Becoming a Global Hero

As usual I'm a few weeks late in blogging about this, but earlier in the month I had the opportunity to run the Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon 10 Miler as a Medtronic Global Hero. The team was made up of 25 runners who all had implantable medical devices, and despite the various medical challenges we faced, were able to complete distance races. The medical conditions ranged from diabetes to heart conditions to Parkinson's to hydrocephalus. Hydrocephalus being the condition that I suffered from prior to having my shunt implanted to help relieve the pressure of fluid building up in my brain because of my brain tumor.

 

 

 

 

The weekend was amazing. We were treated like VIPs, Medtronic is an incredible company, Minneapolis and St. Paul were beautiful, and it was so great to get a chance to meet and spend the weekend with a group of runners that I had something special in common with. As the saying of the team goes, "a diagnosis didn't end the run". I found myself getting emotional many times over the course of this weekend, and I went from almost crying in my pre-race interview to full on crying during my post race interview. I'm starting to cry just thinking about it! I'll let these pictures tell the story of the weekend.

 

 

Schedule of a Busy Weekend

 

 

Medtronic Headquarters Tour

 

Cerebral Shunts Similar to Mine

(the four little pieces on the shelf)

 

 

Award Luncheon with Medtronic - Hold the Cheese!

 

 

Hydrocephalus Caused by Brain Cancer

 

 

Global Heroes Award We All Received

 

 

Performance by Roger Frisch

(Remember the recent news story about the  man who played
the violin during brain surgery? He was on our team!)

 

 

Medtronic Global Heroes Swag

 

 

 Selfie Selfie with David

 

 

Friday Dinner with My Wisconsin Carlson Family

 

 

 Global Heroes Team Photo on Saturday

 

 

Team Photo with our Boxing Kangaroos!
(gift from our Australian team mate)

 

 

Team Huddle

 

 

Packet Pickup - We Had Our Own Section!

 

 

Girls on the Run!

 

 

Race Morning- Layered in Under Armour

New Shwings Are Ready to Fly!

Me & My Favorite Race Partner

Pre-Race Group Huddle

Put your right shwing in, put your right shwing out...

Getting Ready to Run

I didn't take any pictures along the way....

Approaching the Finish Line

We Did It! First Race Together in 3 Years

37F at the Start, 41F at the Finish - BRRR!

 

 

Race Signs at the Heroes Tent at the Finish

Post Race Celebration

 

 

The weekend went by in a blur and I was sad that it had to end so soon. Being on this team was an amazing experience, and I have a lot of respect and admiration for Medtronic for putting together a team like this to bring us all together and help us celebrate the challenges we've been through. I'm so glad I had to chance to meet everyone on the team and wish we had been able to spend more time together.  We've all been keeping in touch on facebook so who knows, maybe a reunion race will be in the future!