Laura Burmeister ran her first Crim in 1997, just a few short years after losing her mother to breast cancer, her inspiration to start running.
The 43-year-old Brandon Township resident still remembers vividly the bands and the people cheering her on during the 10-mile race in Flint. As she turned and hit the bricks on Saginaw Street near the finish line, she got a lump in her throat that she was doing it.
‘I looked up to the heavens and said, ‘Mom, push me through,?? Burmeister recalls. ‘My mom never complained, she did the chemo and if she could do that, I could do this for her.?
On Aug. 22, more than 10,000 participants will gather in downtown Flint for the 33 annual Crim Festival of Races. One of the top five road races in the state, the main 10 mile event attracts more than 7,000 runners.
Since that race 12 years ago, Burmeister has run off and on. She injured her Achilles tendon from overtraining and had to have surgery about eight years ago, causing her to take an extended break from the sport. She took it up again, but then got busy with with life and raising two children. Then, this past January, she did early bird registration for this year’s Crim, set for Aug. 2, and about three weeks ago joined a training program for the Brooksie Way Half Marathon.
‘I’m just telling myself, ‘Hey, I’m out there, I’ve just got to put one foot in front of the other,?? Burmeister said. ‘My goal is to keep with the running this time.?
This will be the first Crim for Danell Duff, a Groveland Township resident who began running three-and-a-half years ago, also inspired by her mother, who had quadruple bypass surgery.
‘I loved running right from the beginning,? said Duff, who started with a program that used interval training. She would do two minutes of running, followed by one minute of walking, gradually working up through the program to three minutes running, with one minute walking for several weeks before eventually getting to where she could run for 20 minutes straight. She now typically runs for 10 minutes, then walks for a minute. She has done four half-marathons and last October, completed the Free Press Marathon.
Her current training includes running four days a week, with one tempo run in which she runs from two to four miles at a faster pace (for her, a 9.5 minute mile), then a hill run in which she runs the same hill over and over (’til I want to die,? she says), one steady run for 3 miles at her normal pace of 10 to 10.5 minute miles, and one long run, currently about 9 miles.
Duff is concerned about running a race in August because of the heat and humidity, but said the Crim sounds like a really fun race. She ran in the Indy Mini Marathon, in which about 35,000 people participate, so she has experience with larger races.
‘It’s a matter of keeping your eyes on the people in front of you,? she said. ‘People stopdead in their tracks and you plow in to them when they drop their cell phone or fix their iPod… For me, it’s hard to keep pace, because I’m very influenced by those around me. If I make a playlist for an Ipod for a race, put slow songs at the beginning, because I get caught up in going out fast.?
Lori Marino will also be a first-time Crim runner this year.
The 33-year-old Brandon High School Spanish teacher was on the cross country team when she was a teenager and has run off and on as an adult, but started getting serious about the sport this past March. She started off doing two or three miles in her subdivision for exercise, but when other teachers at BHS proposed running a half-marathon together, she began enjoying the challenge of working toward something. Now she runs three or four days per week, doing three to five miles during the week and running six to eight miles on weekends.
‘I’m excited for the Crim,? said Marino, who runs at about an 8.5 to 9-minute mile pace. ‘Running is good stress relief and time to myself and it’s good for my health. It’s good to work toward something.?
Burmeister agrees.
‘I like that I forget everything else, all the daily stress,? she said. ‘When I started running, I would think, ‘Just get to the next mailbox.? It is hard, and so much harder now starting up knowing where I used to be, but once you get through the first mile and a half, it’s like, ‘Thank you God that I am able to get through.? I’m not speedy, I am the turtle that finishes the race. I won’t be a prize winner, but I love the feeling of accomplishing something. I set a goal and I am looking forward to completing it.?