The Adventure of a Lifetime

My name is Andrea Zuchora, and I'm a twenty one year old Michigan State University graduate, about to embark on the adventure of  a lifetime. This past December, I accepted a research assistant position with Dr. Bryce Carlson of Purdue University.

But that's not the half of it. 

In less than two weeks, I'll have driven out to California to provide professional and personal support for an extraordinary event, sponsored by the 100 Mile Club, whose mission statement reads: 

"The 100 Mile Club® provides the opportunity to run or walk 100 miles at school during a single school year which improves school readiness to learn, creates better education outcomes, building self-esteem and the overall health in the lives of children and others."

In an effort to inspire a generation and counteract a childhood obesity epidemic, twelve runners will race across the United States of America, beginning in Huntington Beach, California, to end in Washington, D.C. Along the way, we'll be stopping at a number of schools to speak to students, and hopefully inspire them to get outside and get active!

Race Across USA by the numbers:

12 Runners

4 Support Staff [ hey, that includes me! ]

3,080 Miles to Run

12 States to Traverse

1 Marathon a Day

140 Days Total

120 Days Spent Running

~117 Marathons Total

Excitingly, my duties will not only include championing this awesome cause, but also gaining experience gathering real time physiological and psychological data about how the runners' bodies will adapt to running this many miles, day after day. As a former lead lab coordinator of a research lab on MSU's campus, and as a girl who hopes to go into research as a profession, this whole experience is a dream come true.

Through this blog, I hope to document my adventures, as well as those of the runners and support staff. As a former member of the Student Housing Cooperative at Michigan State, I'm excited to travel with this caravan of like-minded people, and share experiences, hardships, and wisdom. You see, I happen to be a runner, myself. It's one of the reasons I was so keen to take on this opportunity. 

I'm also a former English and Psychology double major, which inadvertently also means I'm an avid coffee drinker. So, some things to expect from this blog could include anything and everything related to: coffee, coffee shops [ I'm a former manager of MSU's on campus coffee shop, Sparty's ], updates on what I'm reading, cool bookstores that I happen across [ I am also a former employee of Curious Books in East Lansing ], running, or things about my lovely car, a silver Saturn Ion. 

Try to keep up with me!

Best,

Andrea Zuchora