Zachary Woodworth, Campus Carrier Features Editor
Berry hosted their annual half marathon event on Saturday, which was attended by almost 1,500 members of the Rome community as well as Berry students and faculty.
The annual event offers three different races: a half marathon that goes through the WinShape facilities on mountain campus, a 10K run that goes through main campus and the Viking Trail, and a 5K that goes around Hermann Hall and the log cabins. All three races start and end by the Ford Complex.
Todd Timberlake, professor of physics and astronomy and chair of the department of physics, astronomy and geology, participated in the half marathon.
He has volunteered at the event for the past several years, but this was his first year participating as a runner. During his training, Timberlake said he trained by doing weekly runs of about 10 to 12 miles.
Timberlake said he started training with two other professors, but they were not able to run the marathon, so he mostly just trained on his own.
He found that the most challenging part of preparing for a half marathon was motivating himself to get up and run in the morning.
“If my plan is to run a 12 mile run, once I get my first couple miles in I can keep going,” Timberlake said. “I don’t like quitting before I get where I was supposed to go. The hard part is getting yourself out the door to get started.”
He started training at the beginning of last summer, and participated in a series of trail runs sponsored by Trails for Recreation and Economic Development (TRED).
“I enjoyed it, and so I decided to run the half marathon,” Timberlake said.
In order to help Berry faculty and students prepare for the event, clinical associate professor John Azar-Dickens formed a training group called Team Berry. The team met at 8 a.m. on Saturdays for seven weeks before the race.
Azar-Dickens formed the team in 2010 as a way for Berry students and faculty to train together for the half marathon.
He said that he has not done Team Berry for the last two years because he couldn’t manage the group by himself and struggled to find students and faculty to help.
This year Azar-Dickens brought the training group back and partnered with Harbin Clinic. Clinic faculty trained alongside Berry students and faculty.
This time, Azar-Dickens said the group trained for seven weeks and focused on the 10K and 5K races.
Azar-Dickens said about 50 people expressed interest. The team trained individually on Mondays and Wednesdays, and met on Saturday mornings beginning in February to run together.
“Three days a week is all you need actually,” Azar-Dickens said.
Azar-Dickens has a masters degree in exercise science and designed the training program that he and members of Team Berry used.
Junior Jayme Nietzel was one of the students who trained with the group. She trained for her first 10K race.
“It was definitely very positive,” Nietzel said. “They encouraged you throughout the way to push your limits.”
Nietzel finished her 10K at 59 minutes. She said that the race was a “fun, interesting experience.”
Azar-Dickens trained for the half marathon and finished at one hour and 48 minutes, placing third in his age group.
Timberlake said that the race was a pleasant experience.
“I might be a little biased because I’ve volunteered but I think it’s a very well-run event,” Timberlake said. “It’s very welcoming and friendly, and the campus is a great place to run.”
Azar-Dickens said he plans to organize Team Berry again next year. He said that people who want to run the half marathon should start training now in order to prepare.
