On November 5th, 2023 Mountain Endurance Team athlete, Heather Mahnken raced the New York City marathon! We all have our reasons for towing the line, for picking a particular distance, race location or race. Sometimes having a meaningful why allows us to show up for each day of training and lean into the process! Read a little bit about her and why she chose the New York City Marathon.
"On April 19, 2017 my youngest son Eli was diagnosed with a brain tumor. It was one of my scariest and saddest days and I didn’t think it could get any worse... until June 22, 2017 when we were told my son had a cancer that did not respond to treatment and we had no options. I held my 2-year-old son and felt completely helpless. How can there be no hope?! The answer: pediatric brain cancer research is severely underfunded, the story for many families. We turned to research to give us an unconventional treatment path to give our family the time to create precious memories.
Eli lived another 5.5 years- traveling to 33 different states, hiking, reading, skiing, playing soccer, and being a Pokémon master. Through his hard work, he learned to run. Maybe because running was so hard for him to do, or maybe it just felt good, either way Eli loved to run. He ran everywhere. In fact, you would see him running most days to school to be the first in line to learn something new. After learning about Wilma Rudolph, he wanted to run in the Olympics. In October 2021, Eli's supporters organized an Olympic event to honor that wish. In August 2022, he was told that his tumors had grown significantly, and the chemo-therapies were no longer able to maintain his disease. Eli’s response, "I want to run the mile at school and make it onto the wall of fame." Guess what? Eli did that. Even with his growing cancer and while taking 3 different chemo-therapies, he was 7th fastest 1st grade boy in his school. Sadly, our warrior died in October 2022.
Loss changes you. It is not a choice, rather something that is thrusted upon you. Losing a child is like losing an extension of who you are. Eli grew in my belly; he was the little caboose to complete our family, and through life circumstances beyond our control, he made me the mom I always wanted to be. He brought a special light to our family’s life. Now his earthly presence is gone. The world continues marching forward; and I am left to make a choice: I could let this horrific and unfair situation rot inside of me and pretend that I am the same person, or I can honor that I am forever a changed person. I have picked option two.
Training for a marathon is hard. It is a physical act of pushing your body past its comfort zone and allowing you to see the potential within yourself. It is through this experience of training, listening to my body, giving my mind moments to be present, that I am able to realize how much I have to celebrate. I can celebrate my family. I can celebrate my friends and my faith. Above all, I can celebrate myself. I run to give life back to me. Finding that level of resilience is priceless, and this experience is something I will always cherish.
Why did I choose the New York City Marathon? When Eli was told that medicine could no longer control his disease, we asked him what his 3 wishes were for life. We had planned to go as a family to New York City, Spiderman’s City, in October of 2022. He said that he would rather go ride roller coasters than go to New York. However, in true Eli style, his hand grabbed mine and he placed it on my heart and said, “don’t worry mom you can take me to New York City in your heart.” Between Eli’s love of running and the opportunity to visit all the boroughs of New York City, I jumped at the chance to run the New York City Marathon on behalf of the Children’s Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation.
Eli ran his last mile with me the day before he died. When we finished (and yes he beat me), he told me, “Mom you really need to start training.” Every time I want to quit and give up; I remember the hours he put in on the treadmill, doing box jumps, and all his therapy home programs. We all can do hard things, we are all warriors, and in November I will run and celebrate all 26 miles... because I can." - Heather
The Mountain Endurance Team
Love this so much