Independently owned since 1905
Independently owned since 1905
Fitness buff runs 1st half-marathon on her special day
LOOKS LIKE THEY MADE IT! Charlotte Milling and Brigitte Giegling share the moment after taking a celebratory dip into the Clark Fork River following their successful completion of a half-marathon run Sunday. An experienced runner, Milling talked Giegling into running her first half-marathon ever and they ran it together, making a splash at Wild Goose Landing afterward.
TIMING OUT in a little over 2 hours was an impressive result for Giegling considering the race was her first half-marathon ever.
What better birthday present to give yourself than to run in your first half-marathon ever?
An admitted fitness junkie, who is actually a semi-pro given the "bodybybrigitte" exercise group that she teaches, Briggite Giegling picked her birthday as the day she would attempt the most challenging distance run of her life, and did just that Sunday.
Fellow fitness fiend Charlotte Milling, who ran alongside Gielgling and provided much of the spark necessary for Brigitte to commit to the big race, was the catalyst.
"Charlotte has done plenty of marathons and runs but I had never participated," Giegling said. "Since the Missoula Marathon was canceled due to COVID and she was signed up for it, she came up with the idea of doing her own thing locally and asked me if I was interested in joining her."
Although Brigitte was slightly cool to the idea at first – "13-plus miles was a big stretch for me as I had only ever done seven in one run before" – she quickly warmed up to it at Charlotte's urgings.
Jumping into training after she decided it was a go, Gielgling said that she and Milling trained for about six weeks in preparation for the half-marathon, and chose Brigitte's birthday for race day, "so we could celebrate both (her birthday and her first half-marathon), with it being my first time."
The Clark Fork Valley Running Club and its president Sarah Naegeli were there to verify the results, and enjoy the race's big splash at the end.
"What a great way to celebrate a birthday!" Naegeli said. "Brigitte and Charlotte ran their half-marathon, then ended it with a celebratory jump in the Clark Fork River."
Naegeli was impressed, not only with the big finish, but also with both runners' fine times, as they crossed the finish line together. "That is a fantastic first half-marathon for Brigitte with a 2:01 and change time."
Clearly fired up about running now, Brigitte says she will continue to incorporate it into her own training regime, while she also continues to lead her "bodybybrigitte" group on Facebook. She has been running that show for about two years now.
"It's an adult exercise group I teach through the school," she said. "Running has been for my own personal health goals, but the class is more about high intensity interval training."
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