Nov. 4, 2010

Story courtesy of Park Sports Information

PARKVILLE, Mo. – Park University (Mo.) head softball coach Amy Reif and two of her current players took part in one of the most challenging and grueling events in sports, the Chicago Marathon back on Oct. 10.

Sophomore outfielder Mallory Jansen and sophomore Hannah Alpers joined their head coach for the 26.1 mile journey throughout downtown, Chicago, Ill., with over 45,000 other runners alongside.

Reif, Jansen and Alpers weren’t the only members of the Park University family to take part in the event, 22 other Park faculty, staff and alumni competed in the marathon including Wellness, Strength, and Conditioning Coordinator, Brian Ciolek.

Ciolek was the catalyst that helped jump start the idea to have a big group of Park University members compete in the race.

“I ran the Kansas City marathon last year with current Park men’s volleyball player Philip Heckmann and I watched the movie Spirit of the Marathon and that motivated me to want to run in the Chicago marathon,” said Ciolek.

“So I went around to a lot of colleagues on campus and asked if they wanted to join me in Chicago and I got a great response.”

Reif wasn’t always an avid runner and hadn’t planned on competing in the marathon until Ciolek pitched her the idea a few months ago.

“After my softball playing career in college I didn’t know if I ever wanted to run again,” Reif said. “But I got together with my sister and trained with her and really enjoyed the experience.

“I think my favorite part of the race was meeting and talking with all of the different people that came to experience the marathon. There were so many people from all over the world all together for one common goal, to finish the race. That was pretty amazing.”

Alpers not only ran in a marathon for the first time but she also flew in an airplane for the first time and that was nervous enough for her.

“I was terrified of the plane ride,” Alpers said. “I felt sick as we descended, and then the airline lost my bag. But once I got off the plane and found my bag and made it to race day, I forgot about all that and really enjoyed the experience.”

For Jansen running next to 45,000 strangers and hearing some of there stories definitely topped her list of favorite memories.

“It was incredible to see all of the different people running the race,” Jansen said. “People wore all sorts of funny outfits and talking to some of the runners about why they came to Chicago to run the race was very inspiring, I would definitely do it again if I ever have the chance.”

After running by herself for parts of the race, Reif eventually met up with Jansen and Alpers and was able to finish the race with her two players.

“I told coach Reif in the last few miles that she better be prepared for a lot of hugs after the finish line and that I might cry a little bit,” said Jansen. “Oh yeah I definitely cried after I crossed the finish line, but I was so happy to accomplish something like that and to be there with my teammate and coach was very special.”