Family fun while on the run
People get into running for a number of reasons — self-challenge, staying in shape and remaining competitive being among them.
Butler graduates Maggie and Ike Backstrom began running for all of those reasons.
They run marathons together now to celebrate family.
“It's about the only time we see each other,” Maggie said.
Maggie Backstrom is a 2009 Butler graduate who never competed in high school athletics. She played the keyboard for the band and participated in high school shows and musicals. She is now a marketing representative for the University of Pittsburgh and lives in the South Hills.
Her brother, Ike, is a 2005 Butler graduate and was a standout tennis player for the Golden Tornado. He won the B.P.O. Elks state championship as a 16-year-old in 2003. He is now stationed in Connecticut as a lieutenant in the Navy.
“I got into running first through tennis,” Ike said. “You need a lot of cardio work to prepare for long matches. But I never ran competitively.”
That eventually changed, courtesy of his sister.
“We've always been a close family,” Maggie said. “But with Ike being in the military, we see each other three or four times a year if we're lucky.
“Once we both started running, we decided to do marathons together and turn them into family events. It's been so much fun.”
While a student at Westminster College, Maggie began jogging around campus to stay in shape. The Titans' cross country coach saw her and recruited her.
“I only did cross country my senior year and wound up being the No. 2 seed on our team,” she said. “I decided to stay with it.”
She wound up running in the 5K Turkey Trot in Cranberry Township and sent her brother pictures.
Once Ike was notified of her successes and determination to hit the pavement, he began doing the same. He figured it could only help him with military drills.
“She really did motivate me to run a lot more,” Ike admitted. “I was always the athlete ... I couldn't have my sister get the better of me there.”
The brother-sister act decided to train for a distance run together, texting each other to remind each other to get the daily runs in.
“Our first event together was the Erie Marathon in 2014, only I ran the half-marathon and he ran the full,” Maggie said. “We both ran the Disney World Marathon together in 2015 and he finished third overall in the military division.“He's always motivating me to train. I won't be looking forward to doing 14 miles on the treadmill and I'll get a text from him. He'll text another day and ask, 'Did you get your 20 miles in?' We keep each other going.”Ike enjoys that aspect of it.“We always keep tabs on each other — all part of the sibling rivalry,” he said.They've since run the Chicago Marathon and Dopey Challenge together. The latter was an event at Disney World that required running a 5k, 10k, half-marathon and marathon on consecutive days.They dressed up as characters for the event. Maggie was Alice in Wonderland, Ike was the White Rabbit.The two don't show up for these events alone. Other family members travel with them.“Our family are our biggest cheerleaders,” Maggie said. “They don't just stay in one location along the course. We see them cheering us on at the mile 8 marker, mile 10, mile 20 ... When you're heading for the finish line, worn out and see them all there waiting ... There's no better feeling than that.”More marathons are in the planning stages.“This has been a great way for our family to stay active and see each other while seeing some great cities,” Ike said. “And we've all met a lot of great people at these events.”Maggie has qualified for the Boston Marathon next month. Ike barely missed hitting the qualifying time.“We will run Boston together someday,” Maggie promised.In the meantime, she's checking into the Montreal Marathon, the London Marathon — “places that would be exciting for the entire family to see,” she said.Maggie is 25 years old while Ike is 29.“We're not done with these,” Maggie said. “I think we'll be running marathons together for a few years yet.”But not right away. Ike will be getting out of the Navy later this spring and plans to take a break from the pavement.“I've got some lingering injuries I'm rehabbing. I just need to give my body a little time to recover,” he said. “But I'll be back at it again with Maggie in a while.“This is something we've started that we're not giving up.”
