By Lauren Lettelier

Lizzeth Sanchez, President of the First Running Club of Santa Fe

There are over 50 clubs at Santa Fe that embody the lifestyles of the students on campus. Just recently, a club has been approved by the Student Senate that brings students together by doing something that almost everyone on campus can do: run.

The First Running Club of Santa Fe was the genius invention of President Lizzeth Sanchez.  Sanchez, an accomplished track and field and cross country competitor, has found her peace and joy in running and she wanted to share that passion with other Santa Fe students.

The purpose of the Running Club is to provide the opportunity to students to get involved in an activity that aids in enhancing their personal appearance and their overall health in a safe environment.

Sanchez knows everyone is not a cross country champion.

“The Running club is for every student. It doesn’t matter if you’re short or tall or if you are experienced or not. If you’re not the best, it doesn’t mean that you can’t be a part of it. We are open to all ages and races and I want running to become a more communal thing,” said Sanchez.

Whether you are trying to get back in shape or love to run but have found the gym to be boring, the running club is formulated to satisfy these problems. Running is beneficial because it acts as a stress remover.

“It gets you active mentally and physically and it changes a boring routine into a social and exciting experience. You can run for good causes like breast cancer and heart disease and that can make you feel good for doing beneficial for you and for others,” said Sanchez.

Every college student can safely say that their life is just one big ball of stress. Exams, presentations, papers, and tedious homework assignments are all detrimental to a person’s mental state. Whether students are young or old, college is a huge situation to handle.

Running is Sanchez’s proposed solution to every student’s problem.

Running club meetings consist of several different things. First, Sanchez listens to any ideas or comments about how the club can progress. This helps her evaluate her progress and enables her to change procedure depending on the people that she needs to facilitate during the meetings.

Then the stress relieving begins. Sanchez leads the group in stretching, which helps relieves that knots built up from that math exam or that paper an English professor has assigned. Stretching is proven to improve your flexibility and relieves pain.

After stretching, Sanchez leads the group in a run. The runs are usually one to three miles long but at a person’s own pace. Sanchez also has a first aid kit available during all times for emergency purposes. The meetings end with stretching and a water break.

Sanchez plans on utilizing Santa Fe’s resources too. She wants to take runners to the fitness center for some meetings. Also, the Running Club is planning on participating in road races and would like to organize their own Santa Fe road race that would be open to all citizens of Gainesville.

Sanchez, a Colombian native and chemical engineering major, is experienced with running and is willing to work with every Santa Fe student. Her accomplishments include being named the 2009 Senior Athlete of the Year at John A. Ferguson high school in Miami, Rookie of the Year in 2006, one of the top ten in the district in cross country for Miami Dade County, and as one of the top 13 in the region for cross country.

“Running is a part of my life. Just the way it makes me feel when I run, it’s something that I can’t describe. It makes me happy. That’s one of the main reasons why I created the club because I wanted to share that amazing feeling,” said Sanchez.

More information for the Running Club of Santa Fe can be accessed through the Santa Fe Running Club’s Facebook page or by emailing Lizzeth Sanchez at lizzethsanchez91@gmail.com. If interested, Sanchez encourages students to join the email list and students can make that request by emailing her through her email.

The First Running Club of Santa Fe meets every Thursday at Santa Fe’s track at 4 pm.