began feeling better I started making plans to run next year.”
For those who don’t know about these phenomena, it’s called “runners amnesia.” It happens to the best of people, and it’s usually incurable. Symptoms occur when an event is over and soreness and stiffness fade away like a dying sun falling into a lake of gentle waves—the waves lap and nip and chip away at the miserable memories while you sleep. In the morning the sun rises once again and—rising with the sun is the mist of misery erased—and one hardly remembers the trials and tribulations one suffered through. This can be both a blessing and a curse depending on where one is at in the “amnesia cycle.”
There were two types of teams in the Ragnar run, six-person teams and 12-person teams.
Bernier and Yecoshenko participated in a 12-person relay. They each ran about 15 miles. The miles were hard, usually going up and it was always hot.
“I only knew two other girls on the team, but we [team members] instantly hit it off,” Bernier said. “I found out about Ragnar through a friend who called and said some people had to back out. Laurie and I and one other girl agreed to join the team.”
Bernier usually runs by herself, covering 10 to 15 miles per week. She started running in 2009 for a couple of years, but took a year and half off and began again the winter of 2013. She has run nine half marathons, a couple of Warrior Dashes, a couple of 5Ks and a couple of 10Ks and plans to run Grandma’s Marathon next year.
“I will have to up my mileage so I can run Grandma’s,” Bernier said. “I’m not fast. I will never win a race, but I enjoy running. One thing that I have learned is that the running community doesn’t care if you are a 13-minute miler or a 6-minute miler. They accept you for who you are, whether you are fast or slow. It doesn’t matter.”
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