Runners, volunteers and fans are the heart of storied event
Between the runners, the volunteers and friends and family, tens of thousands of people descended upon downtown Detroit for the 45th annual Free Press Marathon. Here are just a few of their stories:
Century club members
For Mike Webster, 63, of Northville, and Donna Swanson, 70, of Quincy, it was a special day as the two former Redford/Northville Road Runners club members each completed their 100th career marathons.
Webster ran his first marathon in 1983 in Detroit and has done 40 Free Press Marathons, keeping his streak intact in 2020 when he did the virtual race during the pandemic.
Webster made significant strides following his first marathon. In 1991 he ran 2:46. He has done 10 Boston races and two New Yorks, while also competing as a triathlete.
“I hope to be able to run some more,” said Webster, who posted a 4:28:13 on Sunday. “This was my fourth marathon this year.”
Meanwhile, it is the swan song for Swanson. She ran her first Detroit marathon in 1980 and ended her marathon career Sunday with a run of 5:21:23 (second for females 70-74). It was her ninth Free Press Marathon.
“You don’t know if you can really do it and I think the unknown ... it’s just getting through it, I couldn’t sleep that night because I was so keyed up and excited about having run it,” Swanson said of her first 26.2-miler. “I almost remember every minute of it and it was 43 years ago. It was wonderful.”
Along the way she has run a marathon in France (1994), and in 1992 Swanson finished fourth in the Masters Division for females (40and-up) and took home $500.
Swanson said she’ll continue to run, but will transition into half-marathons and hiking, along with more golf and hunting.
A moving experience
Completing a marathon for the first time can be one of life’s most inspirational moments. The dream came true Sunday for Tina Olter, who fought back tears after crossing the finish.
“There’s nothing that can even amount to that feeling,” the 27-year-old Livonia resident said. “The feeling of so much gratitude for my body and the training I’ve done, and the feeling of what I have just accomplished, the inspiration and everything — it’s so incredible, so incredible.”
As a youngster, Olter was inspired by watching her mother, Laura, and her aunt, Krista Stern, run the Detroit marathon.
“Ever since they’ve run all their years of marathons, I’ve wanted to run my own, so here I am, years later,” she said. “It’s been a long time coming.”
And now that she’s officially a seasoned marathoner, what advice would Olter give to those who have not yet tried one?
“Stay inspired,” she said, “and just never lose doubt of what you are capable of as a person. Everybody’s capable of doing this, if they just stay inspired and know what their body can really do.”
If you’re in the club, you never run alone
“BMR” was emblazoned across the shirt of Edmond Perry, 48, of Warren as he finished Sunday’s marathon. Perry looked to be alone in a sea of strangers. He wasn’t.
James West, 56, of New York City strode up to Perry in the finishing area to congratulate him. West had the same initials elsewhere on his jersey. What do they mean?
BMR: “Black Men Run.” It’s a nationwide group with a big membership in Detroit, and growing participation in the Free Press events, they both said.
“We get people here from all over the country,” West added, as he threw an arm around Perry. “And we all get to know each other. I saw him at a previous race,” he said.
The name game
Race participants were allowed to customize their bibs, and many of them went beyond using their everyday names. For every Alison, James or Jeremy in the crowd, there was a Golden Shoes (Ryan Knoll of Fraser), Lets Rock This (Bob Bastien of Adrian), I Just Run (Joe Lupinski of Shelby Township), Glory To God (Matt Yacoub of Northville), OxfordStrong (Darrell McNall of Oxford), Detroit Rock City (Ed Pank of Royal Oak), Peace B Upon U (Rakibul Islam of Troy) and I Need A Beer (Brandon Bolt of Cincinnati).
Then there was Kimberly Williamson, 43, of
Stockbridge, who went by the alias “Isitoveryet?”
“Every time I do this, that’s what I’m thinking,” she said. “Every mile I’m like, ‘Isitoveryet? Isitoveryet? Isitoveryet?’ But I keep doing it. And I’m so happy I did it in the end.”
Williamson completed her first race at age 38, and has gone down the rabbit hole since then.
“I did a 5k five years ago and I’ve been running ever since — over 50 5Ks, three half-marathons, two duathlons, lots of other different races,” she said.
And it’s not over yet.
“Maybe in a couple of years I’ll try a marathon. I gotta get faster. I was slower today, but that’s OK. I’m just happy to finish and not die,” Williamson said, laughing. “I do it to stay healthy and show my kids they can do it as well.”
It takes a village
It takes hundreds of volunteers to make an event like the Free Press Marathon work.
And for 57-year-old Pat Irwin, vice president of human resources at two Henry Ford Hospital locations, it’s about giving back as a staff member.
As customary as he’s done in the past, Irwin patrols the start and finish lines.
Irwin has been a staff volunteer for the Free Press during the past 15 years. And that’s why he rises at 4 a.m. on one Sunday in October each year to do his part.
“If you think about it, this is the city of Detroit, right? Our face to the world,” Irwin said. “And so, when people embrace this race, they embrace the city and the message of Detroit is, ‘We can.’ We’re not defined by ‘We can’t.’ I think this is what this is all about. On a world stage we have runners from about every state in the Union right now and internationally as well, Canada and all other parts of the world. And it’s our ability to tell people this is a great town and a great region. And so, when we volunteer, we just reinforce that.”
Irwin and his younger brother Erin, now 50, coached cross-country for 20 years at Detroit Holy Redeemer and Cesar Chavez high schools. (Erin just completed his 53rd marathon Sunday in 4:20:59, his 27th Free Press, which remains his personal favorite.)
After the Free Press once did an article on Irwin’s Holy Redeemer cross country team and he wanted to get his student-athletes to give back and volunteer.
“They said to me, ‘You do some great stuff. Would you like to come down and do some stuff with your kids and kind of get them used to what this is all about and get them kind of assimilated into it?’ ” Irwin recalled. “And I coached at Holy Redeemer which was predominantly Latino and African American School and not all of my kids were having that kind of experience and exposure. And so, we brought them down just to have a first-hand look at it and we enjoyed it so much we got those kids to volunteer and I volunteered, and one thing led to another and here I am many years later still helping because I love the race and the city.”
Not the same old news
Out of the thousands of marathon finishers Sunday, nearly 50 were over the age of 70.
One of them was Jeff Monteith. The 71-yearold Livonia resident completed his sixth marathon (he ran the international half) — and he didn’t even attempt them until he was 63.
“I started running 5Ks, and I found out I could do that, and then I did 10s,” he said. “I did a lot of running in between. I took one of the 10-week courses as far as how to train, and then I did my first marathon.”
What’s Monteith’s advice to aspiring marathoners — of any age?
“Just start small, get a schedule,” he said. “I was running three times a week and I was able to run a half-marathon.”
While he wasn’t pleased with his time of 3:37:30 (“I’m about half an hour slower”), he still enjoyed the experience.
“I liked it, getting back up into the Midtown area, running through the Cass Corridor, going by Wayne (State),” he said. “What they’ve done with a lot of the buildings there is amazing. Now you go down there, and there’s restaurants and nice housing and everything.”
The oldest finisher we could track was Eugene Barry, 76, of Clawson, who ran 5:20:39.