Coming back to where it started

This is the story of two people from different sides of the country and how fate, luck or something even more profound caused them to find their soulmates along the Pine Line Trail in Medford.

It was April 2010. Julia Khvasechko had traveled to Medford from New York City to run the Pine Line Marathon. Her goal was to finish a marathon in every state in the country and she picked Medford’s early season race to cross the state off her list.

Shane Garling came from Anchorage, Alaska, with the same goal in mind. He was also on a 50-state journey of running. He didn’t know that in the small town of Medford he would find the person that would become his bride.

The two got to talking after finishing their races that day and were waiting for the award ceremony to take place. Shane finished the race that year with a time of 03:24:54.3 while Julia finished with a time of 04:09:44.3.

“I shared with him that Wisconsin was my 10th state and this officially qualifies me as a 50 stater and there is no turning back now,” Julia said.

“We both won Age Group awards and were sharing stories as we waited for the awards ceremony. Before he got his age group spike, he invited me to come to Alaska when I was ready and he would host me and show me around,” she said.

“What I love about marathoners is how easily we make friends with perfect strangers, especially fellow 50 staters,” she said.

Julia, of course, told Shane the same thing. “If he was ever lucky enough to get into the New York City Marathon, I would be happy to host him since I live on the course and I run it every year,” she said.

For most people a chance meeting and exchange of pleasantries, and offers to meet up for a shared interest would be where the story would end.

“Unlike most people, we actually meant it and we kept in touch, we compared notes and realized we both needed Delaware, our next adventure together,” Julia said.

“We loved planning our races and getting to know each other better on every trip, we ran in lockstep and talked the whole time. Next up was Mobile, Alabama,” she said.

“Slowly we were forming a bond even one 5,000 miles couldn't break. We had a mutual love of running marathons and meeting once a month in a new state we both needed became our goal,” she said.

Shane came to visit Julia in New York City and she came to visit him in Alaska, and within the year of that chance meeting in Medford, they were dating exclusively and planning on finishing their 50th state together.

“In January 2013, at the finish line of the Louisiana marathon, he surprised me and asked me to run the marathon of life with him. In January 2014, the time had finally come, we have run together for 3.5 years and covered a lot of ground (40 states for me) and it was time for our 50th state,” Julia said.

“I contacted the race director and asked him if we could use his course as a special place to have a small ceremony. He was kind enough to not only welcome us to use his course but essentially planned out all the details for us and became our wedding planner,” Julia said.

“We had a beautiful ceremony at mile 18 of the Maui Oceanfront Marathon —‘with this run, I thee wed’ and we crossed the finish line as both husband and wife and 50 state finishers. It was a dream wedding and was attended by many friends we met along the way. We had 40 guests from many states all running the marathon with us, and even our families flew out for the small ceremony along the course,” Julia explained.

“Today, I feel like the luckiest girl alive, as we celebrate 11 years of wedded bliss and I'm currently on my 4th round of the 50 states,” she said. “We live in New York City, but our fairytale all started at the chance meeting in Medford, 15 years ago.”

“What are the odds of us both being there, at the same time? Meeting your soulmate, at a small trail marathon, in a rural town when you are from the big city, it's simply serendipity, it's truly a miracle that I am grateful for every single day,” Julia said.

Julia and Shane will be celebrating 15 years since they first met by coming back to Medford on April 19 and running the Pine Line Marathon.

In the years since, Julia has run four Wisconsin marathons adding to her lifetime total of 323 marathons. She has put on a lot of miles in the past 15 years and is planning on finishing her fourth 50-state round this November in Kansas.

For those wanting to come out to cheer on Julia and Shane and all the other participants in the Pine Line Marathon, this year’s race starts and finishes near the baseball diamonds in the Medford City Park. The full marathon and marathon relay events begin at 8 a.m. in the park.

The half marathon event will begin at 9 a.m. and the start will be on the Pine Line trail north of Gunnar Road and the 10K will start on the Pine Line trail by South Street in Whittlesey by the former Potbelly Pub at 10 a.m. Buses will take runners to the starting line of the half marathon and 10K races. The 5K race will start at 11 a.m. in the city park.

Who knows who you might meet there.