Elizabeth Larkins has run marathons and half-marathons in Phoenix and Jacksonville, but on July Fourth she’ll be running her first Atlanta Journal-Constitution Peachtree Road Race.
Larkins, director of the surgical/transplant intensive care unit at Emory University Hospital, had always heard about the famous race. So when she moved to Atlanta last year, she knew she had to run it.
“This will be the shortest race I’ve ever run, but there’s something uniquely Atlanta about this race, and I’m really excited to be part of the tradition,” said Larkins, MSN, RN, CMSRN, NEA-BC.
Larkins began running seriously 10 years ago, just before her 29th birthday.
“I weighed over 200 pounds then and I decided I didn’t want to be fat and 30,” Larkins said. “So I started running and lost 50 pounds. When I run, I weigh what I should and it’s great stress relief.”
During busy nursing shifts, nurses often ignore their full bladders and grumbling stomachs to care for patients, she said.
“When I’m running, I’m paying attention to my body and focusing on myself. It’s a cleansing of my mental pallete and helps me flip the switch between work and family life,” said Larkins. “Running positively affects my nursing and my life.”
While the course is only 6.2 miles compared to 26.2-mile marathons, the race will challenge Larkins.
“I’m used to running flat courses, so I’m doing more interval training in order to pull the hills,” she said. “I also have to contend with my allergies and the pollen here.”
Larkins, who is running with a club and on the treadmill three or four times a week, is also training with her roommate, Will Parrish, MSN, RN, CCRN, director of the neurology ICU at Emory University Hospital. Parrish is also new to Atlanta and to running, and Larkins hopes he’ll develop a love of the sport.
Many Emory nurses and other staff are preparing to run, walk or volunteer for the race.
Marilyn Margolis has run the race every year but one since 1997.
“I love the race. It’s always fun,” said Margolis, director of nursing operations and interim chief nursing officer at Emory Johns Creek Hospital.
Margolis, MN, RN, has run with the same group of co-workers for years. After the race, they meet up with a much larger contingent of Emory employees at the Emory Healthcare tent for food and to relive the experience.
“It’s the place to be after the race and you do form bonds with Emory people you’ve never met before,” she said.
As a sponsor, Emory Healthcare encourages employees to give it a try. An estimated 2,000 will walk or run the race with family and friends.
To stay in shape for the race, Margolis is cycling and running three times a week.
“The race is a uniquely Atlanta celebration and very patriotic,” she said. “People dress up in red, white and blue, and everyone cheers you on from the sidelines. It’s a friendly, feel-good race, and always puts me in a good mood.”
Cindy Leipold will be among the first to arrive and the last to leave the Midtown race course. She’s in charge of staffing the three medical tents at the finish line, near the stage and in the meadow.
“A friend recruited me to volunteer as a nurse years ago, and it got to be a habit. It’s a really fun way to celebrate on the morning of the Fourth of July,” said Leipold, FNP-BC, MN, RN, FNP-C, ACHPN, a palliative care nurse practitioner at Emory University Hospital Midtown.
She walked and ran the Peachtree in earlier years, and this is her 24th year to volunteer.
“We recruit nurses from hospitals all over the city, and we also have a team of podiatrists, therapists and sports medicine specialists to take care of the walking wounded,” Leipold said.
She’s seen the race grow from about 20,000 runners when she started to 60,000 people today.
“Every year we have to send a small number to the hospital. We’ve had patients who have had heart attacks and needed to be resuscitated,” she said. “When it’s happened near the finish line and they can get immediate attention, we’ve had a wonderful track record for survival. Those patients are eternally grateful to us.”
Most of the care is for heat-related illnesses. When the temperature rises above 80 degrees or the humidity reaches about 80 percent, Leipold expects trouble. The tents are prepared with barrels of towels soaked in ice water to help runners cool off.
“Putting your hands in those barrels over and over again can be painful,” she said. “What we do isn’t high-tech, but it’s nursing at its finest. We’re using all our basic assessment skills and we have to be prepared for anything.”
Many nurses volunteer year after year.
“Two years ago, we had a nurse who wasn’t working because of breast cancer. She asked if she could volunteer [for the race], and [she] said that it felt good to be a nurse again, instead of a patient,” Leipold said. “It’s so gratifying to be part of the race in this way. It just gives you a good feeling.”
