By Alan Van Ormer
Tribune editor

Everything about the New York City Marathon was amazing to Dell Rapids runner Amanda Roemen.
“I had the feeling of being a celebrity all day,” Roemen said. “It was a huge deal.”
Roemen, 24, competed in the race on Nov. 1. She finished 64th in her age bracket in a time of 3 hours, 36 minutes and 57 seconds. Roemen wanted to complete the 26.22 miles in 3 hours and 30 minutes, but said she was happy with the time she finished in.
Jeff Krumm, who was her track coach at Dell Rapids High School, said it is outstanding that she completed the New York City Marathon. “I figured she probably could,” he said. “She has always been an outstanding runner and a tough competitor. With her, there were really no limits.”
What Roemen will remember most about the New York City Marathon is how many people came to watch and the excitement that the race generated throughout New York City. “It was moving seeing people out there in their wheelchairs. That kept you going,” she said. “Then there were those running for someone who had died in the family. That was more emotional than seeing the sights.”
Roemen, who is now a dental assistant in Sioux Falls, started running at seven years old.
“After church, dad and I would run around the section,” she said. “I did it for training for basketball.”
Although basketball wasn’t her forte, she was able to accomplish things in running cross country and track at Dell Rapids High School. By the time she graduated from Dell Rapids High School in 2003, she had won the state title in the two-mile run during the track season.
Her cross country coach at Dell Rapids, Oran Sorenson, said Roemen is a focused runner.
“She was one of the hardest workers we ever had. I wasn’t surprised to see her win that state meet (in 2003),” he said. “She has a wonderful form and is a very graceful runner. She is very determined. It is neat to see good things happen to a girl like her.”
Roemen started running marathons because she was looking for a challenge in her life.
In 2007, she competed in the North Carolina Outer Banks marathon in the northeastern corner of the state.
Then in May she started preparing for running in the Boston Marathon by training five days a week starting at eight miles a day and built her way up to 20 miles a day.
She was not able to run in the Boston Marathon, but was one of the runners that could compete in the New York City Marathon by being picked from the lottery.
On race day, Roemen boarded a ferry at 5:30 a.m. to get to the starting line on Staten Island. She actually wasn’t scheduled to start the race until 9:40 a.m. Once she got where she needed to go, Roemen had to wait for 2 ½ hours until she could actually get to her starting position.
“It was cold,” she said. “I sat back-to-back to generate body heat with another runner to keep us warm.”
Then she had to wait another hour in her starting chute before the gun sounded starting the runners toward the road that leads to the Staten Island Bridge.
“It was freezing cold,” she said. “At the last minute, runners were tearing their suits off. There was a heaping pile of clothes at the starting line.”
Roemen said the race was incredible. “Not only were there a ton of people on the bridge, there were five or six helicopters flying above,” she said.
The race brought Roemen through all of the boroughs of New York City and ended in Central Park, where she had to walk another two miles to gather her running gear that she had peeled off at the start of the race.
“It felt so good to finish it,” Roemen said. “I was able to accomplish it. Completing this is the experience of a lifetime.”
Roemen said she would like to do the New York City Marathon once again, as well as the Boston Marathon.