Prior Family Sports

Six months after the idea popped into her head, Karen achieved her goal of running the Columbus Marathon on Sunday (photo gallery).

Brianna and Karen picked Jack up at the airport on Saturday and we immediately headed to the Columbus Marathon Kid’s run. Along the drive, Brianna read Jack her short story “Miller”. It was pouring rain, but Brianna headed right out and ran her race.

After the run, we headed to Brianna’s house and Jack got to meet Buddy.

Buddy likes Brianna:

Jack presented Brianna with the finisher medal for our Boston Marathon effort.

Nanny and Papa and Aunt Pat arrived after driving crazy distances to be there for the big weekend. Brianna read “Miller” for the group, a true story about a visit to see Miller the barn cat, and Luvit the horse, that Brianna wrote:

The Saturday Columbus Dispatch newspaper featured team Brianna in a photo and story “Columbus Marathoner: Runners’ motivation goes for miles”
. See Scanned copy of the “ink”.

Karen Prior-Bernard
When physical motivation lags, Karen Prior-Bernard considers her smart, spunky daughter.

“Whenever you sit there on the couch going, ‘I don’t want to get up; I don’t want to go run,’ I think of her,” said the 36-year-old Gahanna resident, who will run her first marathon in support of her only child, Brianna.

“We take it for granted, the ability to move.”

Brianna, 5, has hereditary spastic paraplegia, a condition that weakens her legs and shares some characteristics with multiple sclerosis and Lou Gehrig’s disease. Her diagnosis is untreatable but not expected to worsen.

Although Brianna can walk short distances unassisted, her knees and toes turn inward. She relies at times on a walker known as “the green machine” and continues with physical therapy.

When she falls, she gets back up quickly. A few weeks ago, the kindergartner decided to give a short speech to her peers so they could better understand her ailment.

Still, “we make sure this doesn’t define her,” said Brianna’s dad, Allen Bernard, 49. “We don’t say, ‘I can’t.’ ”

Besides her daughter, Prior-Bernard was also inspired to train by her brother, Jack Prior — a runner and Newton, Mass., resident who in April was just minutes from the Boston Marathon finish line when two bombs exploded.

Prior was running in Brianna’s honor as part of a rare-diseases fundraising team supported by his employer, a biotech company. He’ll participate in the half-marathon in Columbus.

Prior-Bernard, meanwhile, has been working to raise $100 for each mile of the full marathon to benefit the Spastic Paraplegia Foundation (via www.razoo.com/story/running-for-brianna).

Come Sunday, Brianna will lead the family cheering squad.

“I’m making a sign; it’s going to say ‘Go, Mama,’ ” she said. “I’m going to say: ‘I love you, Mama! Go! Go! Go!’ ”

Jack and Karen got up early and jogged a mile to the marathon start for good measure to add to the day’s planned 26.2 (for Karen). As Brianna would say “Uncle Jack is only doing the ‘Half’, Mama is doing the ‘Full’.”

Jack finished early:

24 miles later, Karen still looked great:

Some very excited sisters were there to greet her at the final bend:

Karen had a great race, running a steady 10:45/mile pace for a 4:46:37 finish. There is still more work to do, as one lesson Karen apparently missed was on finishing (video). Clearly there was a bit of energy left in the tank.

Somebody was very proud of her mama.

Karen raised $3157 on razoo.com for Herditary Spastic Paraplegia as part of her marathon effort!

Check out all the photos from the weekend here.