A year ago, 2021 Grandma’s Marathon champion Dakotah Marie Lindwurm (Bullen) graciously consented to an extensive interview. Today the reigning champion repeated and won the title in an eye-catching time of 2:25:01, a time that is receiving national attention. In honor of Dakotah’s achievement, the profile featuring her is being reposted.
Of course, all runners deserve credit for their accomplishments. Here are a few other Minnesota runners with their achievements: Elena Hayday (of Bloomington Jefferson and the U of M) was runner-up in the Garry Bjorklund Half-Marathon and Alayna Sonnesyn (Plymouth) placed 11th; Daniel Kemoi of Coon Rapids won the race in the men’s division with Joel Reichow (White Bear Lake) finishing 10th; Carrie Tollefson, a 2004 Olympian remains competitive and placed 5th in the William Irvin 5K; Sammy Rotich ran an impressive 2:10:07 to place 2nd in the men’s division of the marathon; Kevin Lewis was 10th; and Gabi Hooper Rooker, a gymnast at UW–LaCrosse (Totino Grace High School) also placed 10th in the women’s marathon.
Congratulations to all!
Dakotah Marie Lindwurm: PASSIONATE HOCKEY PLAYER BECOMES GRANDMA’S MARATHON CHAMPION
Beginning to play hockey in 2nd grade, Dakotah Marie Lindwurm (nee Bullen) has long had Jim Craig, goalie on the 1980 Miracle on Ice Olympic hockey team, as a favorite athlete. “Hockey was my heart and soul and my Olympic dream beginning,” says the 5’ 1” and 105-pound native of St. Francis, Minnesota. “Everything revolved around hockey for me, and my mother decided I needed to broaden my horizons.” Dakotah explored tennis until she learned players on the girls’ team needed to wear skirts, then she joined the track team because she had always done well in the one mile run in phy ed class.
The only child of Shawn Bullen and Connie Bullen, Dakotah became the starting goaltender for St. Francis/North Branch during the season as an 8th grader. The team often got pummeled by powerhouses such as Benilde-St. Margaret when it is documented at least 50 shots were fired on “the pint-sized goalie” as reported in one newspaper article. During the 2011-12 season Dakotah was named the hockey team’s Most Valuable Player, but “slowly a paradigm shift occurred by my junior year” when she realized running had its rewards for personal effort. Still, Dakotah never qualified for a high school state meet—in fact, she literally finished last in one meet. Her best finish was 5th in the 3200-meter run in sections Dakotah’s senior year.
The 2013 high school graduate was not recruited by any college for either sport. Northern State University coach Kevin Bierke’s response to Dakotah’s e-mail request about trying out for the Division II’s cross country and track teams was met with elation; he invited her to be a walk-on at the Aberdeen, South Dakota, school. Dakotah determined to make a more sincere effort at running after she witnessed unheralded teammate Sasha Gallagher (nee Hovind) improve dramatically during their freshman year. By the outdoor track and field season her sophomore year, Dakotah had shaved 2 to 3 minutes off her 10,000-meter time and qualified for nationals in the distance event, placing 19th out of 21 runners and nearly 2 minutes behind the champion.
A biology education major, Dakotah steadily improved, eventually becoming a 5-time nationals’ qualifier and All-American in both cross country and track, with a personal best in 2017 when she placed 6th in the 10,000-meter run nationals in Bradenton, Florida, with a time of 35:06.85.
Finding her niche in longer distances, Dakotah won the Eugene Curnow Trail Marathon three consecutive years. She claimed the titles of the Duluth to Carlton trail run in 2014, 2015, and 2016. When leading a recruit on a tour of campus, coach Bjerke stunned her by saying he though Dakotah could qualify for the Olympic Trials. Dakotah later corralled her coach and took notes on suggestions he had to make the statement a reality. Two years later, it did.
Coach Bjerke contacted Chris Lundstrom and Patricia Goodwin of Team USA Minnesota—now Minnesota Distance Elite—and begged them to consider Dakotah for the team. Dakotah did her own share of begging and it soon paid dividends for both sides when she was accepted as a team member in 2018. “It was a leap of faith for them to take me on,” Dakotah says admitting her running resumé did not compare to other athletes on the team.
Dakotah’s most memorable race is when she placed 4th at Grandma’s Marathon in Duluth in 2019. Her time of 2:32:04 easily surpassed the Olympic Trials qualifying standard and when Dakotah finished the race she ran into the waiting arms of her mother, Connie. Less than a year later, Connie died from cancer—it wasn’t definite she would be able to attend the marathon because of her serious health condition.
The 2020 Olympic Trials in the marathon were hosted in Atlanta, Georgia. Dakotah had a solid showing, finishing in the top 10% by placing 36th in a time of 2:39:08 out of 390 runners. She completed the marathon slightly ahead of two other runners with Minnesota connections: Melissa Rock (Prior Lake) was 37th and Whitney Thornburg Macon (married to Rochester runner Riley Macon) placed 40th. Dakotah greatly respects 2020 Olympic marathon alternate Desiree Linden and her determination and consistency. They have similar statures too.
Nicholas Lindwurm a fellow runner at Northern State, and Dakotah married in 2017. They both ran Grandma’s Marathon last Sunday, but there was a big difference in their training since Nick seldom runs anymore. “I don’t know whether he was more proud of me for winning or whether I was more proud of him for completing the race,” Dakotah says of the happy results.
Yes, Dakotah, a substitute teacher and tutor, convincingly won the 2021 Grandma’s Marathon with a personal best of 2:29:04 and aspires to race as an elite runner in a prestigious fall marathon (New York or Boston, for example) and to qualify for the 2024 Olympic Trials and be a competitive force. She is often captured smiling during a race. “Marathoning should be fun! If someone is cheering me on, I smile at them. It energizes me.”
Photo credit: Shawn Bullen
Minnesota Athletes 