Students Accept Challenge of Lundahl 24-Hour Run

At about 2 a.m. Friday, Lundahl Middle School student Carmen Seda was questioning her decision to participate in the school’s 14^th Annual 24-Hour Run.

In the dark of the warm, windy night, the seventh-grader felt fatigue and exhaustion setting in as she made her way around the track.

But, as the morning progressed, Seda pushed through the temporary weak spell, and with less than two hours remaining, she was chatting and eating pizza with her tent mates.

“It’s like a camping trip except you have to run,” Seda said. “It gets tiring. But it’s been fun.”

Seda and her friends were among 419 Lundahl Middle School students who participated in this year’s run. The overnight challenge, held at the Lundahl track at 500 Nash Rd. in Crystal Lake, aims to push kids to their limits and test their inner strength.

By morning, only three students had dropped out of the event, said Lundahl physical education teacher Fred Kaiser.

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Kaiser created the program in 1998, not as a fundraiser or charity, but as a way to show his students what they can accomplish if they set a goal, practice and work to achieve it even under the most strenuous of circumstances.

“We wanted kids to see what they could do just for the pure challenge of it,” said Kaiser, who hadn’t slept all night as tended to duties. “Through this run, kids learn to set goals and reach them. This run is a tool to let kids know they can do things they may think is out of reach.”

The 24-Hour Run started at 3 p.m. Thursday.

Once the school bell sounded, participants raced to the center of the track and began pitching tents and preparing their campsites. Parents arrived at the school armed with sleeping bags, cots, camping tables, chairs, food and drinks.

At the same time, the first slate of runners began logging their first mile around the track. About 12-13 students randomly were assigned to 34 teams. Also in on the fun were two parent teams and three alumni teams, Kaiser said.

Team members equally took turns running mile after mile around the track. Four laps equal one mile, and Kaiser said each student is expected to run at least 12 miles within the 24-hour period. Some runners chose to run more, and at least 30 students were expected to complete 26.2 miles, the equivalent of a marathon, Kaiser said.

“The total average running time is an 8:34-minute mile,” Kaiser said.

In between the running, the students are free to mingle with their friends and tent mates. Some listened to music and others horsed around. A few even managed to fall asleep – some in their tents and others in their chairs.

This year, 60 parent volunteers and Lundahl's five physical education teachers helped coordinate the run. Parents arrived in shifts – around the clock – and logged running times, supervised the campgrounds, distributed snacks and refreshments, applied Band-Aids to blistered feet and anything else necessary.

On Thursday night, a large number of parents chose to hang out at the campsites and visit with their children and friends.

“I think because the weather was so nice we had a lot of parents come out this year,” Kaiser said.