Becky Calinsky plans on running Sunday’s Los Angeles
Marathon, a 26.2-mile lap around the city.
This year marks the 21st annual marathon, and it is becoming as
much of a tradition for UCLA runners as it is for the rest of the
city.
But the marathon, which will take place at the beginning of
finals week, conflicts with Calinsky’s Monday final.
Calinsky, a third-year Russian language and literature student,
has had to integrate her preparation for the marathon with her
preparation for finals and is worried that her studies have
impacted her ability to train.
The marathon is expected to raise $2.5 million for over 50
charities.
Though this year’s registration data is not available,
last year there were 24,600 participants in the event, according to
the marathon’s Web site.
The L.A. Marathon is attracting star athletes from around the
world, as well as amateur runners from Southern California.
But some UCLA students who would otherwise have run Sunday are
not participating in the marathon because of conflicts with finals
week.
Baley Fong, a fourth-year chemical engineering student, decided
not to run the marathon this year because she has a Monday
final.
And it was a decision which caused her some regret.
“I’ve run the L.A. (Marathon) twice. … I thought
about it last fall, and I had been planning on doing it because I
had always done it,” Fong said. “When registering for
classes last quarter I realized it wouldn’t work.”
Though Fong will be living elsewhere and will be unable to run
the marathon in the near future, it is not something she wants to
give up forever and said she plans to return to participate in the
future.
Calinsky is running the L.A. Marathon for the first time, though
she participated in the San Francisco Marathon over the summer.
But she said she has let her studies impact her training, not
the other way around.
As important as it is for her to run, she would not let it
impact a class she was taking for her major, she said.
Ordinarily the marathon is scheduled for the first Sunday in
March, but this year it was pushed back two weeks because of the
Academy Awards.
Training has taken an academic toll on participants as well.
“I ended up getting a membership to Bally (Total Fitness)
so I could do my reading (for class) on a stationary bike. … Even
after that I didn’t get enough training in, but I’m
still going to run it,” Calinsky said.
“The longest I have run so far is 16 miles, but I’m
confident I will finish,” she said.
Though Calinsky’s workload interfered with her training,
for others, training is simply a matter of habit and schedule
shuffling.
Elin Chen, a third-year sociology student, said running is so
much a part of her life, she cannot imagine not participating in
the marathon.
“For me, I just run in the morning before class. … This
is my third year doing it, so I’m supposed to be used to
it,” Chen said.
Others agree that training does not interfere with
academics.
“In the past, my training was never an issue. I always ran
in the morning and did my long runs on the weekend,” Fong
said.
“It forced me to manage my time better,” she
added.
Chen, who has two finals on Monday, said she usually needs a few
days to fully recover from a marathon, but she thinks she will be
fine for her exams.