跟着它跑
Kinesiology student Manna Potter uses her love of running to raise funds for charity.
“我第一次参加比赛是在8岁左右, 然后, 我说, “我今天跑了两场比赛——第一场和最后一场.但我们看到了结果.”
曼娜·波特笑着讲述了这个故事. Because all these years later, she’s still running and she’s still racing.
Now as a first-year student at 十大网投平台信誉排行榜阿尔图纳分校 studying kinesiology, 她已经完成了几十个5公里, 几个继电器, 还有七次半程马拉松.
Manna的母亲朱迪是家里的OG选手. 她已经在街头流浪很多年了, 在生孩子之前和之后, 喜欢自己跑步和参加比赛.
她最难忘的一次是2011年的尼塔尼半程马拉松. 那天早上，她以2:30:12的成绩完成了比赛. 那天下午，她发现她蹒跚学步的儿子得了癌症.
Manna大约5岁, and her younger brother Corban was about 2 when he was diagnosed with neuroblastoma.
一个小女孩的家庭也在与癌症作斗争, 正好和曼娜在一个年级, recommended that the Potters take Corban to Hershey Medical Center for treatment. 科尔班和艾米丽在医院的同一层楼接受治疗, 两个家庭的关系越来越亲密, 互相帮助度过难关.
稍后我们将回到这个连接.
斯托克, 菲利普斯堡的居民, 宾西法尼亚, became a Penn State Four Diamonds Family represented first by University Park’s Student Nutrition Organization, 然后, 恰当地说, 被十大网投平台信誉排行榜跨县俱乐部. 曼纳记得参加马拉松好几年了, 在舞池里尽情狂欢, 感受被欢迎和被爱.
兄弟姐妹Manna, Corban(中)和Jay Potter在THON 2015上
来源:提供-曼纳·波特
在科尔班生病期间, 妈妈继续跑着, 就像许多小女孩一样，她们想成为妈妈那样的人, 曼娜决定试一试. 是什么导致了臭名昭著的“第一和最后”赛跑. Yet afterward, she continued to lace up her sneakers, apparently bitten by the running bug. 她周末会和妈妈出去, 通常跑到5公里以上, 大约相当于3.1英里. “I started getting pretty good at it, and I started really enjoying it, so I just kept going with it.”
曼娜在七年级时加入了田径队和越野队. But after a while, she noticed that running for a team wasn’t the same. “我觉得我有压力要表现好. I just dreaded not meeting expectations, so I started to not like it as much.”
曼娜·波特和她的母亲, 朱迪, at the 2023 Pittsburgh Half Marathon in front of the Emily Whitehead Foundation information booth
来源:提供-曼纳·波特
Luckily, she discovered an aspect that refreshed the sport for her—charity runs. As the name suggests, these are events designed with the purpose of raising money for a cause. 这里有一些规则, 但基本上, 参与者通过报名费来收钱, 捐款, 并承诺, 然后把所有的钱都捐给他们选择的慈善机构.
慈善长跑的长度可能只是一个小家伙, 比如1英里或5公里, 一直到超级马拉松.
曼娜接受了筹款的想法，并付诸实践.
She tested out the waters by organizing a team comprised of her school running mates for the Pittsburgh Marathon Relay. 成员们平分了传统的26英里的马拉松距离.两英里分为五个不同长度的部分, allowing each team member to contribute their strengths to the collective effort. Manna chose the Emily Whitehead Foundation (EWF) as the beneficiary.
Remember Emily, the little girl in Manna’s grade 谁 was battling cancer at the same time as Corban? 是的，那是艾米丽·怀特黑德. 这个时候, her parents had established EWF to help fund innovative childhood cancer treatments that are more targeted and less toxic, 比如挽救艾米丽生命的CAR - t细胞疗法.
Manna Potter with her hardware at the 2023 Philadelphia Half Marathon
来源:提供-曼纳·波特
九年级的时候，曼娜觉得自己已经准备好参加她的第一个半程马拉松了. 她选择了费城一半，再一次，EWF作为慈善机构.
“因为周围充满了能量，所以非常有趣. There were so many other runners and people cheering along the course. 感觉不像是一场比赛，我只是在跑步.1英里.”
这两次经历都帮助曼纳重新燃起了对这项运动的热爱. She continued to run for her high school teams but feels it was after graduation that she really came into herself as a runner. “当我不再有那种压力的时候, 我开始更喜欢它，我的时间也在不断提高.”
Now a first-year student at 十大网投平台信誉排行榜阿尔图纳分校 studying kinesiology, Manna已经跑了七次半程马拉松, 包括一次匹兹堡半场和三次费城半场. “我喜欢这部电影 岩石, and it takes place in Philadelphia, so I feel like I'm like him running through the city.” She adds her appreciation that the course isn’t as hilly as the one in Pittsburgh.
Nearly every race Manna has participated in has been a charity run, 目前筹集了大约3美元,EWF 500. “我选择筹款. Running helps me, so if I can help someone else by doing something I love to do, it’s perfect.”
Manna and her mother still often train together as well as run many of the same races. While they usually start together, they don’t always finish together.
曼娜利用她的母亲, 谁, at 47, 已经完成了40个半程马拉松, 激励自己坚持跑步，为自己设定目标. Right now, she’s attempting to run a half marathon each month of this year. There’s a half marathon in Arches National Park she’d like to do at some point, and she’s eyeing up the New York City marathon in November as her first full marathon.
She’d also like to become a pacer someday, which often takes its own separate training to achieve. A pacer is an experienced runner 谁 runs a race at a set speed for a certain projected finish time. 步行者官方, 由赛事主办单位指定的志愿者, are typically assigned to a target finish time that’s well within their means or slower than their personal best. This means that the pacer can maintain the assigned pace with extra energy to encourage runners in his or her pace group.
Maintaining an even pace and running under control can be difficult throughout a long race. 也许正是这些挑战吸引了曼纳扮演这个角色.
Manna’s mother works full-time for the EWF and remains very close to the Whitehead family. 她还为基金会做慈善活动. Corban, now cancer-free, is in eighth grade with very little interest in running.
曼娜和科尔班·波特
来源:提供-曼纳·波特
当曼娜完成运动机能学课程时, she’s thinking about a career in athletic training or possibly opening her own gym.
No matter what she ends up doing, she clearly has no plans to stop running. 她能走多远取决于她的决心和耐力. Based on her record so far, Manna’s got hundreds, even thousands, of miles left in her.
