Nate Carlson recently traded his cross country skis and ski suit for running shorts, shoes, and sunglasses when he traveled with his family to the Bahamas to run in a half-marathon (13.1 miles). The race was held in Nassau. His mom, Julie Carlson, won the trip and the entry into the race. Nate, a 9th grader at CCHS, finished sixth in his age group.
Nate Carlson briefly put away his cross-country skis and headed south to take part in the Bahamas Half Marathon held Sunday, January 15 in Nassau.
Carlson completed the 13.1-mile course in 2 hours 4 minutes and 11 seconds, about what he had hoped for.
“It was hot and humid and I haven’t been running so I wasn’t expecting much, but it was fun to run the course,” said Carlson, a ninth grader at Cook County High School who participates in track, cross country running and cross country skiing.
Nate, who completed the Grandma’s half marathon in 1 hour and 48 minutes last June, hadn’t made any plans to run a winter race until his mother, Julie, announced that she had won a weekend trip for two to compete in the Bahamas Marathon.
Julie won the flight and accommodations through a fundraising event sponsored by SiriusXM and Charity Buzz’s Hunger-thon benefiting the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.
The announcement didn’t give Nate any time to train for running, but he’s in great shape from cross-country skiing, so he was up for trying the half marathon.
Because Julie had a total knee replacement last year she knew she couldn’t even walk a full marathon yet, so she called to ask race officials if she could walk the halfmarathon. “They said that because I was an adult they couldn’t let me in the halfmarathon. But when I asked about Nate getting into the half-marathon they agreed to let him run because he is under 18,” said Julie.
With Nate running it was up to Julie, his dad Rod and brother Aaron to cheer him to a 6th place finish in his age group.
Nate said the best part of the race was the scenery; he watched the sun come up as he ran across the bridge to Paradise Island and was exhilarated to finish on Cable Beach with the cruise ship in the background.
The worst part?
“It was really hot running through the downtown area,” said Nate.
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