The St. Jude Marathon Weekend in Memphis, Tennessee, Dec. 3-5 will have a new cadre in the ranks. Team Raging Possum will represent “Possum Town” — an early moniker for Columbus — in the children’s research hospital fundraiser. Races Dec. 5 include a marathon, half-marathon and marathon relay, as well as a 5K and family fun run.
The team includes about 15 of the Columbus runners taking part. Many of them are not new to St. Jude’s races, but this year, they have banded together under the team banner. Dr. Josh Griffin came up with the idea and serves as team captain. The Columbus urologist has run for St. Jude four times before — three times in the 13.1-mile half-marathon and once in the 26.2-mile full marathon.
“There’s a pretty big group of runners (from the area) at St. Jude every year, and I figured it would be really cool if some of us got up a team and raised money collectively,” said Griffin. The idea gained traction, and members set an initial goal of $5,000. As of Friday, the Raging Possum Team page at stjudemarathon.org showed their total at almost $9,500.
‘Nobody I’d rather give to’
It costs $2 million a day to operate St. Jude. About 70 percent of the funds come from the public and fundraisers such as the marathon.
“Outside of giving to my church, there’s nobody I’d rather give to than St. Jude,” said team member Joseph Grissom. The nurse anesthetist and his wife have run at St. Jude for five years. “If you have a kid and you go there, you’ll never see a bill. It’s really a great cause, and it’s all about kids.”
Grissom is often spotted training in the pre-dawn hours with other team members. Their routes may take them through downtown, along Military Road or behind Baptist Memorial Hospital-Golden Triangle. Long runs might be 10 to 20 miles, others 5 to 7 miles, depending on goals and training regimen, said member Hal Kerstetter. This will be his first St. Jude full marathon.
“Helping with the fundraising is just something small that I can do,” he said.
Being part of a team effort yields big benefits.
“We’re all working, have families and are busy, but this gives you somebody to be accountable to,” Kerstetter said.
Teamwork provides others to share struggles and victories with who understand, said Renee Reedy. She and her husband, Will Reedy, will run in the half-marathon Dec. 5.
On days when juggling family, work and training is hard to do, Reedy remembers one of the reasons she runs for the children’s hospital.
“We had a little boy in our church that was in St. Jude when he was younger,” she said. “I think about him every time I run and do it in honor of him. Just being able to run for people who can’t is one of the things that keeps me going.”
Griffin, the team captain, describes the annual marathon weekend as “amazing,” especially the race segment that takes runners through the St. Jude campus.
“You have patients and families outside cheering you,” he said. “It’s one of the most emotional things to experience — it makes it all worth it.”
To make a donation to Team Raging Possum online, go to http://heroes.stjude.org/ragingpossum to reach the team page, or contact Griffin at his office, 662-327-2921.
Jan Swoope is the Lifestyles Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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