Red Cross Rescue Racers raring to train

The American Red Cross Rescue Racers continue to deliver double their value of their miles for the community with every step they take.

This hearty group of runners, the official charity training team of the Myrtle Beach Marathon – for which the 19th anniversary weekend is March 3-5 – will have a final public information meeting at 6 p.m. Wednesday, at the Red Cross’ Eastern S.C. Chapter, 3531 Pampas Drive, Myrtle Beach, in back of the Horry-Georgetown Technical College Grand Strand campus.

Road Runner Club of America-certified coaches will share details on how potential participants can train to run, run/walk or walk the half (13.1-mile) or full (26.2-mile) marathons at 6:30 a.m. March 5. Then, the recruits, who also commit to donating or raising $500 each ($250 for students) for local Red Cross disaster relief, will have a first group training session at 4:30 p.m. Sunday, beginning a 17-week training program into March.

The team’s new head coach, Christine Rockey, an instructor in the Coastal Carolina University Honors Program who continues working toward her doctorate in exercise and performance psychology, runs marathons for fun with multiple rewards that cannot be measured in just sheer distance. Her marathons completed – including her 61st this past weekend – have spanned 25 states, including several Myrtle Beach Marathons, where she won the female division in 2004, and masters division in 2015.

With help from assistant coaches Susan Mungo, a co-founder of the Rescue Racers program in fall 2007, and Tammy Harrell, Dustin Warren, and Dawn Buckley, a walking coach, Rockey is raring to put this 2015-16 program in motion, as the Rescue Racers expect to surpass the $500,000 mile marker in total money raised in nine years.

From the team last year, 66 members completed the half or full Myrtle Beach Marathon, and the roster size varies year to year, but high percentage of members return.

A married mother of three children – boys ages 12 and 9, and a 7-year-old daughter – Rockey reflected upon the commitment that program participants make and all the athleticism and teamwork invested all fall and winter long for the grand finale on marathon day.

Question | How does training for a marathon with this kind of a team family, and for this wonderful cause, add to the incentive and drive to make strides, not only in personal fitness and achievement, but in promoting the Red Cross’ work in the community?

Answer | Running in itself is such a personal accomplishment. ... Adding it with the community service, and the recent area flooding, that just makes it even more important. It makes the team grow closer together.

Q. | How does coaching runners for the whole process so it stays well paced work so well in building up to a goal?

A. | I’ve been training for my own marathons for a while. There is a lot of information out there for anybody to give it a try. We just find a program for everyone: For the beginners, we’ll start with a mile of walking, and just gradually add more over time... and for people who have been running a while, we have been starting about where they had left off. ...

It takes a special balance. My thought is: If you can run three miles without stopping, you can train yourself to run any distance. ... A lot of people think they can’t run because they can’t breathe, ... but you don’t learn how to breathe; you do that automatically. When you are in physical training, it brings about breathing more easily. ... You have to start at the beginning and move forward, with progress.

Q. | When training and running, what special bonds and trust develop, helping to keep everyone going? I mean, when my daughter takes a horseback riding lesson, she will talk about things with her coach that my wife and I might never hear about in detail.

A. | There is friendship and camaraderie. When coaching runners, it’s like going to Las Vegas: What’s talked about on the run stays on the run. For whatever reason, you just start spewing your feelings; you start telling everybody everything. It’s those kind of relationships where only running can bring those people together. I’ve seen a saying on a T-shirt that Nike made: “Running’s cheaper than therapy.”

Q. | For anyone thinking about joining this effort and long-term training for that final destination in early March, what point in preparation might matter the most?

A. | You have to realize that this is a commitment. ... You’re going to need time not just on weekends. ... As a teacher, I like to say that you have to do your homework. You’re going to need 3-4 days to commit to training every week.

Q. | How does being a teacher by profession make coaching in this program a natural fit and extension of your heart and purpose in life?

A. | Teaching helps in coaching. I’ve always been really comfortable around people. Just being able to be in front of them and to lead – it’s just really something that I felt like I was called to do.

This story was originally published November 1, 2015 at 7:00 AM with the headline "Red Cross Rescue Racers raring to train."