By: Keziah Rutschow & Marielle Winuk

In the early morning of Oct. 11, roughly 1,600 people gathered along the Eel River in the heart of Avenue of the Giants to race a 5K, half marathon or full marathon through the Redwoods. This was the 46th annual Humboldt Redwood Marathon, hosted by Six River Run Club. Many participants are local to Humboldt, but the event attracts runners from across the country. Some Cal Poly Humboldt students ran for the first time, while others have gone these distances before.

For Kate Pringle, an environmental science & management major, working through the crowd at the start line was rough but once she wove her way through everyone, she was able to really immerse herself in the course.

“It’s honestly like a fever dream,” Pringle said. “This was my second time running on the course, and it’s just magical. Every time I’ve run it, it’s absolutely beautiful.”

Pringle won first overall in the women’s category for the half marathon race with a time of 1 hour and 33 minutes. It was not an easy feat, she had to work through internal struggles to get there.

“I would say like mile 8 to 12 is the most mentally challenging because you’re kind of just at the end,” Pringle said. “You’re holding on to your pace for your dear life.”

No matter who you are, or what place you get, there are always hurdles to overcome when doing any race whether it’s physical or mental.

Skylar Rawitch, psychology major, ran her very first 5K running race. She expressed how high the energy and vibes were from everyone there. But in the end it’s between you, your mind and your body.

“Mentally, self-talk was definitely my hardest challenge,” Raywitch said. “I kept having to change my mindset.”

Working through mental obstacles, she was able to push herself to a new personal record in the 5K.

One of the special things about Humboldt and its close-knit community is how many people here know each other. For Orion Knowler, a mechanical engineering major, seeing familiar faces made his first-ever marathon experience unique.

“It was fun,” Knowler said. “Definitely, I saw a lot of people I knew that I didn’t know were going to be running it.”

Whether it’s a 5K or a full marathon, this event gave the community a space to come together, connect and support one another.

Keziah is the science editor with an interest in crime, justice and politics