Between the pounding of feet on historic downtown and midtown streets and the clanging of bells, uproar of cheers and encouraging yells, the St. Jude Marathon weekend is one of Memphis’s loudest times of the year.
For the past two decades, locals and travelers flock to downtown Memphis to run a 5K, 10K, half marathon (13.1 mile) or marathon (26.2 miles) for the patients of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Some are running for recreation or competition, trying to reach a personal best, while others are running in honor of patients.
“My older brother is a St. Jude patient, and he has been since before I was born,” Allison Hackett (10), a 10K runner, said. “So St. Jude has always been really important to my family. My parents grew up in Memphis and everything, but we decided to stay here because of my brother’s diagnosis. He became kind of a poster child for St. Jude I guess, so when you’re part of the family, you get pulled into that too. It’s a very special place for me and my family.”
The marathon weekend also attracts many high school and college track and field and cross country runners. Occurring soon after the end of cross country season, many high school runners continue training to race over the marathon weekend.
“Cross country season ended a little over a month ago, and so I started ramping up my mileage, I guess,” Emmi Roberts (11), a half marathon runner, said. “But then, like two weeks ago, I think, my knee started hurting, so my mileage went down and I had to ride the bike a little bit more. But the week before the break I [took] it really easy.”
In a race geared toward helping families of children affected by cancer, the atmosphere of the marathon weekend is different from that of a cross country race. The goal and purpose for running is different when the race is for charity instead of personal gain.
“[This race] is definitely less competitive and more about the message that racing sends,” Hackett said. “During cross country season, the whole point is to beat the next person, and there is a sense of beating your best personal time. Not to use the word ‘selfish,’ but it’s just competitive. I feel like the St. Jude race is more selfless and it’s less about yourself and more about what you’re running for.”
Runners are given the opportunity to fundraise for the hospital as a part of preparing for the marathon. The 2025 class of runners raised almost $16 million that will go to furthering research efforts. Beyond monetary support, thousands of volunteers spent a Saturday morning cheering on runners of all races.
“The energy was amazing,” Roberts said. “There [were] so many different people cheering. There were bands, and there were cheerleaders, and just so much going on, that the first mile felt like it was two minutes.”
For individual runners, a long-distance race can be physically and mentally challenging, having to keep running even through pain and doubt. To prepare to face this challenge, Roberts downloaded an app that her friends used to send her encouraging voice messages for each mile of the race.
“The second I finished, it hit me that I actually finished,” Roberts said. “I was just really proud to be like, ‘Oh wow, I just ran a half marathon.’”
