Mother runner Lisa Payne Kirker shares her most important mile, which took place a couple of years ago on a late-fall holiday in her small Michigan town.
The most important mile of my life was mile one of our first annual Marshville “Dam Pie” 5K race on Thursday, Nov. 24, 2011. A few weeks before, my neighbor and BRF Amy TenBrink and I decided to put together a small Thanksgiving morning turkey trot around our country block. We wanted to get in some girl time and burn a few calories before the chaos of the holiday began. We thought we might get 10 of our friends and neighbors to show up and run with us. We were wrong. That first year we had more than 60 participants; walkers, runners, and children riding bikes while their parents ran. Last year…82! (We live in a community of less than 500 people.)
I will always remember that first mile. I was on such a high already after watching all of these people line up in my driveway, on a cold Thanksgiving morning, to run around my block. As we ran as a group, I chatted with strangers, introducing myself and thanking them for coming, and laughed with my friends – shocked that our little run turned into something so big.
For the past two years, the high from the those miles lasts all day. It seems like such an amazing gift for Amy and me. Not only do we get to run on a crisp, Michigan morning, but we get to run with almost 100 other people – sharing our love of running, as well as some healthy snacks and a few glasses of champagne afterwards. Truly, it’s one of my favorite days of the year, and my favorite miles of the year as well.
What was (or will be) the most important mile of your life? We want to know.
We’re going to make this an ongoing feature on the website (and potentially include some important miles in our yet-to-be-named third book, out in spring of 2015). Best way to submit is to email us your story with a picture: runmother {at} gmail {dot} com with “Most Important Mile” in the subject line. Please try to keep your mile stories under 300 words. Thank you!
Yay for Michigan moms! What a neat experience. We are talking about hosting a New Year’s Eve midnight run this year, but I don’t think we’ll have that many participants!
Kari…you never know! :)
What a fabulous idea and so very special that so many families get involved! Yeah for sharing and encouraging a healthy lifestyle!
I have been running the ‘Dam Pie’ run since it started and I look forward to it each year! What a great way to start Thanksgiving Day! Thank you to Lisa and Amy for hosting and inviting the community to join you! We love it! I’m already getting my group together to join you again this year!
Lisa and Amy make this such a fun event! I’m glad I got to be a part of it last year and plan to continue in the years to follow. The mimosa at the end was just a nice little bonus!
Thanks, Shelby! See you on Turkey day!
Thanks, Lori! Tell Nick to get his legs warmed up!
I even ran the first Dam Pie 5k with a broken collar bone. I plan Thanksgiving day around it