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Note from the Publisher: Happy Mothers’ Day Weekend

It is a busy weekend in Door County. Lots to do and see – gallery openings, shipyard tours, a Climate Change Coalition Forum, an open house for a northern Door NWTC Center, the half marathon and 5k run, and Mothers’ Day festivities.

Every few years the first Saturday of May falls on the same weekend as the second Sunday of May. In Door County that means the Door County Half Marathon and Nicolet Bay 5k, on Saturday, and Mothers’ Day, on Sunday, fall on the same weekend. Founded almost 100 years apart*, the two events celebrate family and community.

The Peninsula Pulse is the presenting sponsor of The Door County Half Marathon and Nicolet Bay 5k and has been since the beginning. I have watched every race. The event has grown during the last nine years and it now marks the beginning of the season. This year Door County will host more than 2,500 runners plus their families and friends. People come from all over for a run in beautiful Peninsula State Park and the community comes together to put on an exceptional event.

I will once again be down in the park on Saturday watching runners cross the finish line, spectators cheer, and community members volunteer. It is a great day to be in the park. Runners have trained long and hard to get to the point of being ready to compete in the events. There is an incredible rush when the horn sounds and 1,800 runners surge forward and pass by. There is both joy and anxiety in their eyes as they start the race, which is replaced with relief and satisfaction as they cross the finish line.

On Saturday runners, volunteers, spectators and the community celebrate after the run and into the evening. Sunday the celebration shifts to our mothers.

My mother was born and raised on a small farm in southwest Minnesota. Charlotte Teichroew was raised with strong faith, a commitment to family and community, and the belief that her home and world could be a better place. She and two of her brothers were the first generation to go to college. She worked with inner city kids in Chicago, and in 1964 volunteered in the Southern Christian Leadership Conference office in Atlanta, Georgia, where she would often see and work alongside Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. In 1965 she worked for Head Start with 3- and 4-year-old underprivileged children. Head Start was in its infancy and Sargent Shriver visited her classroom to see the work that was being done.

She believes in equal rights for all and believes that change can be fought for without violence.

My mother’s work continued through the years as a teacher, school administrator and as a mom to my brother and I. She does not believe in war and has always maintained that peace is the ultimate goal – confident that the first step is to believe that it is possible. She has taught and continues to teach me so much. Her work has shown me that with resolve, heart and faith each of us can achieve anything.

In some ways the races on Saturday embody the spirit of everything that my mother has taught me. The runners push their physical limits with the belief that they can overcome a tremendous challenge and the community comes together to support one another with the common goal of getting all the runners across the finish line.

Good luck runners and happy Mothers’ Day.

 

*The first Mothers’ Day was celebrated on May 10, 1908, and the first running of the Door County Half Marathon was on May 3, 2008.

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