Local runners will have a shot at Twin Cities Marathon glory this year

These days, "running" is all in the definition for one of the best and most well-known of Minnesota-bred athletes.

Carrie Tollefson is busy running down her three active children. She's also running her mouth (her words — she's a media running analyst). More running, on roads and paths around the metro, fits in there somewhere, too, as she prepares for Sunday's Twin Cities Marathon (TCM).

Allowing for social distancing and mindful of the continuing scourge of COVID-19, organizers have capped the field at a reduced 4,500 runners. In 2019, there were more than 8,500 at the start.

Tollefson is among the top women as the marathon returns from its pandemic hiatus. There is no prize money this year, but TCM organizers have attracted a field of accomplished runners. A Minnesotan hasn't won in decades.

In 1985, Janice Ettle became the first Minnesota woman to win the TCM. Janis Klecker followed, with victories in 1991 and '92. Former Minnesota resident Annie Bersagel won in 2013. No Minnesota man has crossed in first place.

Competitive running might be on the back burner for Tollefson, a 13-time school state champion and 2004 Summer Olympian, but a fire for the sport and its benefits remains. While she has a lot going — raising a young brood of three with her husband, Charlie Peterson; working as a TV analyst for major marathons and other running events; advocating for women's health as national fitness director for Moms on the Run — "it doesn't mean I am not going to run well," she said.

Sunday will mark Tollefson's third marathon and her second Twin Cities. In 2019 she ran 2 hours, 51 minutes and 56 seconds. She finished 17th among women. Tollefson, 44, is her usual enthusiastic self, focusing her training on quality and variety over quantity. She expects satisfying results.

"I love to run fast and hopefully I do, but I have no business putting too much pressure on myself," she added.

She'll feel no pressure from the tens of thousands of spectators. Just love.

Many have come to know her from her school days, the kid from Dawson, Minn., trampling the competition. Then there was a spot on the 2004 U.S. Olympic team and too many running magazine covers to count. Today she is a regular as a race analyst at Grandma's Marathon, and will be at two majors, Chicago and New York, over the next two months. Amid that there are podcasts, coaching, event appearances and, most important, three kids named Ruby, 11; Everett, 8; and Greer, 5. Running, including the miles, manifests itself in multiple ways.

To hear her, Sunday can't happen fast enough.

"I just love this community," said Tollefson, who lives in St. Paul. "The running community is there for me every single day of the year."

Tollefson will line up with another of Minnesota running prodigies, Maria Hauger. Hauger, who grew up in Shakopee, is an eight-time state champion combined in track and cross-country. From 2009-12, she became the first runner to win four consecutive Class 2A cross-country championships.

Sunday will mark only the second marathon for Hauger, who had her middle-distance running career at the University of Virginia cut short by a stress fracture.

Hauger ran 3:08:43 at her marathon debut in June at Grandma's despite a nasty side ache in the late miles. She said she still is learning the nuances of proper pacing and fueling that 26.2 miles require.

What's known is that the two who've made so much Minnesota running history are excited about adding some new details this weekend.

Hauger said the two connected via text. "I'm really excited that Carrie will be there," Hauger, 27, said. "There are a lot of things that I am learning. This will be fun."

Tollefson was equally eager about meeting up: "I have been a fan of (Maria). It is going to be a joy to be out there together."

Men have history

The TCM men's field also features runners with a shared past.

Fernando Cabada has an opportunity to rekindle glory at the State Capitol — he won the marathon in 2008 in 2:16:32 and returned in 2010 and took third overall.

"I don't think I've ever had a bad race in Minnesota," said Cabada, who lives in Colorado but has been a frequent visitor: He's been a top finisher at Grandma's half-marathon, too, in the past several years.

Cabada, 39, said he is most focused on ultradistance running at this stage of his running life. He hasn't run a fall marathon in three years. Still, he considers the distance a solid tuneup for an upcoming 50-mile race and he feels good vibes with Minnesota. He is hoping to break 2:20; his personal best is 2:11:36.

"I will give it my absolute best," he said. "I'm all in."

As a junior high runner from Foley, Minn., Charlie Lawrence recalled a trip in 2008 to the metro with his mother to watch the TCM, which served as the U.S. national championship. Even more heightened was the memory of telling his mother he wanted to win the race after watching Cabada's achievement.

Now Lawrence, who ran track and cross country at the University of Minnesota, will line up next to him and he's thrilled. He found quick success at the marathon distance at his first race in 2018 at the California International. He ran 2:16:13, his current personal best, to qualify for the Olympic trials in Atlanta in 2020. He followed that with an invitation to the pandemic-shaped race, The Marathon Project, where he ran 2:19:14.

Lawrence and Cabada ran together in 2018 at the national 20-kilometer championship in New Haven, Conn. Cabada finished 15th. Lawrence, who took 18th, reminded Cabada of their shared 2008 experience. Since then, with both living in Colorado, they've stayed connected and trained together on occasion, Lawrence said.

"He is one of the best out there still," he added. "You can never count a guy like Fernando out with all that experience."

Cabada said the admiration is mutual and the two could end working together out on the course Sunday.

"It is a good feeling to know I could make a positive impact on someone through running. It's awesome," added Cabada, who tipped his hat to Lawrence's work ethic.

"I'm rooting for Charlie and I really hope he could get his breakthrough there at home."