There is a website where you can search all 5Ks in Minnesota. I go on there looking for nearby races. I found one in Alexandria this past Saturday. Turns out, it was a memorial run for a young man who had committed suicide two years ago. I did not know anything about the story of the young man when I arrived at the park. I found out he loved fitness, working out, and he had run and competed in races with his Dad. The environment in that park was amazing! So much work had gone into organizing. There was a 5K run, 5K walk, 1K run for kids, and 1K walk, silent auction, DJ, concession stands, professional timers. It was also beautiful, with songs, stories, memories. It was extraordinary. Prior to the race, there was a talk about suicide and lengths of string were distributed – some long, some short. The point was made that we all have different lengths of life to live. No one knows how long their string is. Kids were encouraged to come forward and tie these lengths of string to their shoes and think each day how they can be kind to others.
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Sheila
This writing was so beautiful and so well done, sharing our story and yours about running! Tears of joy and sadness of course flowed as we read your words.
What a wonderful and accurate description of your experience and what our intentions are with celebrating Matt’s life through our event. We have designed our event with these multiple dimensions and are so happy to know that you experienced all of them!!
Thank you so much for this, our words cannot express our appreciation!
Our hope is that God’s Blessings will continue to flow into your life!
Sue, Mike, Andy Kjelland
The Kjellands are good friends of ours, your post brought tears, because it described perfectly the meaning and purpose of Matt’s Memorial Race! Thank you for sharing – hope to see you next year!
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Thank you for the powerful article. This is what we, as parents, want the outcome of Matt’s life and death to be. We hope others will feel they are valuable and can choose to be humble and kind. Our family has also battled Lyme disease. Matt had it the worst and it affected his muscles , back and chest most. He was unable to work out and be physically active for a long time. That left him feeling very down. He was just starting to improve when this happened. He is so missed and so loved. A wonderful son!
I hope this does leave an impact on you and others. That we remember how Matt lived and not how he died.
Congratulations on your run! Keep it up.
Again, thanks
Wow….Thank you for this summary. Mike and Sue do an awesome job with this run and so powerful to read how you felt about it. Good things coming from dark days.
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Hi , my name is Jeannie and I’m 52 years old get ready for my first 1/2 marathon, I run to celebrate life and to me running is a form of prayer , you see 15 years ago I had a snow tubing accident in my own back yard , which I have no memory of – I was in coma for 4 days and broke 14 bones with trauma to my brain ! My last memory before waking up was a indescribable experience with visiting Jesus ! I run to celebrate my life as Jesus quided me home after Doctors told my family I would not live ! Glory to God I beat the odds , after years of therapy and holding on to my faith and continuing to feel the love Jesus showed to me !! Running is my form of prayer !
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