Flooding cancels full marathon but doesn’t dampen spirits at Cellcom Green Bay Marathon – Green Bay Press Gazette

Buy Photo

Buy Photo

Buy Photo

Buy Photo

Buy Photo

Buy Photo

Buy Photo

Buy Photo

Buy Photo

Buy Photo

Buy Photo

Buy Photo

Buy Photo

Buy Photo

Buy Photo

Buy Photo

Buy Photo

Buy Photo

Buy Photo

Buy Photo

Buy Photo

Buy Photo

Buy Photo

Buy Photo

Replay

• 1 of 24

• 2 of 24

• 3 of 24

• 4 of 24

• 5 of 24

• 6 of 24

• 7 of 24

• 8 of 24

• 9 of 24

• 10 of 24

• 11 of 24

• 12 of 24

• 13 of 24

• 14 of 24

• 15 of 24

• 16 of 24

• 17 of 24

• 18 of 24

• 19 of 24

• 20 of 24

• 21 of 24

• 22 of 24

• 23 of 24

• 24 of 24

Autoplay

Show Thumbnails

Show Captions

GREEN BAY – The full marathon at the 2019 Cellcom Green Bay Marathon was canceled due to flooding on the course, but that doesn’t mean Sunday wasn’t a good day for a run. 

“This is actually perfect,” Dubuque, Iowa, resident Nick Edwards said as he stretched in the KI Convention Center rotunda. “I’d take this over 80 degrees any day. I feel bad for the full marathoners, but it is what it is.”

Edwards, a Green Bay Packers fan, was among the thousands who lined up at 7:30 a.m. Sunday for the half marathon, which followed a different path on Green Bay’s west side, where flooding was not as severe. 

MORE: Check out the Cellcom Green Bay Marathon results

The full marathon route was not so fortunate. Race organizers said public safety agencies cautioned them flooding and standing water would only increase hazardous conditions on a part of the marathon course that heads south on the Fox River Trail. Cellcom Green Bay Marathon Board President Dr. Ashok Rai said it was a “very strange day” where wind, rain and river levels exacerbated each other. 

“If it was rain alone, no (cancellation). If it was wind alone, no,” Rai said. “But the combination of everything did it.” 

Rai added that since the 26.2-mile run is a qualifier for the Boston Marathon, the race course was laid out months in advance and could not be altered at the last minute. 

“Some things are out of our control. It’s not as simple as running around the water. It was a situation where public safety agencies felt we shouldn’t take a risk,” Rai said. “We made the safest decision for runners and the community.”

Marathon runners were given the option to run the half marathon, which started at 7:30 a.m., instead.  Many did.

“Runners are strong in body and spirit,” Rai said. “They’re still out here for the camaraderie and the joy.” 

Runners had reasons of their own to don an extra layer, adjust their expected times and set out on a rainy run. 

Laura Schiffman, of Freeport, Illinois, Stephanie Clark, of Rockford, Illinois, and Caroline Angyal, of Madison weren’t going to let things like no sleep, flooding and wet conditions ruin their run.

The trio, which originally met at a race in Madison, had agreed to meet up in Green Bay to run the half marathon. Angyal, who was staying with friends in Suamico, got woken up early Sunday to word that flooding was closing roads in the area. Angyal said her friend’s house is dry, but others nearby were not. But all three agreed the adverse conditions only strengthened their resolve to run the race. 

“The ones where we have had bad weather are the ones we talk about forever,” Clark said. “You adjust your expectations. You never know what the weather will be like.”

“If you run long enough, you run races in hail or heat,” Schiffman said. “We drove three and a half hours to get up here. We were going to do this anyway.”

Green Bay-area resident Terry Charles is one of 40 people who has not missed a Cellcom Green Bay half marathon since it started in 2000. He wasn’t going to let something like a cool day cost him his spot in the event’s “Larry Lueck Legends Club” for those who make every run. 

RELATED: When he’s not at the Resch Center, PMI’s Terry Charles is one of 40 running ‘Legends’

“I’ve done them all. I can’t stop now,” Charles said.

Like many other runners, Charles said the wet, cold, windy conditions pale in comparison to running on cold winter days to condition himself for half marathon season. 

“Perfect weather days rarely exist,” Charles said. “You just have to get up and get it done.” 

Dennis Murray has took the “get it done” attitude to a whole different level. The Cellcom Green Bay Marathon was going to be the Sobieski resident’s first full marathon, until it was canceled. Murray’s wife, Dana, said Dennis, undaunted, traced out a 13.1 mile loop from his house to Sunnyside Elementary School to the NEW Zoo. 

“He’s been wanting to do a marathon, so he just decided the route this morning,” Dana Murray said. “He was very determined and when he wants to do something, he won’t stop. It didn’t surprise me he wanted to do this (Sunday).” 

Dana said Murray, a crossfit training at Crossfit One Shot, is on the ketogenic diet to prove runners don’t need carbohydrates.  

“He wanted to show people you don’t have to have carbs to run a marathon,” she said. “I have meat and bone broth ready for him when he finishes.” 

Adam Bibelhauser and Rachel Murphy, of Louisville, Kentucky, set a different sort of personal record for themselves Sunday and provided Green Bay another way to best Chicago.

On a mission to run a half marathon in every state, they said this was the least-welcoming weather they’ve encountered, beating out a rainy half marathon in Chicago last year. Even so, they said there’s no way they weren’t going to run it. 

“You have to embrace the suck,” Murphy said. “You can’t control the weather, so you have to just do it. It’s what we train for. It’s what we’re used to.” 

RELATED: Show must go on for Cellcom Green Bay Marathon runners, organizers

Read or Share this story: https://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/story/news/local/2019/05/19/cellcom-green-bay-marathon-canceled-half-marathon-still-open/3731040002/