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Wednesday, April 22, 2020 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
Social distancing
marathon in Sisters
By Jodi Schneider
Correspondent
If you9ve started running
or gotten back into it in the
last few weeks during the
pandemic, you9re not the only
one. Cities across the country
have seen a rise in the number
of people walking, hiking and
biking outside as social dis-
tancing guidelines have taken
hold.
Runners across the country
are still hitting the pavement
and the trails even while most
races are canceled or post-
poned, including the Boston
Marathon.
Sisters resident Virginia
Silvey, a marathoner who
has been running/walking
for nearly 40 years, had been
recently training for a race
that was canceled as a conse-
quence of COVID-19.
She told The Nugget,
<Eight of us Sisters ladies
have been training for
the Avenue of the Giants
Marathon, Half Marathon,
and 10 K Run that was to be
happening May 3, 2020.=
Silvey ran quite a few
marathons, including the New
York City Marathon, with her
oldest son Troy, and ran the
Portland Marathon with her
younger son Brandon.
<We have trained hard for
12 weeks and believe we are
all winners,= Silvey said. <We
decided to keep training and
hold our own race here in
Sisters 4 with social distanc-
ing 4 at the beginning of
May without spectators.=
It9s a way to get in their
workouts, reduce the sense of
isolation and work off some
stress with gyms closed amid
the coronavirus. Running pro-
vides a social outlet in a time
when officials are encourag-
ing social distancing and lim-
iting the size of gatherings to
10 or fewer.
The group met and became
friends through the Sisters
Athletic Club.
Group member Heidi
Franz-Tremblay, an employee
at The Paper Place, said, <We
are all between 51 and 75 and
even have a dog in our group,
Mabel, a black lab.=
Franz-Tremblay ran three
half marathons over a decade
ago in her early 40s.
<Doing a half marathon
again seemed like a great
challenge and a way to push
myself physically and men-
tally again,= Franz-Tremblay
said. <I think our entire group
felt that quitting and giving up
was not an option, and I find
the ladies in our group to be
incredibly inspiring! They are
great role models on what can
be accomplished in your 60s
and 70s.=
The Nugget Newspaper Crossword
By Jacqueline E. Mathews, Tribune News Service
Silvey and another mem-
ber, Anna Blumenkron, ran
a half marathon in August of
2019 and began talking about
participating in the Avenue
of the Giants Marathon, Half
Marathon and 10 K Run as a
group.
We are all winners
because we are doing
it. You can keep going —
doesn’t matter your age.
— Virginia Silvey
Franz-Tremblay noted,
<This was a race through the
old growth redwoods and
was on Virginia9s bucket
list. Virginia, Anna and I all
signed up right away and
told our friends at the Sisters
Athletic Club about the race.
Others expressed interest and
our group grew from three to
eight, nine including the dog.=
She added, <As every-
thing began to change with
the coronavirus, our race was
eventually moved to October.
We talked, and all agreed we
did not want to give up on our
race that we had been training
for since the end of January.
So, we continued our training
with our long group runs on
Sundays (socially distanced
of course) and began talking
about how we could make it
as authentic as possible.=
Franz-Tremblay worked
with a T-shirt designer in
Bend. Their neon green rac-
ing T-shirts say: <Social
Distancing Sisters 10K and a
half.= Another member, Sara
Euser, is crafting race bibs,
while Silvey, Marna Griffin,
and Blumenkron picked the
route for the race.
Silvey noted, <We are run-
ning through some of the open
trails through the forest. We
are following the rules and
carry our own water, keeping
9-12 feet apart.=
Non-runners Susan Wilson
and Sara Eastler helped by
making race medals out of
wood that all the participants
will receive, and racing num-
bers, so each participant will
look official. Pat Obrack-
Piper is the finish-line official.
Participants for 10 K are:
Pam Christ, 61; and Sarah
Griffin, 51; with Mabel, her
dog. Several will run the
13.1-mile half marathon:
Joan Blancett, 63; Heidi
Franz-Tremblay, 54; Sara
Euser, 65; Anna Blumenkron,
62; Virginia Silvey, 71; and
Marna Griffin, 75.
Silvey said, <We are all
winners because we are doing
it. You can keep going 4
doesn9t matter your age.=
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