Director of Student Activities Alexandra Whitford `18 never thought she would go from being an All-American in pole vaulter to running the Chicago marathon within two years, but after four hours and 25 minutes, she stood at the finish line in awe of her journey.
Whitford, who had never done endurance running in her life, ran the Chicago marathon on Oct. 13 after months of training to raise money for Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation in honor of her father and his struggle with substance abuse. The prospect of running a marathon came at the right time because like many athletes after graduation, Whitford was searching for a new goal.
“It started with just trying out different fun training plans with my friends, doing yoga classes and other stuff like that,” Whitford said. “It just wasn’t quite fulfilling me the way I wanted to when it came to my fitness goals.”
In November, Whitford set her sights on the Chicago marathon and gathered a group of women to train with her. She said it was a slow process, but she worked her way up to being able to run the whole course without walking or stopping.
“By September, I could run 16 miles alone on the dirt roads in Hillsdale, which I never knew that I could do,” Whitford said, “Spending that three hours alone, having to kind of force yourself to do the work, knowing that it will pay off in the end, changes a person.”
Director of Student Programs Ashlyn Neveau `16 traveled to Chicago to support Whitford. She said leading up the race, it was interesting to watch Whitford’s mindset change the more she trained.
“I see her every day, so it was kind of a constant conversation of how training’s going. It was really interesting to watch her, like the journey that she took in her mindset with the marathon,” Neveau said. “As her training progressed, she got a lot stronger, she loved running a lot more, and she became very passionate about it.”
Neveau said a marathon is “not in the cards” for her personally, but being there for Whitford was a good way to be part of the process.
“It was just a really cool undertaking that meant a lot to her, and I saw how much it changed for her over the training, it kind of felt like it was a special thing to be a part of,” Neveau said. “It definitely was really inspiring. It made me think about it for sure.”
Assistant Director of Career Services Rebecca Galvan `13 also wanted a goal, so she joined Whitford in her training.
“It was fun to have a group with a goal, even though we weren’t all running it,” she said. “We just wanted to support her. It was fun to cheer for her from here.”
Galvan said being a supporter doesn’t require you to literally run with the person, but it’s helpful to run even a little.
“My philosophy is anyone can run,” Galvan said. “It just takes time and people’s support around you, so then being able to support someone in that way was even better than running my own marathon because you can see the things that they achieve. I like that better than any success I had on my own.”
Whitford’s father passed away in March 2017 after a relapse the year before, and the toll the substances had taken on his body was too much. Whitford said her father was a wonderful man, but he struggled for years with alcoholism and drugs and was in and out of rehabilitation centers.
“He struggled to stay focused on his job and his family and was in and out of rehab and in and out of brushes with the law sometimes,” Whitford said. “It was a very challenging part of my childhood, and when he was present, there was a lot of anger towards him, though he was an amazing guy outside of that. Very loving person and very selfless when it came to helping other people but just struggled with this thing a lot, and it definitely took over his whole life.”
After his death, Whitford said she struggled with her hurt for his actions in the past as well as her newfound grief. In the months that followed, she reached out to both those who struggled with substance abuse as well as those who have loved ones who do. She found that healing would being with understanding the issue when she started exploring Hazelden.
“Hazelden Betty Ford was a really cool, unexpected way to start the healing process,” Whitford said. “It’s definitely opened up my heart to this particular cause. I’m very passionate about learning more about why this was an issue and how we can start to defend against it.”
Whitford said she had been skeptical of rehabilitation centers, but when she researched Hazelden, which put its resources into counseling, research, and education, her perspective changed.
“I hadn’t had positive experiences with rehab clinics,” Whitford said. “I thought they didn’t work, I didn’t feel a lot of warm fuzzy feeling towards it, but this one had a little more meat behind it. It became a dedication to my dad, something to represent him and carry on his legacy but also give back to people and families who were struggling with the same life situation.”
Though Whitford started training for the Chicago marathon to move towards a goal, she said she was surprised by how much she grew to love the journey and the simple joys of running. She is already looking for another marathon to train for, such as the Berlin Marathon.
“Definitely riding the runner’s high at the moment,” Whitford said. “I feel fulfilled but judging by the fact that I’m trying to run more races, I have caught the bug and I’m excited to see where it will go after this.”
Looking back on her months of training, Whitford said the most fulfilling part of it all wasn’t the finish line, but what she gained along her journey.
“Something I didn’t expect is, I thought the fulfillment would come from finishing the actual race, but I think the real fulfillment came from the discipline of that long of training and that hard of training,” Whitford said. “It was as emotionally developing as it was physically developing.”