Around midday, while most of us are eating lunch at Harris, staff members Claire Gadrow, Laurie and John Schaeffer and Amy Wilson regularly enjoy each other’s company as they train on the Silfen track and around campus.
Claire Gadrow, Assistant Vice President of College Advancement, has been involved in competitive running ever since she was in high school. After a hiatus from the sport during college, Gadrow rediscovered her love for long-distance running while working at an accounting firm in Boston. She joined Connecticut College four years ago, and she cites Conn’s “student-athlete factor” as a major reason why she was so attracted to the college. Once here, Claire discovered from her colleagues that she was not the only staff runner on campus.
She subsequently sought out John and Laurie Schaeffer, and the staff running group was born.
While she trains year-round and competes for Reebok Providence in several long-distance races around the country, Claire has also found time to be a mentor to aspiring runners from the state of Rhode Island. While serving as a counselor and coach at a New Hampshire running camp for Rhode Island high school teams, Gadrow passed on her knowledge of the sport to many athletes. In 2007, she met one student in particular who would later join Connecticut College’s Class of 2012. Lindsay Paiva attended the camp with her Coventry High School team during that particular summer, and Gadrow encouraged her to check out the College when she returned to school as a senior. A few months later, Lindsay was in the midst of applying to Conn, and Claire was there to support her efforts.
“She stayed in contact with me throughout the college application process and was always there to answer my questions,” said Paiva. This sophomore enthusiastically described Claire as “an incredibly witty, energetic person, and an intense and dedicated runner.”
Equally dedicated are John and Laurie Schaeffer and Amy Wilson, all of whom have countless hours of running experience. Wilson is the Associate Director of Annual Giving at the college, while John and Laurie serve as network administrators. These three tend to focus on shorter races, which include 5k and 10k road races, among other local competitions. Laurie, who has been at the college for eleven years, said that her experience here is certainly a unique one, and this is partly because, according to her, “You don’t often have a job where you get to run during breaks. It’s great.”
Claire Gadrow is currently preparing for what amounts to the Super Bowl of running events: the Boston Marathon. She is currently able to run a marathon in under three hours, which is certainly impressive, but she is always looking to improve through additional training.
Gadrow is a big supporter of Conn’s new fitness center, and she believes that it is great not only because of its new equipment, but also because it gives students a clear view of the track while exercising. This view, according to Claire, “provides students who are working out an opportunity to see us running out on the track. I think that when they see our routines, they better understand the amount of work that we put into this sport.”
It is abundantly clear that, like student- and professor-athletes, the staff-runners at the college want others to see and appreciate their passion for their sport.
