Hundreds of runners departed from St. Jude Wednesday morning on a journey that is sure to be just as hot as it is rewarding.
The Memphis to Peoria Run is celebrating 45 years of money-raising runs from Memphis to Peoria, Illinois. The 465-mile journey lasts three days and culminates in a meetup with 2,370 runners from over 34 other satellite runs across the area.
Founder of St. Jude Runs and Central Illinois native Mike McCoy said this year carries a major milestone beyond celebrating 45 years.
“It started in 1982 with 19 of us, and we made $22,500,” McCoy said. “In just nine years, we raised $2 million. Now it’s 45 years and when we get back to Peoria we’ll
be able to say we raised $100 million.”
'Heat no obstacle' to goal of helping
Hundreds of spectators gathered from across the St. Jude campus where patients, parents and employees alike, braving the humidity, cheered on the runners during a send-off.
Longtime participant and fellow Central Illinois native Beth Stewart, a pediatric oncologist and physician scientist at St. Jude, said the heat is no obstacle when she thinks about her goal.
“It’s the end of July, 90 degrees outside, you might feel a little bit warm when you hit that pavement, but you know that every single step that we take is for the kids that are here,” Stewart said. “Some of our colleagues … put together training runs; we have group runs where we get together and support each other. The good thing is, it doesn’t matter how fast you run, what your pace is, every single person that is contributing makes a difference.”
Runners need to raise $3,000 to run on the main road with the primary group, but that’s not the only way they have ticked the number up to $100 million over the years. Steward said the 24/7 run will often have locals coming out of their homes with checks to St. Jude at 3 a.m.
“The community provides so much support," she said. "Now that I’ve lived in Memphis, I always feel their arms around us supporting us. But knowing that every stretch of road that we hit between Memphis all the way up to Peoria, there are people coming out to greet us … is what gets us through.”
Despite the insane length, this is still a run for everyone with any pace. Buses accompany the runners when stopping becomes unavoidable. For more experienced runners, it’s a place to get a couple hours of sleep or less, then head back on the pavement.
It’s the first run for Victoria Arlen, Paralympic gold medalist and ESPN reporter. In six months, she’s gone from being unable to walk due to medical reasons to making this run, and she said she doesn’t have the words for how excited she is.
“This is pretty special in so many different ways, and I’ve been so welcomed in as the newbie,” Arlen said. “Everyone has told me it’s not like anything you’ll ever experience, so I just went in with an open heart. And the fact that we get to raise money for St. Jude really is remarkable.”
As someone who spent a lot of time in the hospital as a kid, she said she’s running for the families as well as St. Jude kids.
“Cancer has affected a lot of people very close to me, so I’m running for those people … I saw firsthand what it does to the families and one of the biggest things that stood out to me at St. Jude is the support of the families, and that no family gets a bill.”
Forty-five years and two knee replacements later, McCoy is still running back to Peoria. He said the progress he’s seen at St. Jude makes it all worth it.
“This is the best place in the world to treat kids, without a doubt. I’ve been honored to be a member of the board of directors here, I know what goes on here, I’ve seen the success rate in my 45 years go from 8% to over 80%, and over 95% in some cases," McCoy said. "This is of value right here, and people donating this is making a difference in the world. You can’t cure kids with cancer if you don’t have the research to find the medicine to do it.”
Jacob Wilt is a reporter for The Commercial Appeal covering Dining, Retail and Real Estate in the Memphis area. You can reach him at jacob.wilt@commercialappeal.com.
This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Runners race across states to hit $100 million for St. Jude children
