'I just wanted to help'
This was Jodie Ayres Mohnkern's third time running the iconic Boston Marathon, but it might have been her most memorable.
Not just for the brutal weather — temperatures in the 30s, wind and a torrential downpour — but for her experience with a fellow runner in need, who Mohnkern helped to the finish line.
“We were all out there in it together,” she said. “We were all victims of Mother Nature.”
Mohnkern is a 1991 Seneca Valley High School graduate. Although she lives near Grove City, much of her life still revolves around the Cranberry area. She works at SAE International, goes to church at NorthBridge Community Church and is involved with Relay for Life of Cranberry.
The Boston Marathon is one of the World Marathon Majors. It's known for its strict qualifying time requirements, which runners must achieve at another race.
Mohnkern was impressed by all the people that came out to line the course and cheer on runners, even in the inclement weather April 16.
“Boston is made by the spectators and fans and that city,” she said.
Between miles 21 and 22, Mohnkern saw an older woman ahead of her begin to collapse. Another woman was also nearby, so they both went to the woman in distress and ran with her the last four miles of the race.
Mohnkern found that the older woman, named Jeannie, was 70 years old and running her 114th marathon.
“So she just wanted to finish,” Mohnkern said. “We told her, 'We'll stay with you, we'll carry you, we'll finish.' She was fine, just kind of cold and wet. Everyone was battling (the weather) that day.”
A photograph from the finish line shows the three women crossing holding hands, with Mohnkern supporting Jeannie.
“We got her to the finish line. That's probably why this is one of my most rewarding medals. It was probably half an hour slower than my personal best, but time didn't matter to me. I just wanted to help this woman get across,” she said.
Jeannie was escorted to a medical tent. Mohnkern said she also ended up in a medical tent later, where she was treated for symptoms of hypothermia and quickly recovered.
Tom Ayres, Mohnkern's father and a Harmony resident, said he knows his daughter was disappointed to miss posting a qualifying time for next year's Boston Marathon during the race, but it was “not as important as helping someone in need of help.”
He's proud of his daughter's commitment to training and running.
“I am proud of her for 'doing what she does.' That is a quote from her late husband, Aaron,” Ayres said. “She is dedicated to her training regimen no matter what the weather or her daily schedule.”
Mohnkern finished in Boston this year with a time of 4 hours and 15 minutes. Her personal record in the marathon is 3 hours and 38 minutes.
“I just hope that if I can still be running at 70, someone will help me finish,” she said. “That is amazing to me.”
Running marathons at all is somewhat of a surprise for Mohnkern, who said she was a swimmer through high school and hated running.She started out by walking and slowly started running and enjoying it. When her husband, Aaron, was diagnosed with cancer, it became about more than physical fitness.“That was my therapy and my escape,” she said.Aaron Mohnkern died in January 2011. And Jodie kept running.She's completed seven marathons in all; her first was the Pittsburgh Marathon in May 2013. Her first Boston Marathon was 2014.Mohnkern said after she ran Boston last year she considered getting away from running and into triathlons, figuring her background in swimming would play to her advantage.“But I couldn't get away from the run,” she said. “There's always that one more time. I just can't get away from it.”She will run the Pittsburgh Marathon May 6, although she says this one will be for fun since it is so soon after Boston.After returning home from the race, Mohnkern added a member to her family to remind her of the 2018 race.She adopted a mini goldendoodle puppy that she named Desi after Desiree Linden, the female winner of this year's Boston Marathon, to join her two other dogs. Linden was the first American woman in 33 years to win Boston.
