Team CMT members Cheryl Monnat and Chris Wodke ran the Reykjavik Half Marathon on Saturday August 20th.  It was Cheryl's birthday and she celebrated with a time of 1:49, good for 12th out of 87 women in the 50-59 age group. Chris Wodke ran the race in a personal best for the year of 2:10, good for 47th place.  Some days the training just clicks and the race feels great. We both had that kind of day. The distance seemed easy and we had fun.

There were three races, a marathon, half marathon and 10K, drawing 10,000 runners.  Over 48 countries were represented.  This race not only drew an international field but a fast one. 

The weather was a a little under 60F for the 8:30 start of the race. Perfect weather for a long run. The average high in Iceland in August is 60F.   Reykjavik has a bike path that runs throughout the city including a long stretch along the ocean.  We had both done runs earlier in the week on this path. The route made for one of the most beautiful course I have ever run.  The route was also quite aromatic as most of the runners around me did not seem to be wearing deordorant.

It was strange hearing different foreign languages spoken all around me.  All three races started at the same times and there seemed to be lots of runners with stories. I lined up next to a Canadian mom and son running together with tee-shirts to match.  I ran for awhile with two Icelandic sisters wearing identical pick tee shirts.  They asked me where I was from and when I said Milwaukee, a women runner right behind me yelled she was from Milwaukee. Guess it is a small world.  My favorite tee shirt said "pain is temporary, glory is forever and knees are replaceable." There were also several charities represented like the diabetes foundation and CMT.

Crowd support was great. Lots of residents came out and banged drums and played music for us.  The volunteers were efficient and friendly. There was plenty of water and Gatorade.

I saw lots of runners looking at our Team CMT singlets, so we raised some good awareness. It was a good week of site seeing in Iceland and a great day of racing. 



Chris Wodke
Founder & Manager Team CMT
www.run4cmt.com

Team CMT is a group of athletes and supporters working to raise awareness and to find a cure for CMT. We have almost 100 members in 17 states. If you wish to join us visit our web site.

CMT or Charcot-Marie-Tooth is the most commonly inherited peripheral neuropathy. It affects over 155,000 Americans (as many as MS).  It is a disease of the nerves that control the muscles. It is slowly progressive, causing loss of normal function and or sensation in the lower legs/feet and arms/hands.

Symptoms include; muscle wasting in the lower legs and feet leading to foot drop, poor balance and gait problems Atrophy in the hands causes difficulty with manual dexterity.

Structural foot deformities such as high arches and hammer toes are common.

Poor tolerance for cool or cold temperatures and many people have chronically cold hands and feet.

Additional symptoms may include fatigue, sleep apnea, breathing difficulties and hearing loss.