or losing weight. It can be about setting goals and reaching them. Running can be an adrenaline rush, a challenge or just something one enjoys. Sometimes running can even help save other people.
On Saturday, Dec. 3, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital will host its annual St. Jude Memphis Marathon Weekend. This weekend is all about running and benefiting St. Jude hospital as all the proceeds from the marathon will go directly to the hospital.
This year, several Harding students have decided to give their time and energy to this cause.
Junior Lauren Kumler has never participated in an official race before, but this Saturday she said she hopes to complete her first half-marathon at St. Jude.
“I had been told that no matter how fit you were, you could run,” Kumler said. “So I wanted to just see if that was true or not.”
Kumler said she started training back in August, which requires her to run six days a week for about three to five miles a day and then a longer run one day out of the week.
“I love that it makes me tired and I can sleep better,” Kumler said. “I have been so happy and in the best mood this semester. All the endorphins you get from the running help out.”
Senior Amanda Hurt ran the Little Rock Marathon, her first full marathon, last spring after running her first half-marathon in the Soaring Wings Half-Marathon in Conway, Ark., in 2009.
When Hurt started training for her first run, she was in Zambia and was limited on what she could do and could run only three to four miles. Now that she is back at Harding she is able to run more and also do some cross-training with bicycles or the elliptical to help prepare for the marathons.
Hurt said she usually runs five to six days for about four to five miles each day. On long days Hurt said she can run up to 18 miles.
She said that training for spring marathons is the hardest because it is usually colder outside and dark in the mornings when she runs.
However, she would still like to try to run some more marathons some time in the future.
“When I started running, it was something — at the time — my boyfriend and I wanted to do together,” Hurt said. “Now he’s my fiancé and it’s still something that we like to do together. He’s in pharmacy school now, so he’s really busy, but running is something we can do to spend time together and see each other.”
Senior Janelle Galloway, an exercise science major, is also a runner.
She ran her first half-marathon in October at the Dallas 13.1 Marathon in Texas, a marathon that helps the organization World Vision, which is a group that helps provide children in Kenya and Malawi with clean drinking water.
To be able to run a half-marathon Galloway had to train for two months and had to work herself up to being able to run 10 miles.
She said that she had been told that to train for a half-marathon, one just had to be able to run 10 miles and that the adrenaline during the actual race would take care of the remaining distance.
Galloway played on the Harding women’s soccer team her junior year. She said she had always been involved in team sports. This limited her to what her team could do. Since running, however, is an individual sport, there were not any limiting factors.
She said that for her, running is a release, an outlet and gives her time to be able to talk to God while she is running.
“I personally enjoy just setting goals for myself and thrive off the process of bettering myself,” Galloway said. “But just by running this past marathon I was able to help other people out.”
