An interview with Jordan Casey

For today’s Pandemic Papers interview, we don’t have to look too far in the past – less than a year! Jordan Casey just graduated in May 2019 and like so many of our alums, she hasn’t stopped running. Jordan was planning on running her first marathon – St. Jude’s in Tennessee – last Saturday. Well, we know how THAT ended up. But, like Annie Gould a few weeks ago, Jordan didn’t want to let her supreme marathon fitness go to waste, so she decided to run 1 mile each hour for 26 consecutive hours (and yes, tack on that extra point-2 for the marathon). A unique challenge that I knew she would be up to, and she did great with it. So this interview is mostly about that endeavor, which she achieved from and around her home at Ballston Lake, just north of Albany.

We love Jordan. She was one of those heart-and-soul athletes on our team, a true leader during the greatest era of our women’s program – which is continuing and WILL continue, thanks to the leadership of her and her awesome teammates and classmates who have graduated and are now join the growing ranks of beloved Forever Foxes. But, for me, Jordan was an acquired taste. I’m low-key and quiet. I like to keep to myself in the back of the bus, reading some boring old book or checking my email or reading the New York Times on the laptop. Jordan is neither low-key and she’s definitely not quiet. When Jordan is in the room, you know Jordan is in the room! So, so, so, sooooooooooooo full of life! Again, for a shuffling, doddering old introvert like me (look below, she had to explain what tik tok is to me … she knew I wouldn’t get that reference!), that took a little getting used to. But as the years wore on, Jordan and I became very close. Behind all that infectious energy of hers emerged a mature, strong, awesome young woman, and a helluva runner and team leader too. Her close bond with her mother Jen – herself an awesome marathoner – is pretty neat too (see picture below that Jordan drew as a child!). Her very close bond with Coach Chuck was and is inspiring to see as well. Here, today, is Jordan’s very neat marathon story.

When did you decide you wanted to run a marathon and how did you pick THIS marathon?

When I started helping Christine (Gambell) train for NYC and then got to jump in and run a few miles with her and her mom during the NYC Marathon, the energy from the race and all the people was something that made me want to be an actual a part of it all. After Christine finished and I realized how big what she and her mom had done was, I wanted to do it too! I told my mom right away, and obviously she was all for it being she's done over 20, and we did some research on the best marathons for your first one. When we came across the Rock N Roll race series we loved two things: 1. The fact that we could raise money for St. Jude to compete in the event and 2. The location of Nashville. The two of us decided we would make it into a mini-vacation for her and I and spend a few days there and I would run the full and she would run the half. I was pretty excited to start training and we able to run part of my first marathon with my mom.

How was your training for the marathon going before the race was canceled?

My training was going well! I was running 4-5 times a week and doing some bike doubles or all bike days. I was feeling pretty good and doing some of my training runs with Shea (Bohan) and Christine. I had gotten in my 18-mile long run before they had let us know the race was postponed. At that time, my shin was actually starting to bug me again and I was getting nervous it wasn't going to hold up before the date of the race. I started biking a lot more and doing my exercises from when I was hurt my senior year.

What were your emotions like after the race was canceled?

So going off of the last question, when the race got postponed I was obviously very upset because I had gotten through the bulk of my training, but at the same time there was a sense of relief because my shin had begun to really hurt. When the official postponement came out, it was around the time I had moved home because of Covid-19, so I took 10 days completely off of running and stuck to just the bike. After those 10 days, I started to ease running back in and obviously, hence the "marathon" I just ran, my shin feels fine! Now we're just waiting on the new date of the race. 

How are you and your family managing the Covid-19 pandemic/stay at home situation?

It's nice to be back home with my entire family because we haven't all been together for more than a week in a long time. I have a little set up in the kitchen with my "work station" and my sister and brother tend to do school work in their rooms because I'm on calls for a lot of the day. We're managing it, some days harder and more trying on each other than others, but I am beyond lucky to be home with my whole family, all healthy. 

How has it affected your training and did you continue with your normal marathon training or alter it?

Kinda like I was saying before, I more altered/stopped my training because of my shin pain, but now that my shin feels better I am back to running and biking and lifting just with a little less structure. I don't necessarily do full long runs anymore, I'll bike for a bit then run a few miles on "longer days," just to preserve my shin and make sure that when I do have to start back up again more seriously I'll be at 100 percent. 

What made you decide to do the 1 mile an hour thing?

I actually saw it on tik tok lol – Pete, tik tok is this app that people make silly little videos on and post them. But anyways, I saw this guy who had run the LA marathon a few months ago and was training for another one when, like me, his got postponed, so he decided to do 1 mile an hour for 26 hours. When I saw the video, it was about two weeks before the original date of my marathon so I told my mom my little idea and she was, again all for it, and we decided it would be perfect to do on the day the marathon was supposed to be. I was very excited to do something on the day the marathon was supposed to be because I had already invested so much time into training and started raising money for St. Jude. 

Describe how that went! Where and when did you do each mile (all outside or some on the treadmill)? Gimme splits! You know I want the splits!

Honestly, it was so much harder than I thought it was going to be. The hardest part being the 2am-6am window. My body was so confused and so tired getting up to run each hour was brutal. But other than those few hours I had a blast and really my legs felt great. I did every run outside except from midnight until 4am, those I did on my treadmill in my basement. And the ones where it was too dark, so the 10 and 11pm the first day and in the early morning the second day, my mom was following me in her car up and down our road with her high beams on so I could see. I stuck to the about half-mile long dirt road I live on for more, but I also wanted to get off just my road so we actually drove around in between some miles to let me run in cool places. We went to Lake George's Million Dollar Beach for the sunrise and I ran a mile up there, we hit Saratoga State Park for a few and also a local nature preserve with really nice trails. That was really nice because I got to switch up the scenery a bit and lucky it was an absolutely beautiful day too. I had a great time and the support I got from my family and friends was incredible and beyond what I thought. It was really amazing how much money was raised in 24 hours and how incredible I felt finishing the whole thing. Splits are on the picture of the little board my mom made me to track each mile :) 

Chuck has supported you literally every step of the way with this. Describe your special relationship with your very special coach -- both in college and after college.

Yes, Chuck has been incredibly supportive and helpful. He was an amazing coach for me at Marist and I knew whatever I wanted to do post-collegially he would be supportive of. He knew I didn't want to train super aggressively for the marathon, I wanted to enjoy myself, so he helped me to come up with a plan that wasn't too much with my work schedule, that being so so helpful. I dedicate part of being the runner I was during college to him and his way of coaching. I am extremely grateful to have a coach like him who still wants to help me and coach me even though I am not technically his athlete anymore :) Him, you Pete, and all the girls have been so supportive through all I do in my life, running and non-running, and you all are the people that keep me motivated, I am very lucky! 

Whenever we return to normal ... what are your future goals with running? Future marathons, etc.

Oh man, I think I want to run the real full marathon for whenever its new date is, but running has been quite tough on my body in the last two years and I think after I do the marathon I will stick to just some leisurely running for a bit :) Running will forever be a part of my life, I love it too much, but I'm excited to run this marathon for real in the future and then just relax and run a few miles every day, mornings before work. 

What advice can you give to runners to stay motivated during this crazy time?

Make yourself a schedule and remind yourself of your goals. I am a super scheduled person and that helps me stay routine and get the things done that I want to get done, like running before work. Now obviously work is a lot different so my whole schedule got turned upside down, but when I got home I told myself that every day I would do what I used to do, run before work and lift after work. Having that little schedule keeps me motivated and makes me feel a little sense of normalcy through all this. That and reminding myself, literally I use the reminders app on my phone and I have it pop up at the beginning and end of the day, what my end goal is and why I'm putting all this time into training. For the girls retuning to the team next year, I think writing down what you're training for right now and what your goals are for the next season would be so motivating and helpful. That way you see them every morning and every night, maybe on your mirror or something, and you know that that is what you are going out for this run for, or doing the body weight lift you found online for, or taking that extra time to do abs after your run for. It's so hard right now and there's so much unknowns so if you try and do things or remind yourself of things that are normal, staying on track can be at least a little easier. 

And as I have asked everyone in this series: What message can you give to our wonderful senior class as they continue to cope with the emotions of losing their final outdoor track season and final few months of their senior year?

Well for starters, y'all are so incredible and I can't imagine having my senior year taken away from me, but everything happens for a reason and this is a great time to find things that bring you a sense of accomplishment, in athletics but also in your life after college. Talk to your friends and teammates as much as you can and do things that makes you feel successful every day. Don't spend time thinking what could have been, think about what you can do now to give you the feelings you would have felt if this never happened. Whether that's having Zoom happy hours or Facetime runs or just good old phone calls, stay connected with the people you would have been spending this time with, plan for when you're going to see each other after this all ends. I've seen a lot of seniors I know on other teams and our team as well doing things they maybe wouldn't have done at school because they didn't want to hurt their training. Just find something that is rewarding to you, running related or not, and cling onto that to help you feel rewarded in this new chapter of your life after college. 

Anything else you'd like to add ...

My little brother Jack just committed to Marist and he plans to try out for the hockey team! So look out for the littlest Casey on campus and when I come to his games I'll make sure to drop by :) Thanks for featuring me on the blog, Pete, I am very honored.