Without Limits

Most people would cringe at the thought of running a half-marathon, but for Polson’s Jimmy Bjorge, this is the kind of stuff he lives for.

Less than a year after his heart stopped in a Kalispell hospital, the distance runner hit the pavement in Phoenix, Ariz. on Jan. 15, running the Rock’n’Roll Half Marathon and conquering the 13.1 mile course with a time of 1 hour, 23 minutes, 58 seconds to place 105th overall.

It wasn’t the first half-marathon for Jimmy, but it was certainly a triumphant one. Last year, the Polson athlete suffered from bouts of dizziness and loss of balance. In June, local doctors referred him to a hospital in Kalispell where doctors surgically inserted a heart monitor. However, just a few hours after it was installed, he passed out briefly and physicians determined that his heart had stopped.

For six seconds.

Bjorge was diagnosed with enhanced basal vigal response. Doctors originally thought he needed a pacemaker, but instead put him on a drug treatment plan. His brush with death didn’t stop Bjorge from running; just a month later he ran in a Good Old Days half-marathon. That fall, he competed in cross country as an integral part of Polson’s “Big Three,” a dedicated trio that was consistently ahead of the pack at Northwestern A meets. As a team, the Pirates placed 36th at the state meet.

“My teammates knew about my condition and they supported me,” Bjorge said. “It was really helpful and both the team and the coaches were just really supportive.”

In October, after the state meet, his monitor was removed but the training for his next big race had just begun. Bjorge had run the Rock’n’Roll Half Marathon before and thought it would be fun to give it a go once again.

“The training plan I was on had me building up the amount of miles I ran each week,” Bjorge said. “I was running 25, 30, 35 and 40 miles each week, then dropping back down and starting to build up more.”

With the help of Polson’s cross country coaches Matt Seeley and Jenni Brown, Bjorge got ready for the long race. Starting in November, Jimmy had to switch up his normal running routine for cross country because a half-marathon necessitated a slower pace and was much longer in distance.

“Matt and Jenni helped me a ton,” Bjorge said. “Matt trained with me and wrote up the training plan. It was nice having two people that know how I run give their input on my training and how I was doing.”

The toughest part, as any runner would tell you, was keeping focus throughout the process and making sure the pace was right.

“The toughest part of it was the actual running,” Bjorge said. “I had to constantly think about my pace and running form whenever I ran. Training for it was harder than cross country.”

Bjorge traveled down to Phoenix with a friend of the family and tackled his big race on a sunny Sunday. He had run this race before but more than anything, he showed that a heart ailment couldn’t stop him from running it again.

“The race went really well, and it doesn’t compare at all with cross country or track because the pace is slower on a long distance,” Bjorge said. “The most fun thing about this race was the amount of people there and the concert put on after the race.”

While sitting for several hours on the plane ride back made him feel the soreness of the race for days afterward, Bjorge wants to do the race again.

And that, all things considered, is something to live for.