Running, to most, is seen as an activity that many people wish not to participate in. However, a few Blue Valley students wanted to challenge themselves and attempted to complete a marathon or half-marathon.

“I [ran] the Gobbler Grind [marathon] on Nov. 13,” junior Sydney Rogers said. “I don’t know why, actually. I was going to do the half, so I might as well do the full.”

Rogers said she was persuaded to run the race by one of her friends.

“[Senior] Marie Young really got me into it,” Rogers said. “She was like, ‘Just do it with me, just do it with me,’ so I was like, ‘OK, might as well.’”

Senior Dawson Gardner participated in the Gobbler Grind half-marathon. He finished his race in 1 hour and 56 minutes.

“I [ran] with [senior] Chris An and [freshman] Andrew Carter,” Gardner said. “My race was fun and not as painful as expected.”

Gardner’s motivation, however, differed from Rogers’ motivation.

“I told someone last year I was going to run it,” he said. “I had to keep my promise.”

Rogers said being in cross country helped her train for the race. Although she ran a full 26.2 miles, she did not train more than 16 miles because she was also playing soccer while training.

“I do pretty much what we’ve been doing all [cross country] season, except speed workouts. I did six to seven [miles] a day, then on the weekends, I did 10 [miles],” she said. “On Mondays I [had] to do 16 [miles]. Usually I didn’t run on Sundays.”

Because Gardner only went 13.1 miles in his race, he was able to run the distance of his race while training. He said cross country helped him get into shape for the half-marathon.

“I [ran] close to 13 miles by the time [of] the race,” he said. “[Cross country] helped me get in good shape and pushed me to run longer and faster.”

Rogers completed her marathon in a time of 4 hours and 57 minutes.

“It shows me I can do anything as long as I can get past it mentally,” she said. “Half the race was me telling myself I can do it. If you set your mind to something, you can accomplish anything.”