Shelly Johnson
Charlie Sayers
ONE STEP AT A TIME
BY ALICIA UNDERLEE NELSON | PHOTOS BY 5FOOT20 DESIGN LOUNGE
It takes a special kind of athlete to weather the physical and mental challenges of a half or a full marathon. It takes even more dedication to continue to train through a long North Dakota winter. Three local women who are planning to run in The Fargo Marathon races on May 10 share how they keep their lives balanced during training and keep their minds focused on marathon day.
A Blend of Passion and Discipline
Shanna Gratton Demke is a Software Implementer Specialist at Intelligent InSites in Fargo who recently moved to West Fargo with her husband Will. She caught the running bug in 2010 when she ran the TC 1 Mile Race in Minneapolis as a team-building exercise with colleagues from her previous workplace. “That started kind of a love affair with summer early morning runs and race days,” she said. Gratton Demke, who will run the half marathon for the North Dakota Leadership Seminar GoFar Charity team, is already in the thick of training. She took a few months off and then ramped up training at the end of last year, with a goal of running a 5K in 35 minutes or less. “That puts me at a good base to be able to ramp up training in mid-January,” she said. “Besides running, I’ll do spin and yoga for cardio and injury prevention. As soon as things warm up in the spring, I’m hitting all the West Fargo walking/biking trails I can. Being outside is really where I like to run the most.”
North Dakota’s extreme weather – and longer periods of darkness – make outdoor running risky in winter, so runners must be creative and flexible. “Once October passes, I do an occasional run outside, but it’s finding an indoor substitute that is challenging,” said Gratton Demke. “As long as I can do other high-cardio activities, winter training is usually pretty smooth.” Shelly Johnson and Charlie Sayers are training partners, personal trainers and group fitness instructors at Xtreme Measures in Fargo. (Sayers also works as a fitness instructor at Fargo’s Snap Fitness.) Their work affords them an indoor space and a variety of fitness activities to shake up their training routine. “I teach group fitness classes five times a week, so at least I get those runs in during the week,” said Johnson, a resident of West Fargo. “Ideally, I wanted to get in three shorter runs and a long run on the weekend.” Last year the pair increased the length of their runs as their training progressed and they plan to do the same this year. They try to run outside as much as possible, regardless of the weather. “We trained mostly in the Fargo, Moorhead, West Fargo area,” Sayers said. “Most of the long runs were done on the weekend with a gradual increase in miles, from 12 to 22. I’m pretty sure we saw nearly every street, bike path and gas station bathroom in the F-M area while training!”