When they cross the 50-yard line at Memorial Stadium, the Illinois marathon and half-marathon runners seem like more than students. They have accomplished what can seem to some as an insane feat, pushing the human body past its natural endurance to complete the daunting race. However, the runners are students just like you and me—the only difference being their self-discipline and calves of steel.
This Saturday, April 26th, Champaign-Urbana will witness over 20,000 entrants run one of several races offered in the 6th annual Christie Clinic Illinois Marathon. These races include a 5k, 10k, half marathon, marathon relay and the ever-intimidating full 26.2 miles. Of the several thousand runners, many of them are students like us!
One of these students is Erin Ehnle, a senior in the college of ACES. “When I decided a month and a half ago that I was going to run, I quickly learned that to go from running nothing to 13 miles would be too much in too little time. That’s when I decided to do the marathon relay. It’s about 7 miles, and I knew that was feasible while still feeling like I was accomplishing something,” said Ehnle, who, after watching her roommates run the marathon last year, was inspired by the atmosphere of the event and promised herself she would run in an event this year.
Another fellow Illini participating in the Illinois Marathon is Tara McDermott, who will be running the half marathon this year. “I have always wanted to run a marathon and I want to do this to see if I’m able to! I have run 5, 10, and 15ks but never this far!”
On the other end of the spectrum is Sondra Monier, a senior in the college of ACES, who will run the Illinois half-marathon this year for the third time. She also ran the full marathon last year, and has participated in the Walt Disney World Goofy Challenge. This challenge consists of running 13.1 miles around the park on Saturday and then a full 26.2 miles on Sunday. Surprisingly enough, though, running wasn’t part of her life before coming to the University of Illinois. “I was very active in athletics throughout my grade school and high school career. I chose to pick up running as a hobby when I came to college. I decided to run the half in 2011 because my friends talked me into running the race. I had never run more than 3 miles beforehand, but have been hooked ever since,” says Monier, who isn’t planning on running this race alone. “I am running the half marathon with my best friend—we have ran either the half or full marathon together all four years—and my boyfriend. He definitely gets the boyfriend of the year award because he has trained with me for the Disney Goofy Challenge, ran the race with me and has ran the Illinois half with me the past two years.”
Ehnle, McDermott and Monier will be finishing their races and celebrating with a hamburger, a nap and a steak, respectively.
Sources:
Erin Ehnle
Erinehnle22@gmail.com
Tara McDermott
taramcdermott@yahoo.com
Sondra Monier
Monier2@illinois.edu
Illinoismarathon.com