Completing the Manitoba Marathon was something Stonewall’s Bohdanka Willis had on her bucket list for a while.
Willis, 38, who has run multiple half marathons over the last few years, told herself she wanted to run and finish the full marathon before she turned 40.
Last Sunday, Willis checked that goal off her list as she crossed the finish line at Princess Auto Stadium in the 2024 Manitoba Marathon.
“It was pretty amazing,” said Willis. “It was an emotional experience coming in and having my family cheer me on as I entered the stadium; that was pretty cool.”
Willis began training for the full marathon in January, doing runs out on her acreage. She would run three to four times a week, mixing in long-distance runs on weekends to build endurance.
She also worked on strength training twice a week.
Going into her first-ever full marathon, Willis had to learn to run at a pace different from the one she had run in her previous half marathons.
She researched how to keep her heart rate down in longer distance runs while maintaining a five-hour pace.
Come the big day, it was one of the most humid days of the year in Winnipeg, reaching 94 percent humidity just at the start of the run.
As the starter’s gun went off and her run progressed, she could adapt to the weather even as the wind picked up at the tail end of her run.
“I was kind of nervous at the start thinking the heat is not fantastic, but it started to die down,” said Willis. “It was windy going south down Pembina. Going back down there at the end, I kind of jokingly said I don’t care if there is a blizzard; I’m determined to get to the finish line.”
And Willis did, completing the full marathon in five hours and 19 minutes.
As she crossed the finish line, her whole family stood on the sidelines, cheering her on as she completed the goal that she had set.
“I wouldn’t call myself a runner. I did activities and sports growing up, but I wasn’t incredibly athletic,” said Willis. “I needed to put in that training to build up my endurance. I wouldn’t have been able to run that long if I didn’t put in the training. It definitely paid off. People always say they can never do it and I always say to them I was not a runner. To anyone that says they can’t do it, they certainly can. You just have to have a goal and motivation, and anyone could do it if they wanted to.”
Once she crossed the line, she was awarded her first-ever full marathon medal and joined her husband and two sons for a photo.
Her husband, Myles, and sons Arthur, 7, and Theodore, 5, had also run in the 10k earlier that day and received medals for their accomplishments.
