Lafayette staff members inspire their students in the classrooms through academics, but sometimes it is what they do outside of the classroom, on the roads, in the water and even in Walt Disney World that truly inspires.

This work comes in the form of running and other extreme forms of physical activity.

Science teacher Ginny Colombatto knows the pain which comes from this exercise particularly well.

Colombatto explained the pain as nearly everlasting. She said, “I only ran one full marathon in Sept. 2004. Six years later, I still remember the pain in all 639 of my muscles.”

The reason why Colombatto has held back from running another full marathon lies in a saying that, runners have. She said, “Runners have a saying: Run another marathon when you forget the pain.”

The pain is understandable, as a full marathon spans a distance of 26.2 miles.

However, Colombatto does run half marathons, which cover a distance of 13.1 miles, such as this year’s GO St. Louis race and has done well in some of her races. 

“My best was 2007, I earned 3rd place in my age group,” she said.

Family and Consumer Science (FACS) teacher Becky Lawrence is another dedicated runner who takes her racing to an extreme.

A participant in the 2010 Goofy Challenge located in Walt Disney World, Lawrence ran a half marathon followed by a full marathon over a two day span.

Lawrence described the event as being taxing, but exhilarating. She said, “To do a challenge that requires you so physically and mentally to be fit where you run two days in a row, a half marathon and a full marathon, it’s just so exciting.”

In reference to Walt Disney World, Lawrence only had praise.

Lawrence said, “Walt Disney World does a very good job of entertaining you along the route, so, for somebody like me who runs pretty slow and has to have something to occupy their mind, like my headphones are key, in Disney World, you don’t need your headphones.”

“I never would have thought that I could run 39.3 miles and not need my headphones. They had sideshows going on, they had singers, they had the characters, they had animals from Animal Kingdom out,” Lawrence said.

Still, even through all of the shows, Lawrence said the actual long lasting influence that running the Goofy Challenge had on Lawrence was the most important part of her experience.

“Knowing that I can push myself to extreme limits is amazing,” she said.

“During the whole experience, you are so pumped that your mind doesn’t allow you to know what is going on with your body and you are able to push yourself to all sorts of extremes, but, after you come down off of that mental running high, you start to realize that you have just put your body through excruciating pain and that you are still around after,” Lawrence said. “I am still surviving and I am still feeling proud of myself.”

“Knowing that you are in a tremendous amount of pain, but feeling the pride which you feel in knowing that you accomplished something that only one percent of the world has done is addicting on so many levels. The runners high gets you every time,” Lawrence said.

Language Arts teacher Samantha Murphy is one final competitor who takes physicality to the extreme.

In a 2.4 mile swim, 112-mile bike ride and a 26.2 mile run, the Ironman competition encompasses some of the hardest competitions available, and Murphy was able to tackle the event.

“The Ironman is just the pinnacle of racing triathlons. I never thought that I could do it when I started because I originally raced smaller distances, but, it’s something that is always out there and you want to do it if you do race triathlons,” Murphy said.

Murphy also commented on how important activity such as the Ironman competition is to her life.

She said, “I’ve done, including the Ironman, seven marathons so I think that running to me is incredibly important as something for physical activity but also as a stress release and as something that I can do for myself.”

“I think that running is great for not only the physical, but the mental aspects of the body. So that has changed since I have become older and realized that if you are going to run forever, you have to think about the meditative side of running,” Murphy said.

Murphy explained, “It has become something that keeps me sane, and maybe it has become something that is overly important to me, but anytime I have faced any kind of stress or tragedy, exercise is important for that emotional release.”

Overall, Lawrence, Murphy and Colombatto all seem to see running in the same way.

Lawrence explained the mutual feeling as love.

She said, “Nothing else has that positive of an impact on my body as running does and on my mind. It’s just such an addicting sport and people who aren’t runners really don’t understand that until they experience it for themselves. You don’t have to be a fast runner or a good runner to feel that pride that you have and that sense of accomplishment. You just do it.”