Fund raising in marathon motion

by T.L. Huffman

For most of us the idea of a vacation is to sleep late, for Paige Helton it is to get up early for a 26 mile run.

Paige, a 1993 GHS graduate, recently ran a marathon in Dublin, Ireland, to raise money and awareness for the Arthritis Society. Paige raised more than $4,200 for the “Joints in Motion” program.

“It was something I always wanted to do, and I’m glad I did it,” said Paige. “It was even more rewarding to be doing it in someone else’s honor; for more people than just myself.”

Paige, daughter of Jan Helton of Gallatin and Steve Helton is employed at Clay Platte Family Medicine in North Kansas City.

Fans will remember Paige’s basketball days at Gallatin High School where she made the All-State Basketball team for 92-93. A natural athlete, Paige said her first marathon was still “both a mental and physical challenge.”

Over the summer, Paige participated in a 20-week training program to build up endurance for the marathon. On Saturdays, she and 19 others in the training team, would meet for a group run.

The race was held in Dublin on Oct. 29. The group arrived in Ireland on Oct. 27 and had a couple of days to rest from the jet lag. The American visitors were given a warm Irish welcome. Paige said Dubliners were impressed that the Americans were at the race, despite the terrorist attacks in September.

There were between 8,000 to 9,000 starters for the race. Paige said: “It was windy the day of the marathon. The week we were there, the weather was pretty nice. It was sunny and not raining, which isn’t very common for Ireland.”

The marathon featured a loop course, starting and finishing on Dublin’s most famous thoroughfare, O’Connell Street.

“The course itself was nice and flat,” said Paige. “It was set within the city boundaries, so there wasn’t a lot of countryside to view.”

Known internationally as the “friendly marathon,” Paige said thousands of spectators lined the course to watch and cheer for the runners.

The miles clicked by and Paige ran steadily until she hit the 20 mile mark, “Then I hit a wall. I walked most of the rest of the way in.”

She crossed the finish line to people cheering and bells ringing. She was tired, bleary-eyed, proud and happy. “It was a pretty awesome feeling. There were tons of people cheering. It was hard to explain the feeling. All the hard work had paid off.”

She ran the marathon in 5 hours and 25 minutes.”For my first one, it wasn’t too bad.”

Paige said she wasn’t as worn out as she thought she’d be, “I felt pretty good that day. I was surprised. I thought I’d just fall over. I felt the pain over the next couple of days.”

After the race, Paige and the Joints in Motion group toured along the west side of picturesque and historic Ireland and down to the south side.

Paige said running the marathon was definitely a worthwhile experience. She did it! And she may very well do it again some time. The Arthritis Foundation is sponsoring a race in Australia in a year. Paige plans to be in that one, too.