HEALTHY LIVING
The Running & Wellness Club By Andrew Meigs and Victor Martinez
T
he Running & Wellness Club at the University of the Incarnate Word School of Osteopathic Medicine (UIWSOM) is not your average organization. Originally called “Run Club,” this group was created by a handful of students who shared a passion for staying active and waking up at 5 a.m. Despite the early morning start time, this small group had one infectious quality that they nourished together every time they met: joy. Of course, with joy comes growth, and the small group grew so big they included more days and (thankfully) later meeting times to accommodate the number of people who wanted to join. Eventually, the group expanded the “Run Club” to an official UIWSOM organization, the “Running & Wellness Club,” and included people who wanted to come but perhaps just felt like walking or jogging. As we grew, our emphasis on the organization also grew, and we started to address disparities within our own San Antonio community. For example, as of 2020, San Antonio stayed home to around 3,000 homeless persons that we know of, and houses District 3, the largest area in the city still classified as a “food
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SAN ANTONIO MEDICINE • January 2022
desert.” Here, the Running & Wellness Club truly began to adopt the UIWSOM mission of improving health and wellness in the San Antonio communities. We began doing this through one of our yearly events of raising pledge donations for miles walked or ran for the San Antonio Food Bank. Throughout quarantine, while adhering to COVID-19 restrictions, we raised $1,062 our first year of fundraising in 2020 and $788 the next year for a total of $1,850! This year, we’ve doubled the number of organizations we are supporting and raised $661 for the Special Olympics. Aside from using our shared exercising experiences as a platform to help improve our San Antonio community, we understand that the environment cultivated at our Running & Wellness Club is healing in of itself. Over the last five years, research has shown that 50% of medical students experience burnout and 10% of medical students have suicidal ideations. So, we spend extra effort building a welcoming environment for our members − every member of the Running & Wellness Club is a part of our family. Plus, while staying active, we are also grow-
