Back of the Pack w/ Carrie Alajoki & Rachel Barger

11/30/23 • 27 min

Carrie Alajoki and Rachel Barger are two of our 2024 Grambassadors, selected from a large group of applicants to share their passion and knowledge of our race weekend.
Both Alajoki and Barger have participated in a Grandma's Marathon weekend event 10+ times in their running careers, and together they joined the podcast to encourage the "non-traditional" or "back-of-the-pack" participants.
Running, even marathoning, can be for everyone if it's something you want to do in your life. Alajoki and Barger share their experiences getting into running and now being multiple-time full marathon finishers.
To connect with and/or follow these two Grambassadors in the buildup to our 2024 Grandma's Marathon weekend, please see below:
Carrie Alajoki
- Instagram @long_run_calybeal
- Tik Tok @calybeal
Rachel Barger
- Instagram @rae.barger94
- Tik Tok @run.rae.run

Previous Episode

Surviving Cancer & Life Inside the Marathon w/ Laura Bergen

Laura Bergen began working with Grandma's Marathon in 1999 and, over the past two plus decades, has held a variety of roles within the organization.
She is currently the Registration and Expo Director, meaning she's primarily responsible for overseeing the event's registration processes and organizing the Essentia Health Fitness Expo that's held on race weekend.
In 2021, Bergen was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. After having gone through surgery and several rounds of chemotherapy, that cancer is now in remission. However, she's now developed a form of bile duct cancer, of which her treatment is ongoing.
The medical concerns have changed Bergen's availability to the marathon but not her love of the organization and the community that helps make Grandma's Marathon a success each June.

Next Episode

Healthy Runners are Happy Runners w/ Cristina Nistler

Essentia Health ATC Cristina Nistler joins the podcast for the first of several installments ahead of the 2024 Grandma's Marathon weekend designed to help keep runners focused on the finish line while avoiding any common injuries and/or medical issues.
As part of her role with Essentia Health, Nistler works part-time throughout the year in the Grandma's Marathon office. She's responsible not only for helping lead the organization of our medical personnel on race weekend, but also to educate and inform our runners ahead of their race in Duluth.
Nistler will be every runner's biggest cheerleader when it comes to race day, but she's also hoping this mini-podcast series, as well as several other initiatives, can help ensure that she won't have to meet many of our runners in the medical tent this June.