On Jan. 18 counselor Alan Thompson, English teacher Katherine Thomas and students senior Lee Lorenz and junior Richard Goldman completed the Chevron Houston marathon. Math teacher Daisy Anderson, Principal Michael McDonough, ESL teacher Andrea Sheridan and students junior Mackenzie Ward and junior Sarabeth Sandweiss participated in the Houston Aramco Half Marathon.
Preparing for the marathon or half marathon can be mentally and physically challenging. Ward laughed as she described her training experience for the half marathon and how she felt the day of the race.
“I didn’t train at all. All I had done was run nine miles in November. I felt so unprepared. On the day of the race, I woke up late and really didn’t want to go, but after running and seeing all those people that come out to support you, I didn’t regret going at all,” Ward said.
Ward ran with her friend, Sandweiss. Sandweiss participated in last year’s half marathon and decided to make a tradition of doing it every year. The two girls stayed together during the entire course of the race.
“Nine months ago when I signed up, I thought that doing the half marathon would be really fun. This was my second year doing it, so I knew what to expect. I wanted to do it with a friend, so it was nice to have Mackenzie running with me to talk to and to keep a good pace with,” Sandweiss said.
Others took on the feat of running 26.2 miles. Goldman explained his motivation for running the marathon and how he trained.
“Last year after I ran 21 miles on my own, I realized that I could probably do the full marathon. I wanted to challenge myself, and the marathon seemed like the ultimate challenge,” Goldman said. “I didn’t really have a special training schedule. I ran six to ten miles every day with the cross country team, so I really got in shape from that.”
The thought of crossing the finish line after running a marathon is what drives people to keep running. Thomas participated in the marathon to see if she could complete the entire race.
“I started running a couple of years ago to get in shape, but then I had a baby. I took a couple of years off, so I wanted to get back in shape. I got better than I was before at running, and I wanted to push myself to see if I could do the marathon,” Thomas said. “It wasn’t as bad as I expected, and it was almost kind of fun.”
Completing a half or full marathon is a great physical challenge, but staff members and students pulled through from the encouragement of peers, family members and the supporting public.
