Medical students raise over $13,500 for charity running the Chicago Marathon

What is the best way to achieve school-life balance during medical school? For 11 fourth-year (M4) students, school-life balance came in the form of taking on a challenge outside of the classroom – running the 2019 Chicago Marathon.

“Many of us previously volunteered at the medical tent at the marathon’s finish line,” said M4 student Elizabeth Hall. “It was always inspiring to watch all the runners cross the finish line and last year several of us decided that we should actually run the race. We thought it would be a great way to cap off a challenging four years by tackling another challenging thing.”

For most of the students, this was their first marathon. Training for the race was difficult for both the new and seasoned runners, but the group found ways to encourage each other during the process, even if they were not regularly training together.

“Some of us used a mobile app to track our runs,” explained M4 student Blake Beehler. “Even though we travelled all over the country for away clinical rotations this summer, it was fun to see people’s progress as they completed training runs in places such as New York or California.”

“We also had a GroupMe chat, which has been a great way to support each other,” added Hall. “We would celebrate when someone reached milestones in their training and were able to help each other with common runners’ issues like shin splits.”

Many of the students dedicated their run to different non-profits that have personal significance to their lives. To date, the group has collectively raised over $13,500 for their charities, which include the ALS Association, AIDS Foundation of Chicago, Run Domestic Violence Out of Town, Team Impact, American Liver Association, Gilda’s Club Chicago, Project Muscular Dystrophy and Alzheimer’s Association.

“It has been really cool to see the level of support from classmates. Either donating to our causes, providing moral support, volunteering in the medical tents, or cheering for us along the route on race day.” said Beehler. “It’s easy to get bogged down with school and clinical rotations, but running the marathon has been a great event for us to rally around — especially as we get ready to leave and travel around the country for residency interviews.”

Congratulations to the 11 fourth-year Rush Medical College students who completed Sunday’s Chicago Marathon: Sam Auger, Brooke Baker, Blake Beehler, Alisa Corrado, Jenn Denike, Ali Graebner, Beth Hall, Lisa Liu, Mike Seidman, JJ (Jaijeet) Toor and Cam Ulmer.