vMARATHON continued from page 13 where I felt like my body was going to give out on me. Training for a marathon is a life changing event. All of the sweat, early weekend wakeup calls, aches, pains, and the occasional tear are worth it in the end.” Both Jackie and Melissa are running their marathons as part of a team. Jackie is running as part of a team in Nebraska called Nebraska Run Guru Elite. Jackie represents them with their team “kit” or jersey at race events. The team consists of about 40 people. Melissa, however, is running for charity. Team for Kids, which is the New York Road Runners Youth Program, is the charity Melissa found and connected with. “I wanted to help children who lived in areas where schools that couldn’t afford extracurricular activities were given money to fund programs, where families who couldn’t afford shoes for their children to participate in activities were given money to buy those shoes, and finally, to help children who are obese and have nowhere to turn. All of the money raised helps small town children across the country.” Money raised goes to various different things such as new sneakers and experiences with cross country races and road races. This will be the first time Melissa has worked with this charity but she’s excited to do amazing things for the kids of the U.S. For Jackie this is her first big marathon. She has run the half marathon in the Lincoln Marathon for several years but that’s only just over 12,000 runners. The Boston Marathon will be three times that many runners. “But I’ve always felt at home amongst runners, they are my tribe, and I’m looking forward to being around that many people who share my love for running.” Both Jackie and Melissa can agree on a few things. One is that spectators and beautiful scenery along the route can really help put a smile on their faces. Another is that the best part of running is the ability to push themselves beyond what they think they are capable of and the satisfaction in knowing they didn’t give up. And finally, even though there are a lot of things that go through their heads while running a marathon, the main thing is to just keep putting one foot in front of the other and reaching the finish line. As Melissa said, “the feeling crossing the finish line of my first marathon was amazing. It really taught me I can do anything as long as I try. I can also happily say, I am part of the 1% of the human population that has run a marathon.” vBy Brandi Bue We would love to hear about who and what inspires you. Know someone that should be featured in hervoice? Submit to: hervoiceonline.com Anthony Burbach, PA-C Family Medicine Expert health care for all ages Mary Jo Olson, MD, Heather Kleeman, DO, Anastasia Searcy, DO; Family Medicine Make a personal, lifelong connection with the physicians at Sanford Vermillion. Our team specializes in preventive care, diagnosis and management of chronic conditions as well as general surgery. Call (605) 677-3700 to schedule an appointment. 018027-00239 8/16 14vHERVOICEvJANUARY/FEBRUARY 2017 Melissa Shefl, PA-C Family Medicine Art Pepper, CNP Family Medicine