By Valerie Gomez
Newton South members of Dreamfar participated in Rhode Island’s Cox Providence Marathon on Sunday May 4.
Dreamfar High School Marathon is New England’s first high school marathon training program. Dreamfar started at Newton South with nine students in 2008 and since then, has trained more than 200 students.
Modeled after Students Run LA program, Dreamfar gives students the opportunity to students to be part of a training program that values hard work and persistence. Jamie Chaloff, founder and director of Dreamfar High School Marathon, started the program to create a community where everyone felt valued and to share the gifts running a marathon brings.
“High school students are capable of incredible greatness and anything in life is possible. The biggest of obstacles are easier to overcome with a community of members that truly care about each others successes,” Chaloff said. “The most valuable lesson our students/participants learn is that they can do anything they want, if they are willing to try. That they always had the power, they just had to believe in themselves.”
Students train for seven months, starting in October, to run the Cox Providence Marathon. The 26.2-mile race starts in downtown Providence and ends at East Bay and Barrington. Since the organization’s inception, nine high schools have joined the team, including Newton North, Brookline, Sharon, and Boston high schools.
Newton South’s Dreamfar members trained at least three times a week. In weather ranging from snow to sun, the team gradually increased the length of their run, starting with one mile and eventually building up to 20.
Every Saturday, Dreamfar met up with the other participating schools to run a longer distance, often times more than six miles.
Without tryouts, anyone can join Dreamfar. Sophomore Melissa Wong had little experience with running before joining Newton South’s Dreamfar. Through Dreamfar, Wong was not only able to accomplish her goal of running a marathon but also, be a part of a close-knit community.
“I was planning to start running last summer, but I didn’t have the motivation I needed to to actually get out there and start. I think I will join next year because I really loved the experience that Dreamfar have me and the amazing opportunities it gave me,” Wong said. “[Running] is definitely something that I will be doing for a long time.”
Dreamfar was a way for several South students to run a marathon as the organization provided them with motivation and mentors.
“Some of my friends were joining it and since I always wanted to run a marathon I decided to go with them. Dreamfar was a way for me to finally run a marathon. Before Dreamfar I only ran up to roughly 5 miles,” junior Nicolas Lucena said.
Senior Danny Teich has been part of Dreamfar for the past three years and he found that joining Dreamfar has benefited him in many ways.
“[Dreamfar] was a fun and very rewarding experience, I made many friends on the team, and it benefitted me not only physically, but in other ways – I felt like it improved my self-confidence overall,” Teich said.
Abby Patkin, one of the three captains of Dreamfar, has been running with Dreamfar for two years and has learned a valuable life lesson through her participation in Dreamfar.
“I learned that you don’t have to fit any specific mold in order to accomplish something. You just need to have both motivation and a great support system, and anyone who participates in Dreamfar definitely has both,” said Patkin.
