NEW PRAGUE, Minn. —
Some people have a way of leaving their mark on us.
“She never took no for an answer and just loved life,” says Callie Den Hartog.
But when they go, that mark feels more like a hole.
“Nikki suffered a pulmonary embolism about a decade ago. It's been tough that it's been 10 years and we all just turned 40,” she says.
Callie Den Hartog and Nikki Hemmesch were friends and roommates at the College of St. Benedict. Callie wanted to honor her in a way that would have been meaningful to Nikki.
"When she was getting her doctorate at the Colorado School of Mines, she would always run the Platte River Half Marathon,” says Callie.
So, Callie and Nikki's other roommates and friends trained the better part of this last year for the race.
They would have gone to Colorado April 5 to run. The race, of course, was cancelled because of the pandemic.
"Then we decided we're all going to run it in Minnesota, and then with the stay at home order, we all just decided let’s just all still run it in our own towns, we weren't going to quit,” she says.
“Hannah ran in Elk River, Meredith ran in St. Paul, Nikki Jordan ran in Centerville, and then I ran in New Prague,” says Callie.
The weather was beautiful, and it was just perfect,” she adds.
Perfect. Until it got even better. Callie, a teacher at New Prague middle school, started to notice something on her route.
“There were so many staff members and families at just about every corner along the way. It was amazing. They had made signs that said, “Do it for Nikki,” and they knew how much that friendship meant to me, and to be able to share her joy with other people,” she says.
“We hadn't seen each other, these staff members, in like almost three weeks, except for Zoom, and to see their faces was so much fun and to have their support."
Nikki's friends didn't make it to Colorado. They didn't even get to see each other that day. But it certainly proved their motto, that no Bennie runs alone.
"I didn't run alone, I know Nikki was with me, and we were all with each other in spirit."
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