TWO HARBORS - Over the last three years, Two Harbors native Ryan Meinke has been running on a rough road.

"Halloween 2010, I had an accidental drug and alcohol overdoes," says Meinke, "and I went into a coma for four days."

He was taken to Regents Hospital in St. Paul and given a slim chance to live.

"That was one of the most frightening things of my life," says Ryan's father, Tim Meinke.

"Walking into that room and seeing our son on life support was the hardest thing that I've ever been through," says Ryan's mother, Pam Meinke. "It's hard to explain the terror that we were in."

But despite the diagnosis, Ryan came out of it.

"I was able to speak almost instantly. Within about two days I was learning to walk again with the help of my father and my sister," said Ryan.

"It was a miracle," says Tim, "I believe."

Ryan's path back was slow and steady.

"The doctors compared it to coming out of major surgery," says Ryan, "it was very hard for me at first. I was really week both mentally and physically."

SIx months later, Ryan was nearly back to normal when his mental recovery took another hit.

"I was really coming back into myself and I heard the news of my cousin," says Ryan, "He committed suicide."

When most would have turned back, the loss of his cousin changed Ryan's course for the best.

"The first thing I did was go for a run. Just to kind of clear my head," says Ryan, "At that point I struggled to run one mile. It was really tough. Ever since then I've been running. It really inspired me."

It prompted Ryan to complete his first Garry Bjorklund Half Marathon last year in memory of the cousin who changed his outlook on life.

"He's inspired me to live and he's inspired me to follow my dreams," says Ryan, "To see all those people out there running from the elites to the last finishers and everyone in between. It was a great experience and one that I'll never forget."

"Marathons are like a celebration of life," says Ryan. "I'll have run about 600 miles training for the marathon through snow, sleet, rain, wind, freezing temperatures all that stuff."

He's been doing 18 weeks of training, much of it on the Grandma's course.

"It's kind of been a dream of mine for many years now I just never thought that I could do it," Ryan says, "Never really had the time or the desire to want to do it. It's going to be a very big day in my life, a very proud moment."

It's an inspired and inspiring run.

"I might say something like go, go," says Ryan's nephew Chance Hallman.

"My uncle's been training really hard," says Ryan's nephew Reece Hallman, "and I think he's gonna do well."

"Just enormously proud of how far he's come," says Pam, "and the changes he's made in his life."

Motorists Heading Up North Shore on Grandma's Marathon Day may Experience Delays

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