Twin Cities Marathon: The families that run together...

The running commentary has been the best thing.

Tom Henke is a 44-year-old executive. He's a man who works hard and so has found it hard, at times, to connect with his four children.

Here's the answer: running.

Max and Maddie Henke -- 15 and 16, respectively -- are hard-working students at Minnetonka High School. Their academic schedules are so jam-packed that both opted to take a self-study class to satisfy their physical education requirements. To the shock and sometimes awe of their classmates, they decided to join their father and train for the Twin Cities Marathon.

"We thought it would be better than stretching, or yoga," Maddie Henke said.

That was last June. Since then? Father, daughter and son have run nearly 500 hours together. In the process Tom Henke has gotten to know two of his children better than he ever thought possible. His kids? They learned a little about themselves, too.

It will be Tom's second marathon. He got into running at the request of a friend who was looking for a training partner, a process that culminated with his finishing last year's Twin Cities Marathon. This year his training partners have been a little closer to home.

In the past, it was a half-hour at dinner. Trying to find time on the weekends. Now time stretches out like the road they run on. They have conversations, hours at a time sometimes.

"We talk while we run," Max said. "We never use iPods; we can't do anything but talk."

And learn. For example, Tom learned a lot about his kids' ability to set a goal and work to meet it.

Max learned his dad is a lot more determined than he thought. Maddie learned a lot about her own limits. When the training first started, she struggled. Her dad had already run a marathon and her brother had run a little cross-country. Early on, they had to run 14 miles and she didn't know if she could do it.

"I had a hard time running that," she said. "But once I did it, it got so much easier. I never thought I could run a marathon. Right now, I'm pretty sure I can do it."

But come Sunday, they will do it together. Well, at least at the start. Their plan is to run together for the first half of the race, then improvise depending on who is feeling good and who isn't.

So the question was asked. Who is most likely to, eh, slow the process?

"Well, it could be Dad," Max said. "The other day, on our 20-mile run, my sister and I definitely outran him."

Old Dad getting left in the dust?

"I wouldn't be surprised by that," Maddie said.