Carsen's Courage

I double tied my timing chip to my 5 month old aasics, strapped on my orange number, pulled on my arm warmers (yes, arm warmers are the "in" thing now for runners) and kissed my husband good luck.  We headed out of the door at 5:50 A.M.  My older brother, who is not known to have good driving skills, was making sure we got to the metrodome on time.  At one point I yelled out sternly, "We need to go West!"  My mother kindly say's, "No, we need to go North!"  And my sister who knows the area well yells,  "Go South!"  Thankfully my husband has the brains and got us to the right direction.  We made a last minute stop to the portapots and joined almost 8000 runners for the 10 mile race.  Some were doing it for fun (yes, it is fun to run) and others were doing it with family and friends.  We were running for the best little man in the world. 

Carsen. 

Our t-shirts read, "Carsen's Courage" with a grass green ribbon in the middle. 

Cerebral Palsy.  That term just makes my stomach hurt.  Literally.  It is a term that is still so confusing to me yet is surrounded in almost every thought of my day.  If I can't do anything about our situation, I might as well try to do my best for Carsen.  So, we did.

7:08 A.M-  Our corral is started.  My sister, Matt and myself all run together the first mile.  Having Katie and Matt by my side was probably one of the most comforting feelings.  We were all in this together.  My tough mother was started minutes later and pushed through every mile to finish for Carsen. 

We are 3 miles into the race with a fast pace at 7:20 min/mile.  I was training at 8:00 min/miles and was wondering when I would hit the wall.  I take in my goo that has 2x caffeine and keep pushing it.  All I can think of is Carsen.  I wonder how hard I need to push myself in order to feel the fatigue that he feels with very simple tasks.  At this point, I don't care how hard I have to push myself and how much it hurts.

Quickly, we reach mile 8.  Matt says, "I have never run this far before."  I find the breath to laugh and tell him how proud I am of him.  He reaches over and holds my hand.  The amount of peace and love I feel at this time.   Running next to my adorable husband, who can understand the amount of love that I feel for our special little man.  I tell him I love him and we take off strong.  We are literally in this race together.  Our difficult race in life only makes us stronger.

I can see the sunshine coming over our last hill.  A man yells, "This is it, your last hill, take it from here."  Adrenaline runs through my arms and I am chilled to the bone.  I have so much strength I can barely believe it.  The picture that is placed on my back is engrained in my head.  It is a picture of Carsen learning to first walk with his gait trainer.  All the attachements are on the heavy piece of metal that keeps him upright.  But, he has a sweet smile on his face.  No complaints from him.

We are at a 6:50 min/mile pace and we see the Capitol.  Below it is a huge crowd and a sign that reads "Finish.  A down hill finish. 

We see friends along the way and then spot our cheering secion.  My dad, two brothers, my sister in law(who I owe big time for capturing these pics) my brother in law, my nephews Cohen and Ethan, and Carsen, the man of the day!   (more pics here).  Their shirts read, "Carsen's Courage."  They are all here for Carsen.  Because they adore him.

Matt and I reach over the fence to give Carsen a kiss.  Matt unhooks him from his stroller, that is lifted in the air, and pulls him over the fence.

See that smile?

You see, when Matt has an idea, he takes off with it.  For weeks we disussed the rules of the race.  There is to be NO children, No strollers.  I am a rule follower and he is a rebel.  Do you think he cared? Nope!  As I am yelling at him, he takes off for the finish line.  Proud as can be.  Carsen is bouncing up and down and has the most gorgeous smile.  Happy to be running with daddy and to be a part of a huge crowd.

I am so choked up seeing how happy Carsen is, that I can hardly breath.  We cross the finish line at 1 hour 16 mins.  Four minutes faster than our goal time.  And 30 lbs of pure heaven in our arms.  Officials quickly run to our side and escort Matt and Carsen out of the transition area.  All I have to say is,  "I told him he can't do this."  Suddenly, I am being interviewed for the star tribune newspaper.  This is the result...


Man finishes race while carrying son
With a few feet remaining in the men's 10 Mile race, Matt Schmidgall, who ran next to his wife, Kelly, grabbed his 3-year-old son, Carsen, and carried him across the finish line.
The Morris, Minn., residents said they ran to honor their son, who has cerebral palsy, and raise awareness about the disease.
The gesture violated rules of the race, so Matt Schmidgall was escorted briefly off the course with his son after he finished.
"I was crying actually [when we finished]. I didn't think I'd cry," Kelly Schmidgall said. "I told my husband not to finish with [our son] because we're going to get in trouble, and he got escorted out."
Matt said he understood the risk but wasn't worried about it.
"She did [warn me], and I said that was the only reason that I was doing this race and if I got in trouble for that, I'd deal with it," he said.

Article by: Myron P. Medcalf, Star Tribune  Oct. 2, 2011

Matt, what a rebel, but geez, what a dad!  And I can't believe I told him not to.

We eventually all found eachother to get a great group shot! 

Carsen is Loved!  We are blessed!