By MIKE DONAHUE
Moapa Valley Progress
A marathon is grueling modern-day race named in connection with a messenger, Philippides, who collapsed and died after running some 25 miles from the Battle of Marathon all the way to Athens, Greece, in 490 BC to announce to the Greek Assembly the Persians had been defeated.
While few if any marathoners drop dead after running the long race anymore, which is now set at 26.2 miles, it’s still an exhausting endeavor very few undertake.
Nevertheless, on April 13, in what amounted to a huge check mark on someone’s bucket list, four Moapa Valley High School seniors — Nathan Waite, 17; Gavin Henrie, 17; Shelbi Walker, 18, all of Logandale, and Dannika Gordon, 18, of Moapa — ran the Alaska Airlines Salt Lake City Marathon on April 14 and not only finished the race but also posted times of which Philippides might have been proud.
Gavin, Shelbi and Dannika ran as a group and finished in 5 ½ hours, a respectable time for first time marathoners. Nathan logged 4 hours 41 minutes. The SLC run, however, was his second marathon. He ran the St. George Marathon last October.
“We were all together the first six miles,” Nathan said, “then I kind of left them behind.”
For the most part, the four close friends said running the marathon was a whim they decided to do a few months before the event.
“It was just one of those crazy late night ideas,” Dannika said.
“We just kind of decided one day to do it, and then we signed up,” Shelbi agreed. “Once we signed up (and paid the entry fee of $100 per runner) we couldn’t back out so we did it.”
Gavin said he also had an ulterior motive.
“I had joined cross country to get in shape for wrestling,” Gavin said. “When wrestling ended, I wanted to do the marathon while I was still in shape.”
The students trained for about 2 ½ months to increase their chances to “just finish the race,” Shelbi said.
For Dannika, the training was punishing.
“Training was probably the worst part of the whole thing,” she said. “I think we ran all over the whole valley. Sometimes we ran together and sometimes alone.
“While you were training, you were supposed to get up to like 18 miles before the marathon. My longest run was like 12 or 13 miles.”
The four runners traveled to Salt Lake on Friday, April 13, to acclimate for the race. Gavin and Nathan stayed the night with Nathan’s sister and brother-in-law, Jessica and Blake Edwards, while Shelbi and Dannika stayed in a hotel with Sehlbi’s mom Diana Walker.
On race day Saturday, April 14, it was frigid when the race started but the runners said once the marathon was under way, the sun rose and it warmed up. They all agreed the atmosphere could not have been better.
They agreed the race was “amazing.”
“It’s a pretty cool atmosphere,” Nathan said. “The other runners, the people who stand outside their houses and cheer you on, and others who hand you food and stuff. It was really cool.”
All four students graduate this spring. Shelbi and Dannika plan to attend college in the fall, while Gavin and Nathan would like to go on missions for their church.
Gavin is the son of Deborah and Nathan Henrie; Shelbi is the daughter of Diana and Kevin Walker; Dannika is the daughter of Shella and Tim Gordon, and Nathan is the son of Susan and Scott Waite.
In the meantime, the four can boast they have checked an item off their bucket lists and can join Philippides who, before dying, proclaimed, “We have won!”
