2008 Woodie Awards
13.1 miles no longer a threat to 58 students
Megan Captaine, Staff Writer
"Welcome to a challenging course," is the first sentence on the syllabus for Professor of Psychology Joe Hatcher's class, Topics in Motivation: Training for a Half-Marathon. This year, 58 students decided to take on the challenge of training for the half-marathon.
The increase in student interest from last year was partly due to an increased ability to participate, as this is the first year Hatcher decided to offer a different option to students.
Students were offered a one credit half-marathon training course, in which they are required to train and run the final race. The full Topics in Motivation class is a four credit course in which running is only one component of the curriculum.
The motivation course teaches students how to set, work for and obtain goals they may have thought unattainable.
"Instead of looking at the mountain, look at the ground in front of you," Hatcher says.
"You can apply it to a lot of areas in your life," says junior Dorrie Siqueiros, who is enrolled in the motivation class.
Hatcher, who has offered similar courses in the past, revived the idea during the spring 2005 semester after learning that there was a general interest in a half-marathon on the Ripon College campus as well as in the Ripon community.
The training program for students in the motivation and training courses is set up so runners start slow and build to the full 13.1 miles of the half-marathon.
Reasons for entering a half-marathon can be as diverse as the people running in one.
"We've got people who run all the time and people like me who don't excel at it," says Siqueiros.
"I'm not good at this. I'm not motivated," says Hatcher, adding, "I've run three marathons."
He explains that the running, or anything else, is purely motivation.
Hatcher says, "If I can do that which is so uncharacteristic of me, I can do anything."
In addition to half-marathon runners, Hatcher invites members of the college and community to run the race as a relay with teams of up to five runners.
The event will begin and end at Storzer Gymnasium Saturday, April 29. The race begins at 8 a.m.
A participation fee of $15 for individuals or $25 for a relay team is required. Anyone interested in running, either as an individual or as a team, can still register on the website: active.com.