(This is part 3 of a 4-part story series covering fun, friends, and fashion over my 40 years of running.)

Part 1 of my Running Through the Years Series covers my (faster) teenage (younger) years. Link to the story: Running Through the Years (Part 1)

Part 2 of my Running Through the Years Series covers my young adulting runs and Omaha Running Club years. Link to the story: Running Through the Years (Part 2)

Part 3 of my running story spans the late-90s through 2018….

Through our 30s, with a daily whirlwind of backpacks, field trips, and daycare, Kristi, Angy, and I continued our 5:30 a.m. morning runs. As working moms with kids of the same age, these runs were equally therapy as exercise. Our routine and route rarely varied (started and ended at Kristi's house), but the company would occasionally change. I recruited my brother-in-law, Russ, to join our morning runs during this time. He was at a fitness peak after losing weight and, in turn, picked up a running routine. Unlike the chatty women he joined on these morning runs, Russ was concerned about things we had never noticed: the exact length of the route and our official clocked time.

My brother-in-law was former military, a competitive athlete in high school and college, and a successful coach. To him, there was no reason to run if you were not gauging your improvement and running with a goal in mind. He brought a whole new element into our morning routine. Before we knew it, we checked our improving times daily, with Russ pushing us to go harder with each step. Our chats were reduced as we were too winded to talk.

Russ became our coach, and we became his faithful team. In no time, our group signed up for our first half marathon with set time goals and a strict training plan. We ran the Omaha half-marathon together in the fall. We finished in the hilly fog with threats of escaped zoo animals and still ran well, beating our finish time goal. Coach Russ pulled us through.

At some point during the early 2000s, Russ dropped out of our group for reasons I can't remember (work conflict, injury, or lack of sleep?). He did leave us with a by-product of his intense training: we caught the racing and training bug. Being the social connector of our group, Angy found a group of organized runners who also met for early morning runs. This pivot changed the core of our little group.

Angy successfully led a merger of sorts; our run group of three was now part of this more serious and expansive running group. Our new morning runs especially challenged Angy, as she enjoyed the push. Kristi and I were happy to be invited to join and decided to give the merger a chance. Admittedly, there was some hesitation as we enjoyed our morning running therapy. The trade-off of the competitive push was something we weren't convinced balanced out, but we knew we could always return to our old route and routine. So we gave it a shot.

Butch was the leader of this group called the "Early Morning Milers.” Different routes and mileage depended on the day and an organized by a weekly e-mail from Butch. In a time before text messaging and email alerts on our phones, organizing daily runs was not an easy task. Butch masterfully gathered his flock, communicating via e-mail like clockwork. If there was a change in the schedule or a special request, you always ran it by Butch first. He was our running patriarch.

Our eclectic group covered a wide range of ages, wider motivations for running, and varying personalities. Kristi and I soon found the variety in runs and runners brought a new element of interest to our routine. The change-up was welcome. Everyone had a story; we loved hearing them all as we ran our miles and enjoyed the company. The runs quickly became about logging in miles and tracking running paces, which we monitored closely. It was at this point that running a marathon entered our radar.

Kristi and I toyed with the idea of a running marathon but always fell back on the fact that we weren't ‘marathoners.’ That was we them, not us. As others in our group mapped out their next marathon sign-up, we just put in the miles with them. Then, one night, my young cousin, Angelina, called begging, "Will you and Kristi please train and run the Chicago Marathon with me? That would be sooooo cool! Please, please!!"

Our answer was, "We're in!"

**The Early Morning Miler Ladies Go Out**

`Angelina + Suzy, Kristi, Angy, Sandy, Michelle`
`A little get-together for Angelina at the close of the summer before Angelina moves back home.`

Angelina had nannied for me a few summers past and joined our morning runs. Now a college student in Chicago, she thought it would be a great idea for us to train apart and then run our first marathon together. Kristi couldn't run the Chicago Marathon but committed to the training and would run the Omaha Marathon. Training began, and we became part of the morning running group with a marathon on the calendar. We passed the runner's initiation and were secretly accepted as part of the group.

So we ran, and we ran, and then ran the same thing again. We listened attentively to the other runner's training plans and past marathon experiences. We logged miles until we could barely move, then planned our next run. Honestly, it was a bit like Groundhog Day. Kristi and I would beg people to join us on different legs of our training runs to entertain us and tell us stories. My brother, Matt, would keep us company while riding his bike, and other runners would come and pick up five or so miles with us during our long 20+ mile runs. We knew how Forest Gump felt (with no Jenny).

Then, our first big event day arrived. Kristi tackled the hilly and very ‘Omaha-ish’ Omaha Marathon. She finished strong with her running comrades cheering her on to the finish line.

Next, it was my turn. I flew to the windy city for my big event, but with no Angelina to accompany me. She had an ankle injury and wouldn't be able to participate. Several of my running group had also entered this marathon, but all were seasoned marathoners with paces much quicker than my 4-hour goal. With Kristi's recent finish as my motivation, I took on my marathon solo. But as with anything else in life, a person can always find a friend if they take the time, make eye contact, and strike up a conversation with the right person.

My newfound running friend was a lady by the name of Dana. She, too, was 40ish, running her first marathon, and to beat 4 hours. Dana ran in a running skirt and was cute as a button. She had a little more motivation than me, as her entire hometown in Illinois was monitoring her performance. She was a pastor's wife and a personal trainer when not raising her kids.

A local radio station followed Dana, broadcasting her quest to run her first marathon in less than 4 hours. With Dan’s extra peer pressure and motivation, we stuck together through mile 15. At this mile marker, I experienced side cramps but somehow rallied through. Dana ran off with the 4-hour pace runners, and we parted ways. I did see in the final results that she clocked in a final time of 3:58. No public humiliation for Dana!

Angelina joined me for the last five miles, wanting to support me since this was all her idea. By mile 19, I became crabby seeing Angelina's smiling, fresh-from-not-running face. She was very chatty and encouraging. In my temporary state of fatigue insanity, I did not welcome her training assistance. I remember asking her to talk about anything as long as she didn’t expect an answer.

Although I learned what the term ‘hitting the wall’ meant, I finished in just over 4 hours. Gina and I crossed the finish line hand in hand. Gina was beautiful as ever, vibrantly smiling. I looked like one of the living dead. Greeted by a barrage of volunteers placing finisher’s medals around our necks, Gina was told, "Oh my gosh, you look so good for running a marathon!" With her accepting smile, Angelina simply responded with, "Oh, thanks!"

Fortunately, I had no strength to lift my arms toward her neck…

After the euphoria of earning the honor of finishing a marathon, Kristi and I had time to reflect on our running adventure. We concluded that we were the first marathoners in history who gained weight during our training, overcompensating after burning running calories by overeating. We also concluded that we didn't like spending all of our free time running. We had other hobbies and interests outside of running. Our running motivation was mainly the ability to wear our smallest pair of jeans. Since we didn't accomplish that with a marathon, we moved on to Plan B. No more marathons for Kristi and Sandy—our running badge of honor with an early retirement from the sport of marathoning.

We continued running with the Early Morning Milers, with runners in this group falling in and out for various reasons. Tam joined the group simply by running from her driveway while our group ran by her house. Joining us, she was quickly added to the e-mail list. Cindy was added after a chance conversation at an eye doctor appointment. Another add to the e-mail list.

After fighting a valiant battle with cancer, Butch left us in death. The weekly e-mails stopped with the Early Morning Milers disbanding into smaller groups. We missed our fearless leader. On occasion, we would get together in his memory and reminisce of many Butch runs, while healthy and sick, and have a cup of cheap coffee to toast our friend.

Morning run done before the sun

Butch and his grands

Race Day

Differing post-race looks

Post-marathon and post-40 brought a post-marriage stage for me. This unexpected event was a slow brew for about a year. During that year, I did not speak of my woes at home on our morning runs. In retrospect, it was probably wishful thinking that the tide would turn. There is always finality once words are spoken, something I just wasn't ready to accept.

Our post-Butch running group had dwindled down to the ‘Fab Four’ (our coined name by the other runners), including Kristi, Tam, Cindy, and me. I revealed my life-changing situation to my comrades the day I filed for divorce. They stayed by my side every step of the way since.

My friends later told me I had strangely fallen silent on our runs. They sensed something was wrong, but running and the comfort of our shared stories of daily life got me through. Running therapy came in many shapes and sizes over the years as we shared heartaches and life-changing events in our daily morning runs. Our golden rule was ‘what is said on the run stays on the run.’

I closed out my years in Omaha with my morning running routine back at Kristi's house, where it all began. The circle of running seems to follow the circle of life. Although our morning runs continued with no big training runs, our running chats continued in full force. The running part was simply a formality of our friendship. Accountability partners on the run and in life.

After my youngest son graduated from high school in 2018 and twenty years of 5:30 am runs with Kristi & friends, I moved with my husband, Garrett, from Omaha. As I like to say about my life's many full and glorious chapters, this chapter was a good run.