For months, Heather and Emma trained — as so many runners throughout Michigan (and beyond) did this spring — for the popular Bayshore Marathon that takes place each Memorial Day weekend in Traverse City, Mich. It would mark Heather's 4th Bayshore Marathon and 9th marathon overall, and for her daughter Emma, a 2018 high school graduate who celebrates her 18th birthday this month, the race would be her very first attempt at 26.2 miles following a 4-year high school cross country running career that included, after this spring's Gazelle Girl Half Marathon, five 13.1 races.
Anyone who ran, or spectated, this year's Bayshore knows this: it was HOT. Brutally warm. Super humid. Low 70s at the 7:15 a.m. start — and it kept getting warmer. The weather certainly was fantastic for an exceptional long holiday weekend. But for running a marathon, half marathon or 10K? Not so much. (At least, not so for most runners who struggled with not having been acclimated to running in these conditions).
Still, it was a beautiful day and it was Bayshore weekend — the unofficial kick-off to summer in northern Michigan.
Heather and Emma talk about the 18-week training plan they followed (they shared some of their runs on the MRG Youtube Channel, as well as on the MRG Facebook page). Emma also shares what it was like committing to a marathon training plan during her senior year.
Mother and daughter get real about how the race unfolded (it was an emotional race, for more reasons than they expected), and what it meant to have shared this experience.