Blast halted marathon

I was on a 20-mile training run with my friend, the late Rick Stewart. We were training for the Coeur d’Alene Marathon, which was to be held the following week.

The sky to the west began getting dark as though a major thunderstorm was headed our way. Of course the “thunderstorm” was ash from Mount St. Helens and it wasn’t long until we were being pelted with ash.

The Coeur d’Alene Marathon was canceled. We received T-shirts by mail with the lettering covered by the words: “Canceled due to volcanic ash from Mount St. Helens.”

Terry Kjolseth, Colbert