By ROBERT PIERCE
• Leader & Times
As the weather turns warmer, a favorite pastime of many is running. For some, though, running is a little more than a hobby, and this finds them running great distances of up to 26.2 miles.
Chayli Duerson has run in a few marathons now, as well as half marathons, and later this month, she plans to run for the second time in the Oklahoma City Half Marathon.
The half marathon will take place Sunday, April 28, a date that now has a special connection for Duerson.
“It’s actually exactly five years from when John proposed to me at the Oklahoma City half, so it’s neat to go back and do it again,” she said.
Duerson likewise is using her running talents to help raise funds for a non-profit, as she has done with some marathons in the past. This time she is running for the Kilimanjaro School of Missions in Kenya.
“They train missionaries to serve in their country and that region,” she said.
KSOM also equips Kenyan Assmblies of God ministers to have the tools ncessary to fulfill a missionary calling.
“Because of economics, many of these men and women will be sacrificing a great deal of resources just by being away from family and work for the duration of the program,” Duerson said. “Their passion is to see every student who goes through the program fully funded so they may graduate without further debt.”
The cost of the 12-month residential training program is $3,500 per student. This cost includes lodging, food, course materials such as tablets, books and instructor fees and internship costs for mission trips and church evangelism.
Duerson said she chose KSOM to help train ministers to bring the gospel to the world.
“There’s so many people who need to know Jesus loves them, and they’re playing their part in helping many unreached people hear about Jesus,” she said.
Duerson’s goal is to raise $4,500 to cover the cost for one pastor and extra funds for the organization. Checks can be sent to Brad Smith Ministries, P.O. Box 796, Woodward, OK 73802, and donations can also be made on the KSOM Web site at www.kilisom.com.
“If they donate on the Web site or send in a check, people should put ‘Running Fundraiser’ in the memo or on the note,” she said.
One of Duerson’s goals as a runner is to run a marathon in all 50 states, and she said the upcoming OKC Half Marathon will help her get closer to that goal this fall.
“This is part of my training plan to be able to do two marathons this year,” she said. “It will help me in the end getting two more states. I’ve run Nebraska and Oklahoma. I have plans this year to do Missouri and Kansas.”
Duerson said there is little difference between the courses run on Oklahoma City’s half and full marathons.
“There are fewer hills,” she said. “They run the same. We just turn sooner than the full marathon. A half marathon’s 13.1, and a full marathon’s 26.2. We turn a little sooner, but we run on the same course.”
Though she has no plans to win the upcoming half marathon, Duerson said she would like to finish it in less than two and a half hours, and this will help her ready for a more well-known running event.
“That’s my goal for this one,” she said. “That’ll put me on track for completing a marathon in less than four hours for my first marathon. With my second marathon, my goal is to be less than 3:30 so I can qualify for Boston.”
Like the course, Duerson said there are small differences in training for a half marathon, one of them being less time commitment.
“You don’t have to run as many miles, and your long runs aren’t as far,” she said. “My goal is to build up to the marathon, to condition and to build that strength to be able to tackle hills. We don’t have a lot of those.”
Though the April 28 date is significant for Duerson said there are no plans to re-enact the proposal.
“I’ve always told him no race I ever have can top that first half marathon,” she said. “You can’t do anything bigger than propose. We’re already married.”
Duerson said the half marathon proposal may have had something to do with her favorite pastime.
“His friends laugh and say it’s because he didn’t want me to run away,” she said.
