Written by Joseph Dickerson
It was 24 degrees outside on a brisk Saturday morning in December at 7:20. That day, thousands gathered together to run in theSt. Jude Memphis Marathon, Half Marathon, and Memphis Grizzlies House 5K. Complete strangers became best friends huddled together being pressed together from the amount of people and for warmth as the thousands waited for the start of the race.
Sean Smith, a Senior Mechanical Engineering major at Harding University was there getting ready for the start of the race with a group of friends with whom he trained in preparation for the half marathon they were about to run.
Smith had started running back in September of 2008 for one of the manliest reasons of all, “to get to know a girl better.” He continued running because it was a stress reliever for him and a challenge. “It was something to lose yourself in,” Smith said.
He ran his own half marathon last year during the 2008 St. Jude Memphis Marathon at school because he had missed the signups for it. He had finished with a time of 2:04.
Smith trained with a group of friends from school for his next marathon in April 2009 where he was going to attempt the full marathon. He said it was a “killer training for a marathon.” They had to run almost every day and then devote their weekends to “long runs.”
“The best way to train is to have a group,” he said. Helping keep each other accountable and out pounding the pavement.
The group made it to April for theNashville Country Music Marathonand were excited about all their progress through the semester. There were five running in the full marathon and two running in the half marathon. Smith was one of the five who was ready, or so he thought, for the full.
Everyone in the group had finished the race, everyone but Smith. He was expected to finish strong and to be one of the first to finish in their group of friends. No one had seen him or knew where he could be. Finally one of the members of the group had gotten a hold of one of the race officials and received the information that Smith had been taken to the hospital.
He had been trying to keep up with a friend from the group who was a Harding cross country runner. She pulled ahead of him at mile 21 and was the first in the group to finish the full marathon. Smith then took someGUand began to feel sick “I couldn’t see straight or walk straight, then I just fell over.” He never lost consciousness but he couldn’t move his body. Both the heat from the day and lack of hydration had taken its toll on his body. Another runner who happened to be a massage therapist stopped and tried to help by massaging his cramping legs and giving him water as he awaited an ambulance.
“It was my first trip in an ambulance,” Smith said. At the hospital he received an IV to pump fluids back into his body, something to drink, and anti nausea meds. His friends made it to the hospital as soon as they could; having to fight the traffic and road blocks for the race they had just participated in. The whole ordeal made for a great story and many laughs as he very quickly made a full recovery.
After the failed attempt at the full marathon in Nashville, Smith still continued to train with the group to get ready for the half marathon in early December 2009.
Now the day was here.
The race started at 8am. The teaming thousands took to the streets of downtown Memphis with hopes of finish lines and warmth. Thousands more looked on and cheered for friends, loved ones, and people willing to use their running talent to benefit a great cause like St. Jude.
The whole group finished; including Smith this time. He even improved on his time from last year with a 1:50.51 half marathon time. He did have some problems this time around having to throw up at mile 10 and mile 12 ½ but he made it pushed his body and made it across the finish line.
Smith and the group will now start training again for another half marathon next April. “I hope to run the full marathon this time next year,” he said. “Anyone can do it. Don’t trick yourself into saying you can’t.”
If you look around you might see the group out running in the evenings. Keep fighting for those finish lines.
