After an enlightening inaugural year, East Peorians will once again have the chance to lace up their running shoes and don their reflective vests to raise money for St. Jude.
Meetings have begun for this year’s run, which will take place Aug. 7, to get the word out and allow participants time to fundraise and, of course, perfect that mile time.
The run was established in 2009 by Jackie Harrmann and her friend, Nikki Lenaway, who has a personal tie to St. Jude.
“We just celebrated two years of being cancer-free on Valentine’s Day,” said Lenaway, whose 14-year-old son, Corbin Lenaway, was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma in December 2007 at the age of 11.
“Even though we weren’t (at St. Jude) that long, they just touched us,” Lenaway said. “I just felt that we had to give back because they did so much for us.”
Harrmann said Lenaway asked for her help in starting an auxiliary run in East Peoria since so many other communities had such runs.
“How do you tell someone ‘no’ at that point after all they had been through?” asked Harrmann.
With one year under their belts, organizers are expecting things to run smoothly this year.
“With last year being the first year, we had no idea how long it was going to take us,” said runner/organizer Crista Tucker.
She added that runners finished about three hours earlier than planned last year.
This year, Tucker is asking all runners for details about their running experience to better budget their time.
“I want to know how long it takes you to run a mile. I want to know how often you run,” she said.
Runners are put into pace groups for the race. Each group is assigned a number of 1-to 2.5-mile legs to run. Participants alternate running and riding in the chase van, which follows the runners.
“It’s relay-style all through East Peoria,” Tucker said. “But all of the runners will cross the bridge together. It’s amazing. Once you do it, you’re a lifer.”
Each runner will know exactly when and where they will run, Tucker said. If runners need to take a break during the run, they can jump in the chase van.
“We make it so everyone can participate,” said Tucker. “We’ll have people who run everyday as well as self-proclaimed ‘non-runners.’”
Runners will convene with other satellite runners and watch the Memphis-to-Peoria runners come in at the Peoria Civic Center to kick off the telethon.
