Two local teachers, local city official tackle Twin Cities Marathon

• Racing to the finish line

Woodbury High School teacher Mark Andrews’ goal is to complete 60 marathons.

Talk about it

Mark Andrews and Zach Ludvigson are both teachers at Woodbury High School. But they also had never met before, until they learned that they both had completed the Twin Cities Marathon on Oct. 4.

The Twin Cities Marathon was Ludvigson’s first attempt at the distance. For Andrews, a social studies teacher, the race represented the 57th time he has crossed the finish line at 26.2 miles.

Ludvigson, a math teacher, said he decided to set the goal of running a marathon because he saw it as a challenge, something he craves.

“I’m the kind of person who sees a challenge and likes to pick it up,” he said. “And I just set the Twin Cities Marathon as a goal — it was something that I wanted to check off my early bucket list.”

Conversely, Andrews’ goal is to complete 60 marathons while he’s still 60 and he’s fast on his way to reaching the goal since he has qualified for the Boston Marathon. He also plans to run the Minneapolis Marathon, and then finally Grandma’s Marathon a month later.

“The marathons give such a sense of accomplishment,” he said. “It’s a chance to prove to yourself that you can do it — you’re celebrating life.”

Both teachers admitted they didn’t train to the fullest extent possible leading up to the marathon.

Andrews routinely runs four miles a day and said he felt he was in good enough condition to get through the race without putting in the extra miles.

“The Twin Cities Marathon was like all marathons,” he said.

Ludvigson said he has never ran more than 18 miles and leading up to the marathon not more than five.

But during the marathon itself, Ludvigson said he used his math skills and his five-mile training to his advantage by running the miles in fives.

“What I kept telling myself mentally as I was running was ‘run five miles, I’m gonna run another five miles,’” he said. “It became a mental challenge as I hit every one — you just mentally get into the groove.”

“It’s kind of battling the pain, but forgetting about it at the same time.”

Andrews said he agrees with Ludvigson that at a certain point, marathon running becomes more of a mental challenge than a physical challenge when it comes to pushing yourself to keep going.

“It becomes mind of matter at some point — you just get into that mental rhythm and you just have to keep going,” Andrews said. “It’s amazing how fast the clock goes when you have a goal set for yourself.”

Afton City Hall’s marathoner

Another avid marathon runner who laced up his running shoes for the Twin Cities Marathon was Afton city administrator Jim Norman.

“I love running because you don’t need a court partner, you don’t need a tee off time, all you need are running shoes and some shorts and the time,” Norman said.

Over the last 20 years, Norman has run 76 marathons all around the world, but the Twin Cities Marathon is one that he always seems to come back to because it is one of his favorites.

“It has such a great crowd, right when you need the crowd,” he said.

Norman ran this year’s marathon as support for his 18-year-old nephew in his first marathon.

Norman said he typically runs a marathon in about 4 hours, 30 minutes, but he ran at his nephew’s pace this time around.

“No matter how hard it is, no matter how many marathons I run, I always enjoy when you can see that finish line,” he said.

Tags: twin cities marathon, city administrator, jim norman, woodbury high school, lifestyle, teachers, woodbury, afton