Students of Scott Trappe and Dave Whitsett's Marathon Class faced their toughest test yet Saturday, fighting the weather conditions and doing their scheduled long-distance run.
"This Saturday was one of the tougher (group runs) because of the conditions," Trappe said. "It would be best mentally if we could get these people outside, and you could feel the energy after the run. They did something special that day."
Trappe, Whitsett and their 21 students meet up at the Human Performance lab at 7:30 a.m. every Saturday to do their long-distance run as part of The Marathon Class: Fitness and Mental Health. The 14 women and seven men meet every Tuesday and Thursday to learn about the physical and mental aspects of running in a marathon, and train for The Derby Festival Marathon in Louisville, Ky. on April 26. The mere fact of running a marathon may scare some students away.
"A lot of my friends, I talked to them about it and they were like 'You can't do that.'" said Derek Parrish, senior exercise science major. "And I just took it to prove I could."
The class is new to Ball State this year. The only other school to teach this type of class before was Northern Iowa, which Dave Whitsett taught Scott Trappe at in the late '80s. Trappe talked to Whitsett a few years ago about teaching the class at Ball State and it was pulled together this year.
"This course changes who people are," Whitsett said. "It's not just running a marathon, that's what we're focused on (Trappe and Whitsett). When they're able to run a marathon, they'll believe they can do anything, and it changes the way they view their lives."
Trappe spends Tuesday's class time lecturing about the physiological aspects of long-distance running, and Thursday's class time Whitsett lectures on the psychological aspects. During the week students are required to run a number of miles on their own and on Saturday's they all get together and run.
"The marathon is just a vehicle," Trappe said. "It could be anything, but it happens to be an athletic event, and it happens to be one that is very challenging."
The class has become so popular around the Human Performance lab that Bill Fink, a retired lab technician at Ball State sits in on the class everyday, and runs with the group on Saturday morning. Fink has participated in 24 marathons and Trappe described him as a great resource.
"We've got pretty much every discipline on campus represented," Trappe said. "That's another thing I think that makes it unique."
None of the 21 students have any marathon experience and few have running experience. Trappe said the variety of students is a strength for the class.
"I've run all my life, so the hardest part is knowing that I have never run this far before and trying to sit down and not be as competitive and understand it's going to be a totally new experience," said Ciara McBain, sophomore apparel design major.
Other students think the mental part is hardest in the class.
"I think the hardest part is putting into practice the different mental things that Dave has us do, like visualizations and writing things down," said Jennifer Roherty, sophomore secondary math education major.
Trappe said that dealing with these hardships and suffering, the students are beginning to develop a special bond together by arranging dinners on Friday and even a Saturday morning pancake breakfast.
"These types of things are typical as these people start to hit the trenches on Saturday and you start suffering with people, there's a special bond," Trappe said.
The bond that the class grows, and raising questions about the material covered helps students get to that final goal.
"Part of the success of the course is part of the reason these kids resist," Trappe said. "Here's the training program, it's very modest, but it's designed to gradually apply more and more stress to the body and prepare them to get through their first marathon.
"Most first-time marathoners aren't successful. They make a lot of mistakes, they train too hard, they get injured, they don't follow some basic nutrition rules. The success rate (of this class) will be 100 percent."
Some of the students want to just finish the 26.2 mile marathon at Louisville, but McBain wants to finish with a smile.
"I just want to get through the thing," Parrish said. "I've never ran for more than three miles before in my life, so if I finish it, I'll be happy."
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