BYU students run a marathon around the LSB

Sam Johnson and Kaelen Ruder ran a marathon around the Life Sciences Building at Brigham Young University on June 12.

The College of Life Sciences hosted an event during the marathon to help keep Johnson and Ruder energized. One station sat at the southwest corner of the building for people to sign up to run, make signs and cheer as the runners passed, and another sat on the north end of the building with food and drinks for fueling and hydration.

Tonya Fischio, the assistant dean of communications and public relations for the College of Life Sciences, planned the event and put Johnson and Ruder in contact with several professors to help them prepare for the extreme endeavor they would attempt.

"(The marathon) is so fun and it fits in so perfectly with the life sciences, Fischio said. We have several departments in our college that are right up the alley of our professors research.

Johnson and Ruder first got connected with Iain Hunter, who teaches in the Department of Exercise Sciences and researches running shoes.

Hunter took Johnson and Ruder to BYUs running lab to study their running habits and help them prepare for the marathon. He immediately helped Johnson pick out new shoes.

He needed some good knowledge on his footwear, Hunter said. Hed been wearing ones that I would not have chosen for what he has done so far.

In addition to getting Johnson in the right footwear, Hunter spoke with Johnson and Ruder about how going down the stairs on the east side of the building would be just as taxing on their bodies as going up the stairs on the west side.

Metabolically, the energy cost of running (up the stairs) is going to be more demanding on heart rate, Hunter said. But going (down the stairs) is where hes going to get a harder load on his legs."

Ultimately, Hunter made sure the runners knew how to keep their bodies safe from injury while also completing this seemingly impossible task.

It is fun and exciting, so I think it is wonderful that (they) are going through it, Hunter said.

Johnson and Ruder also talked with Chad Hancock, a professor in the Department of Nutrition, Dietetics and Food Sciences. Hancock helped the runners stay fueled and hydrated. He also brought a scale to measure the runner's body weight in Johnson and Ruder.

You can measure your net dehydration to a large degree simply by looking at body weight loss, Hancock said. Thats a simple way of how to see how hydrated you are.

Hancock wanted to provide this resource because Johnson and Ruder ran almost 8,000 steps up and 7,800 steps down. This accounts for almost 1 mile in vertical change throughout the run, which can contribute to dehydration.

Hancock also had Johnson and Ruder wear stickers on their arms, which measured how much sodium they were losing through their sweat.

Having support from faculty and staff at BYU was important for Johnson and Ruder, but having family and friends support them is what really helped them finish.

Johnsons mom, Scerinda Johnson, traveled from Bluffdale to watch Sam run the marathon. She sported a fun T-shirt, made by her and her husband, which said Sam Johnson Fan Club.

She said that this venture is not out of the ordinary for Sam. Smiling, she said that when Sam told her he was going to run these marathons, she was not surprised.

Sam is always coming up with interesting things to do, Scerinda Johnson said. He always brings the party with him; he comes up with great ideas, and he always has a group around him doing fun things.

Coming from an athletic family, Sam Johnson has always had support for his active ideas. Just this week, Johnson biked more than 100 miles and rode his unicycle for a marathon length.

By the end of the marathon, even though it was clear that both Johnson and Ruder were tired, they stayed upbeat and excited until the end. Even though a full marathon would have been a little less than 99 laps, Johnson and Ruder mutually decided to make the run an even 100 laps.

They finished the marathon in four hours and 40 minutes, crossing the finish line with big smiles on their faces as friends and family lined up to cheer them on.

Johnson immediately melted into his mothers arms with a relieved expression on his face.

Sam Johnson and Kaelen Ruder took pictures with their supporters, then, with an enthusiastic disposition, Johnson shared why he ran this marathon.

Im protesting my own lack of motivation, my weak will, my self-doubt and proving myself wrong every day, he said. I never started dying; I started living.

He also shared how this marathon affected him personally.

I love everybody that came out here. Genuinely could not have done it without them, he said.

Surprisingly, Johnson expressed that this marathon was by far his favorite one he has completed.

It wasnt as hard as I thought, not because it was not physically easy, but because I had people here supporting me the whole time, pushing me forward, cheering for me, he said. I never could have guessed what a big difference that would make it has been amazing.

This marathon was also special for Johnson because he has familial ties to the College of Life Sciences. His ancestor, Clarence Cotton, was the first dean of the school.

By the end of the successful and busy event, Fischio talked about how it has been working with Johnson and Ruder.

They have been just so fun and so great to work with, and you can tell they just have a passion for running and I am just impressed, Fischio said.

Johnson and Ruder are already planning to run another marathon next week, but they have not yet revealed which building they will run around.