Four members of the ASU Running Club, (right to left) third-year law student Zara Torosyan, computer science sophomore Jack Workman, communications sophomore Emily Glynn and philosophy senior and club president Daniel Suber emerge out of a tunnel at a local park in Tempe on Wednesday morning after running nearly four miles. (Photo by Jessie Wardarski)The ASU Running Club is preparing students for running at different ability levels for several upcoming races in the Valley.
The group is training for races such as the Women’s Half Marathon, the P.F. Chang’s Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon and the Ragnar Relay Series.
The club holds four- to six- mile social runs Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings at Papago Park and track workouts Tuesday and Thursday evenings at the Student Recreation Center.
Communication sophomore Emily Glynn said eight people go to the social runs during the week. She is training for the Lady Speed Stick Women’s Half Marathon that will be held in Scottsdale on Nov. 4.
Glynn said she has completed two half-marathons before and has a better idea of how to train for them now.
“I like that there are concrete things you can work for in running,” she said. “I plan on doing it forever.”
Law student Zara Torosyan said she enjoys participating in the social runs because the focus is not on sprinting through the workout, but just to consistently get out and go for a run.
She said almost everyone in the club is training for the P.F. Chang’s Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon or Half-Marathon in January.
“The P.F. Chang’s Marathon is the biggest, most popular one we do,” she said.
Mathematics professor Mark Ashbrook serves as the faculty advisor of the ASU Running Club.
Ashbrook started the group as a marathon-training club with a few of his students in fall 2006.
Ashbrook said he has run 15 full marathons, the first of which was the first P.F. Chang’s Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon in 2003.
The club only had three or four members in its first few years, Ashbrook said.
“There are few college students that fit into the narrow window who want to train for a marathon,” he said.
In 2009, the club began to open up to a wider variety of runners with differing abilities.
Ashbrook said now there are around 20 to 25 members who actively participate in the club’s runs.
ASU gives the club a little more than $1,000 each year that it uses to help students pay to enter races, buy team T-shirts and host social events like pool parties and barbeques.
Ashbrook said the ASU Running Club offers something for every kind of runner.
“Some prefer the social aspect of the club, some train to stay in shape and some train for performance,” he said.
Graduate law student Dan Crane, a member of the ASU Running Club, said he is excited for February’s Ragnar Relay.
In this race, teams of six to 12 people run a total of 200 miles.
Crane said the ASU Running Club’s team has placed in the top three at the race during the past few years.
Crane said the club is good because people are flexible and can do any number of races they want.
“If there is a race you want to do (and) if you post it on the club Facebook page, someone will probably jump in with you,” he said.
Crane said he really likes the competitive aspects of running, but his main motivation is that running makes him feel better.
“I am not a morning person, but when I get up and run, I’m more energetic the rest of the day,” he said.
Crane said the nice thing about running is that a good workout only takes 30 to 45 minutes.
He said running is a great time to think when stuck on a math problem or at a loss for a creative idea.
“You may strangely find an answer as you run,” Crane said.
Reach the reporter at hblawren@asu.edu or follow her on Twitter @hannah_lawr
