By Sean Savage
@SavSean13
It is 9 p.m. – a succinctly dark Friday night on Alden Street with a slate of rain consuming the otherwise peaceful atmosphere.
Most students are bundled up inside, looking forward to another weekend where they can disconnect from the evergreen stress that school offers. But for two highly-disciplined Springfield College students, the next 24 hours would comprise an arduous marathon run coupled with a stifling mile 11 that tested their willpower to continue.
Juniors James Russo and Marissa Zarra set out to complete one mile per hour on Oct. 20 and threw in an extra 2.2 miles to complete a full marathon.
This begs the question: Why?
Most students would consider the challenge to be borderline insane: no sleep, an extreme downfall of rain and ligaments that seemingly deteriorated with each hour that passed.
However, for Russo and Zarra, the experience was another stepping stone to propel them further toward the people they strive to be.
On a surface level, and in conjunction with the Gloria Gemma Breast Cancer Foundation, the two raised over $300. When taking a deeper dive, it becomes clear that Russo and Zarra put their personas through adversity to break mental barriers and show that anything is possible.
To better understand these two individuals – and who they aspire to be – it helps to look who they are.
Zarra is a Warwick, R.I., native and a student-athlete for the women’s gymnastics team in the Movement and Sports Studies major – she also is a licensed EMT (Emergency Medical Technician) and obtained a personal training degree called the NASM CPT (National Academy of Sports Medicine). Coupled with this, Zarra has an Instagram following of 14.4k and 89.1k followers on TikTok, where she posts about her lifestyle.
“The biggest thing I try to do is to inspire people,” Zarra said.
Her days start before the sun rises at 4 a.m., when she can be found at Blake Track. After a running workout and stretching, Zarra will be in the gym lifting weights – and a lot of weights. After all, Zarra competes in powerlifting.
“It [lifting] teaches you to show up every day,” Zarra said. “Like you are exhausted from this, but you come in and still do it; it applies to your life in different ways, I have learned.”
After classes, team practice ensues alongside a team lift half of the time, and sometimes Zarra goes back for a second track workout, then it’s lights out by 9:30 p.m.
Her mindset to get through each day is simple: “Wake up and get it done,” Zarra said. “It is exhausting, but I love it because I am finding new things I can do every day.”
Russo, who hails from Mahopac, N.Y., is also up at the crack of dawn – 5 a.m. He sets the tone for the day with meditation or yoga.
“If you get up each day, maybe it will inspire someone else to do the same,” Russo said. “We are all in this together.”
An hour-and-a-half later, Russo will also be in the gym lifting hundreds of pounds, making it look easy. It is worth noting that Russo has competed in bodybuilding.
“My goal is to get a pro card eventually,” Russo said. “That is a goal that will always be there: I am going to chase it until I hit it for sure.”
He then proceeds with classes in pursuit of a career in the field of Exercise Science – and sometimes has tutoring – before hitting the gym once again to finish the morning’s workout or for added cardio. He is in bed by 8:30 p.m.
Through their marathon, their first doubled-up hour – where they had to run two miles in an hour due to Zarra having gymnastics practice – was thundering.
“We just started breaking down,” Russo said. “That was the first time the sun came up, and the no-sleep was definitely getting to us. Both of us started to feel some kind of injury, too.”
Despite the odds stacked against them, the two continued to push through. In between the miles ran, they would usually hang out in the library and make food with their own waffle maker, unless they were heading back to Alumni Hall to change out of soaked socks – which happened seven times.
Once they finished the last mile, it was hard to celebrate due to how frazzled they were – instead, they slept for hours.
After catching up on sleep, they reminisced about the experience.
“It was a great feeling like, ‘Wow, we did this,'” Zarra said.
“You are quite literally capable of anything that you put your mind to,” she continued. “There were multiple times we could have thrown in the towel. I like getting the message out that you have no limitations on yourself.”
The highlight of the fundraiser was the support they received from the Springfield community.
“People I did not even know would come and run a mile with us,” Zarra said. “The girls gymnastics team came and did the last mile with us. It was cool to see how Springfield supported this.”
People would honk, cheer and congratulate the two through each hour. Their inspiration carried through so much that Russo’s friend told him he would start training for a marathon.
Additionally, the marathon attested to how far they have come since their first year.
“It is cool to see the consistency and where you built. We ran a mile last year, and I died trying to keep up with him [James],” Zarra said. “And now we just ran a marathon last weekend; it is kind of crazy.”
For Russo, the experience compacted his beliefs when competing to be the best version of yourself.
“Having that competitive mindset will drive you every day,” Russo said. “Some days, you do not feel good when you wake up. But that is still a whole day where you can move forward: you can let the excuses get to you, or you can get up and get after it.”
This goes hand-in-hand with Russo’s advice for college students through the experience.
“Your mindset and perspective are everything. You could look at what we did in so many different ways,” Russo said. “You can either say, ‘That is a terrible idea, why would you do that?’ Or you could say, ‘What if we can do that?’ If you switch that perspective and apply that to life, you can chase anything in life.”
As for Zarra, she wants people to know that they are the author of their own life.
“What you have gone through in the past does not have to define what you want in life,” Zarra said. “You can have your struggles, but you cannot sit and sulk in them. Once you turn that page, there is another whole side to your life. You write your own story.”
Photo Courtesy of Marissa Zarra