2024 Run the Rainbow for Children’s adds marathon
Published on Monday, November 20, 2023
By: Annie Oeth, aoeth@umc.edu
Photos By: Joe Ellis and Lindsay McMurtray/ UMMC Communications
The gold at the end of this rainbow will be a marathon medal.
The 2024 Run the Rainbow for Children’s is adding a USA Track & Field-sanctioned 26.2-mile route to the half marathon, 10K, 5K and kids’ fun run that the inaugural event offered last year. Set for March 16, the 2024 Run the Rainbow is a kickoff for Hal’s St. Paddy’s Parade and Festival, which will be held a week later, March 23.
Daniel"Everyone will start and end at Hal & Mal’s at 200 Commerce St., but they will turn around at different distances,” said race director Selena Daniel, associate director of administration and finance at Children’s of Mississippi.
The 5K route will take runners and walkers from downtown into Belhaven, while 10K and half marathon participants will reach the Kathy and Joe Sanderson Tower at Children’s of Mississippi and run through the University of Mississippi Medical Center campus.
The marathon route continues into the rolling hills of Fondren, Woodland Hills and Eastover before returning downtown for a party with Hunter Gibson and the Gators at Hal & Mal’s.
Registration is open for the event online, with the lowest fees between now and Dec. 31.
"We’re going to cap marathon participation at 150, so it’s a good idea to sign up early,” Daniel said.
Race director Selena Daniel shows the hardware that marathon finishers will wear.
Run the Rainbow marathoners have two start times, one that allows six hours for finishing, and an early start that adds an extra two hours.
“Some runners want to run a marathon, but they may be apprehensive about finishing within the six-hour limit,” Daniel said. “This gives them two more hours, and there will be a pacer for this group.”
The first Run the Rainbow attracted 877 runners from around the state and raised nearly $80,000 for Children’s of Mississippi. With the addition of the marathon route, that number is expected to climb.
“We’re attracting marathoners and half marathoners from throughout Mississippi and other states,” Daniel said.
UMMC employees are already signing up to take part. Among those who will be running the marathon this year is Dr. David Josey, associate professor of pulmonology and a pediatric pulmonologist with Children’s of Mississippi.
“I’m excited that we have a marathon in the Jackson metro area supporting Children’s of Mississippi,” he said. “The race director is awesome, and not only will we be on a fun but challenging course, but as we run past the Sanderson Tower, we’ll be reminded of why we run.”
Pediatric ICU nurses Lauren Gordon and Colby Baird and PICU nurse manager Gordon Gartrell smile for a photo before the start of the first Run the Rainbow for Children's earlier this year.
Gordon Gartrell, nurse manager of the pediatric intensive care unit at Children’s of Mississippi, participated in the Run the Rainbow 5K last year with PICU colleagues and looks forward to the 2024 event.
“The first Run the Rainbow was an incredibly exciting day that gave us an opportunity to support our patients and promote our organization outside of the traditional hospital setting,” he said. “We were able to engage with our community and promote the great work that we do in the pediatric intensive care unit and throughout Children’s of Mississippi every single day.”