University of Minnesota’s School of Kinesiology  Marathon Training course (PE 1262) completed its 6th year on May 4 with 100 students completing the Eau Claire Marathon. Not only did all of the 100 of the University runners finished the race, but the first and second place finishers of the race were U of MN students.

Eric Glaubke, a sophomore business information systems major, finished first with a time of 2:45.06 (6:17 min per mile) and Zachery Haus, a senior political science major, finished 2nd in a time of 2:51.08. Also in the top ten finishers was James Arneson (5th) in 3:03.32 and Brock Purtell (6th) in 3:03.37. For the women, the top finishers were Jordan Ecker, 1st overall in the women’s 16-19 age division in a time of 3:47.59, Emily Ralph, 4th overall in the women’s 20-29 age division in a time of 3:33.53, Ellie Walch (12th) in 3:52.50 and Margaret Mysz (13th) in 3:53.24. Glaubke, Haus, Arenson, Purtell and Ralph all qualified for the Boston Marathon for 2015. A majority of the class finished between 4-5 hours.

The class was also featured in Eau Claire’s Leader Telegram.
The marathon class endured runs with wind chills to -30 degrees throughout the course of training. The course which involves classroom teaching, physiological and psychological testing, as well as training runs, integrated research as well as life-long lasting friendships. The course instructors; Stacy Ingraham, Ph.D. and doctoral candidate Chris Lundstrom team teach and coach this group of runners. The course this year added two pancake breakfasts following the 20 mile runs, and very active social networks capturing the training and race moments.

The class shirt captured the mantra of the class:
THE ROAD TO THE FINISH LINE DEFINES WHO I AM
THE FINISH LINE IS THE BEGINNING OF WHO I WILL BECOME
THE EMPOWERMENT OF PREPARATION AND PERSEVERANCE