Minneapolis, MN
Minneapolis runner earns 50 States Marathon Club honors after 20 years of chasing a dream
Micah Grafenstein-Kinzel achieved a personal goal in June, a challenge he gave himself 20 years ago. He can even tell you how many toenails he sacrificed to get there: close to 30.
“That’s a rough estimate,” he said with a smile.
Grafenstein-Kinzel ran a marathon in Helena, Mont., to join a relatively exclusive club of people who have completed a 26.2-mile course in all 50 states.
A plan he hatched after turning 30 and becoming a new father concluded when a large cheering section of family and supporters welcomed the 51-year-old from Minneapolis across the finish line.
An organization known as the “50 States Marathon Club” officially recognizes the accomplishment. Runners can join the club after finishing marathons in 10 states.
Grafenstein-Kinzel became the 68th club member from Minnesota to earn the distinction of completing the full circuit of 50 states. Roughly 1,900 club members worldwide have run all 50, though the number of finishers who haven’t applied for membership to have their feat recognized undoubtedly pushes the fantastic 50 number higher.
Grafenstein-Kinzel’s logbook underscores the undertaking.
Total miles run: 1,310.
Total elapsed time: 173 hours, 2 minutes.
Estimated miles traveled to the 50 states: 56,832.
Pairs of running shoes used: roughly 80.
Cost of completing 50 states?
“Priceless,” he said.
The idea came to him as he was looking for a new challenge.
Grafenstein-Kinzel fell in love with running as a child. He ran Grandma’s Marathon at age 18 and competed in track at the University of North Dakota.
He raced competitively throughout his 20s, with a goal of running fast times. He qualified for the Boston Marathon four times. He also ran the Chicago and New York marathons.
Competitive racing started to become taxing on his mind and body around the same time he and wife Lora had their first child in 2005.
Grafenstein-Kinzel read an article about a retired lawyer from Chicago who had just completed his 50th state. He already had a few states checked off his own list, so he set his sights on the rest.
Iowa was one of his first states. His son Mikolas was 3 months old. A few months later, Mom, Dad and Mikolas traveled to Arizona for a marathon.
Dad’s passion soon became a family affair. The couple had two more sons, and marathons doubled as family vacations. Lora’s parents own an RV and would join them on trips.
“We put a list together of all the places we want to take the kids before they left home [for college],” Lora said. “We mapped out everything to coincide with his marathons.”
The boys — Mikolas (19), Sebastian (17) and Pavel (15) — traveled to more than 20 states. They went surfing in Hawaii and rafting in Alaska.
“I remember traveling every year to see cool places around the U.S.,” Mikolas said.
All three boys were at the Governor’s Cup Marathon in Montana on June 8 as their dad finished his 50th state. Tears flowed through the 26.2 miles. For everyone.
“It’s been a big commitment for all of us,” Lora said. “That’s why I’ve always encouraged him to keep doing it. He is such a good example for the kids.”
Grafenstein-Kinzel doesn’t hesitate when asked his favorite marathon course of the 50: “Big Sur was the most fun,” he said.
The hardest? “Bar Harbor, Maine,” he said. “That was constant hills.”
Strangest? Mississippi in 2017. Organizers cancelled the race that morning because of an ice storm. Grafenstein-Kinzel checked nearby states to see if there were any alternatives. Bingo. Mobile, Ala., had a marathon the next day.
Once ice melted off the roads later that day, “I drove to Alabama and got signed up and ran Alabama,” he said.
Biggest payday? South Dakota in 2006.
“$250 for third place,” he said.
On three occasions, Grafenstein-Kinzel ran marathons on back-to-back days in neighboring states. He did Idaho-Utah in 2012, Connecticut-Rhode Island in ’13 and Delaware-New Jersey in ’14.
“The second day, the toughest part is those first three or four miles,” he said. “They’re just brutal. Once you get past that, you’re OK.”
Grafenstein-Kinzel has no new immediate challenge now that he has crossed the finish line of 50 states.
“I do have an idea,” he said. “Maybe I can run across Minnesota. Forrest Gump-like.”
Minneapolis, MN
Minnesota weather: Gorgeous Sunday with a warmer Monday ahead
MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) – A sunny and warm Sunday is in store for the Twin Cities, with even higher temperatures expected on Monday before a chance of rain and cooler air returns later in the week.
Sunday forecast
Local perspective:
Sunday is starting with some cloud cover before sunshine moves in with highs near 70 degrees around the metro and southern parts of the state.
Winds will be much lighter than Saturday, coming from the south at 5 to 10 mph with only occasional gusts up to 15 mph.
The Brainerd Lakes area will see temperatures in the 60s, while the North Shore will be cooler, which is typical for this time of year.
Sunday’s weather is expected to be dry and pleasant.
Overnight, temperatures will drop to the upper 30s and lower 40s, with some clouds moving in ahead of Monday.
Extended forecast
What’s next:
Monday could be the warmest day of the week, with highs in the lower 70s for the Twin Cities and some spots in southern Minnesota possibly reaching close to 80 degrees.
Winds will shift from southerly to southeasterly and then easterly as the day goes on, but should remain light.
After the warm start to the week, a cold front will move through on Tuesday, bringing a chance for a few rain showers in the early morning.
Temperatures will likely drop to the upper 40s by Wednesday and Thursday, with another front possibly bringing showers late Friday into early Saturday.
The rest of the extended forecast calls for temperatures close to or just below average, with highs in the upper 40s to lower 50s.
The Source: This story uses information from the FOX 9 weather forecast.
Minneapolis, MN
Man found dead in south Minneapolis house fire
MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) – Firefighters are investigating the Minneapolis’s second fire fatality of the year after a man died in a house fire Saturday afternoon.
Fatal fire on 28th Avenue South
What we know:
According to the Minneapolis Fire Department (MFD), fire crews arrived shortly after 1:00 p.m. and found smoke coming from the second floor of a single-family home on 28th Avenue South. Bystanders alerted firefighters that someone might be trapped inside.
Crews had to work through heavy debris to reach the upstairs area. It took about 40 minutes to fully put out the fire.
During the primary search, firefighters found a man in his 60s dead on the second floor. No one else was found after searching all the floors.
Minneapolis Animal Care and Control took in a dog found outside the home.
Assistant Chief Wes Van Vickle said, “The department is grateful to the neighbors who alerted fire crews that someone may still have been inside, allowing them to act quickly.”
Fire safety reminders and community response
What they’re saying:
“This afternoon’s tragic loss of life weighs heavily on all of us, and we extend our deepest condolences to the family and friends of the deceased,” said Van Vickle.
He also encourages the public to regularly check and maintain smoke detectors and fire extinguishers at home.
There were no other injuries reported. The Hennepin County Medical Examiner is working to confirm the man’s identity.
What we don’t know:
The cause of the fire has not yet been determined, and the man’s name has not been released.
Minneapolis, MN
Minnesota serves as the flagship for nationwide ‘No Kings’ protests against Trump
ST. PAUL, Minn. — Organizers of Saturday’s “No Kings” rallies across the country are predicting that the protests against the actions of President Donald Trump and his administration could add up to one of the largest demonstrations in U.S. history, with Minnesota taking center stage.
Organizers say more than 3,100 events have been registered in all 50 states, with more than 9 million people expected to participate.
And they’ve designated the rally at the Minnesota Capitol in St. Paul as the national flagship event, in recognition of how the state where federal agents fatally shot two people who were monitoring Trump’s immigration crackdown became an epicenter of resistance.
Headlining that observance will be Bruce Springsteen, performing “Streets of Minneapolis,” which he wrote in response to the deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, and in tribute to the thousands of Minnesotans who took to the streets over the winter. Springsteen’s Land of Hope & Dreams American Tour, which has a “No Kings” theme, kicks off Tuesday in Minneapolis.
Minnesota organizers have told state officials they expect 100,000 people could converge on the Capitol grounds, where last June’s event drew an estimated 80,000 people.
The St. Paul rally will also feature singer Joan Baez, actor Jane Fonda,Sen. Bernie Sanders and a long list of other activists, labor leaders and elected officials.
The White House dismissed the nationwide protests as the product of “leftist funding networks” with little real public support.
“The only people who care about these Trump Derangement Therapy Sessions are the reporters who are paid to cover them,” White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said in a statement.
Rallies are also planned in more than a dozen other countries, from Europe to Latin America to Australia, Ezra Levin, a co-executive director of Indivisible, a group spearheading the events, said in an interview. Countries with constitutional monarchies call the protests “No Tyrants,” he said.
For those unable to attend in person, another activist group, Stand Up For Science, is hosting a “virtual and accessible” event online.
National organizers told reporters in an online news conference Thursday that they expect Saturday’s protests to be larger than the first two rounds of No Kings rallies, which they estimate drew more than 5 million people in June and more than 7 million in October.
“This administration’s actions are angering not just Democratic voters or folks in big blue city centers – they are crossing a line for people in red and rural areas, in the suburbs, all over the country,” said Leah Greenberg, the other co-executive director of Indivisible. “The defining story of this Saturday’s mobilization is not just how many people are protesting, but where they are protesting,”
Two-thirds of the RSVPs have come from outside of major urban centers, Greenberg said, listing registration surges in conservative-leaning states like Idaho, Wyoming, Montana, Utah, South Dakota and Louisiana, as well in competitive suburban areas of Pennsylvania, Georgia and Arizona.
“Millions of us are rising up from all walks of life, from rural communities to big cities at No Kings,” said Katie Bethell, executive director of MoveOn, another major organizer. “And as we do so, we will send the loudest, clearest message yet that this country does not belong to kings, dictators, tyrants. It belongs to us.”
Copyright © 2026 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
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