While most students spend the summer trying to relax after a long year of classes, Natalie Rooney will spend 42 days of hers running more than 4,000 miles across the country.
On June 15, Rooney, graduate assistant for the Capstone Scholars Program, will join a team of around 30 undergraduate and graduate students at the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, Calif., as part of 4K for Cancer’s 2014 Run Across America.
The group will finish their journey on top of Federal Hill in Baltimore, Md., on July 26 after running between 8 and 13 miles a day.
“It’s going to be a really cool experience, and we’re helping to make a really big difference in the lives of these young adults who are fighting for their lives every day,” said Rooney, who will be the run director.
Each member of the team is required to raise at least $4,500, and as of Wednesday, Rooney had raised $2,507, or 55 percent.
The money goes directly to support patients, including scholarships and chemotherapy care bags that help make patients more comfortable.
During the trip, the runners will give away scholarships to two students battling cancer. They will also make five stops to do community service.
“For me, I really enjoy doing things that serve other people,” Rooney said. “I’m really excited for the service days where we actually get to engage with young adults for cancer. We’re spending time with them, we’re getting to know them, we’re learning their stories.“
Rooney first found out about the cause when she clicked on an ad for 4K for Cancer on Facebook and saw the journey combined two of her passions: running and cancer awareness.
“I’ve lost several close members of my family to cancer, so it’s really important to me to be an advocate for cancer awareness,” she said. “I saw this run that combines running and cancer awareness, and I was like, ‘Well, this is perfect.’”
Rooney said losing her uncle was one of the hardest losses she experienced at the hands of cancer, saying he was well-respected and “very devoted to his family.”
He was a captain on an aircraft carrier, the USS Theodore Roosevelt, and was a mentor and inspirational figure for Rooney.
He was diagnosed with esophageal cancer twice. He beat it the first time he was diagnosed, but the cancer spread much more the second time.
“He’s still someone who motivates me, even to this day,” Rooney said. “It sounds very cliché, but he told me, ‘You can do anything you put your mind to. Don’t limit yourself.’ And that’s just something that I really took to heart and I think also motivated me to apply for this run.”
Rooney said the 4,000-mile journey will require intense physical training for rough conditions, so she has been running several miles each week to prepare.
“It’s going to be hot. It’s the summer. We’re running through some really hot states. We’re running through the mountains,” Rooney said. “Rain or shine, we’ll be out there.”
In addition to the physical challenges, Rooney said she expects the experience to be emotionally intense as well.
“Every day is going to be very tough,” she said. “Mentally, a lot of people who are doing this run have been affected by cancer in a really big way, so just facing that every day and remembering why we’re doing this can be a really emotional and mental thing to go through.”
As run director, Rooney said she is most concerned about possible injuries during the journey.
“I’m really hoping that our team is able to stay healthy and can complete the journey as one whole team,” she said.
Rooney is anticipating an inspirational summer when she’ll get to raise awareness about cancer in every place the team stops.
“I’m really hoping to get inspired by some of [the patients’] stories,” she said.