A Missoula Marathon moment

Her son Jacob said she could do it and it turned out he was right. Sarah Naegeli was totally capable of running a half marathon, even if it was on virtually only a moment's notice.

And 12-year-old Olivia Fitchett had never run farther than five miles before she too ran the full 13 miles, 192.5 yards of the half marathon, all part of the Sanders County highlights from the Missoula Marathon race schedule in the Garden City last weekend.

Although Sarah and Olivia, of Trout Creek and Thompson Falls, respectively, were perhaps the biggest local stories coming out of the Missoula Marathon, they were not the only area runners to shine in what has become one of the biggest race weekends of the season anywhere in the United States.

The Missoula Marathon was ranked as the No. 1 marathon in the country by the readers of Runner's World magazine in 2010 and in 2017 by The BibRave 100, and has also been named as a top marathon for Back-Of-The-Packer (2017) and a Top 10 Bucket List Marathon (2018).

One of only 30 returning legacy runners (meaning he has participated in all 13 Missoula Marathons to date), Sarah's running son Jacob Naegeli didn't feel like he was in good enough shape to enter the Elite division, but still went out and finished an amazing 14th overall in the men's division of the full marathon, which represents 26 miles, 385 yards.

Now an art teacher in Minneapolis (he attended high school in Thompson Falls and was a standout harrier and distance runner for the Blue Hawks), Jacob didn't have much time for quality training heading into Missoula from Minnesota this year, but still ran very competitively when race day came Sunday morning at 6 a.m. Not thinking he was 100% race-ready, Jacob still finished the world famous course in a world class time of 2 hours, 48.21 minutes.

"He wouldn't register for Elite as he was thinking he wouldn't do as well this year, and then he goes out and gets 14th," Sarah said, "and he has finished in the top 15 every time he has ran in Missoula."

Thanks to her now-proven Elite son, Sarah, who is the long-time cross country coach and the distance running coach for the track and field team at Thompson Falls, made an impromptu decision to run the half marathon at 4 p.m. Saturday, only 14 hours before race time, and completed the course in 2:12:12.22.

"Jacob told me I could do it and I decided to go for it at the last minute," she said, "so I got an unexpected bonus run. The 12th mile was pretty tough but I managed to get through it and finish."

For her part, Olivia Fitchett made her first Missoula Marathon a memorable one, both for the race itself and for the cause with which she was running for. Olivia's mother Julianne Vetter Fitchett, who trained with her daughter in the weeks leading up to it and ran most of the race alongside her, said that they decided together to run for a purpose in Missoula.

"We decided to do something for the community and chose the local Youth Homes program," Julianne said. "Olivia really worked hard for this, both in training and in raising money."

"We went around to local businesses and asked for support," Olivia added, "and most of them did help us out."

Julianne said that she and Olivia decided on a goal of raising $1,000, and that, as of Monday, they had received about $1,030 so far, above and beyond their initial goal.

The mother-daughter team ran together for about the first 10 miles before Julianne let Olivia take off in front of her and finish ahead. Olivia finished the race in 2:19:21.12 and Julianne in 2:24:21.80.

Having never ran past the five-mile mark before, Olivia said she was hesitant at first but soon got into the running rhythm. "I was kinda scared at the beginning," she said. "It was really cold at six in the morning and they lit off a bunch of fireworks before the start. The first 10 miles were pretty low key but the last three were the hardest. It felt really good to reach the finish line."

Another runner from Thompson Falls in the race, Jane Davis Taylor, also did some training runs with Olivia heading into the big event, and finished her Missoula Marathon test in 2:03:47.38.

Also from Thompson Falls in the half marathon, Sarah Stover ran down the finish line in a time of 1:53:45.83, and Kevin Ballenger clocked 2:10:21.96.

From Trout Creek, Paula Hanks won her race against time in 2:14:57.22, Nancy McIntyre started the half marathon but did not finish, and Parker McConnell suffered the same fate in his attempt at running the full marathon.

Plains was also represented very well in the 2019 Missoula Marathon.

Shannon Benson ran through the half marathon in 2:50:32.59, Lisa Rice clocked out in 2:50:33.64, Suzanne VonHeeder in 2:50:33.70, Kim Kinzie 3:33:52.03, Denise Montgomery 3:33:56.21, Lisa Read 3:53:07.94, Marvin Tanner 4:05:58.63, Steve Spurr 4:05:58.91 and Whitney Tanner 4:05:59.09.