Cardiovascular exercise has all kinds of benefits, from improving heart health to increasing lung capacity, but one benefit you donโt often hear about is community. Yet, for the 382 members of Evansvilleโs half-marathon training group, Team 13, thatโs exactly what they have found.
Team 13 is a 13-week program to help locals prepare for the YMCA of Southwestern Indianaโs Evansville Half Marathonย (13.1 miles) and other distance events, with training sessions each Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. With the motto โevery step countsโ displayed proudly on the teamโs neon-colored shirts, the $30 program aims to build participantsโ confidence and endurance, but it also provides the opportunity to create lasting bonds.ย
Stephanie Rhodes of Evansville, who has been participating in the program for 10 years, says that when she used to live in Downtown Evansville, she would see the half marathon from her home and felt compelled to try it herself.ย
โI just thought runners were really cool,โ Rhodes says. โIt was really impressive what they were doing, and I wanted to do that, too.โ
When she started in 2014, Rhodes had never run more than a 5K (3.1 miles). Now, not only is she running on a weekly basis while helping facilitate the teamโs training sessions, she also is participating in this yearโs Chicago Marathon (26.2 miles) on Oct. 13.
Exercise certainly is a plus, but Rhodes notes that is the least of what Team 13 has provided for her, saying she can sum up exactly what that is in just one word: โeverything.โย
โThe running community in Evansville is seriously everything,โ Rhodes says. โPretty much all my friends are runners now.โย
Newburgh resident Beth Katz, who has been taking part in Team 13 for seven years, has had a similar experience.ย
โI started running when I was younger, but not to the point where I joined a group like Team 13, and ever since Iโve been with them, this has become my friend base now,โ Katz says.
Katz says many participants โdonโt stop with just 13 weeks,โ continuing instead to run with a group called Run/Walk 812. She also notes that there is plenty of room to join Team 13 this year; organizers have a goal of hitting 480 members.
Another team member and resident of Evansville, Shari Kirkpatrick, started the group โ now run by Rhodes โ to provide Evansville residents with a way to stay active after finishing the half marathon.ย
Over three months of triweekly training sessions may sound like more than enough for some, but for many of Team 13โs members, running has become more of a year-round affair.ย
Pam Weinzapfel, a prior Evansville resident, is a first-year participant on Team 13. Weinzapfel, who recently moved back in town, is hoping to use Team 13 as a โway to get back into the community and back into running.โย
She had completed Evansvilleโs half marathon several years ago but never as a member of Team 13.ย
โIโm hoping to get better consistency with my running and hopefully [join] the running community and get to know some new folks,โ Weinzapfel said.ย
Participating in the teamโs first training session on July 11, she has just begun her journey toward Evansvilleโs half marathon on Oct. 5. In the 21 years of the half marathon, more than 30,000 people have laced up their shoes and hit the flat, fast course through Evansville.
Keep up with Weinzapfelโs story and more on Team 13 in subsequent stories at evansvilleliving.com.
