Running in Scrubs with Sam Roecker

This week’s guest is Samantha Roecker, a Philadelphia-based marathoner and full-time nurse who’s running the 2022 Boston Marathon in scrubs to raise money and awareness for mental health supports for front-line health care workers.

Sam herself is a full-time nurse in school to become a nurse practitioner, and she’s also a phenomenally-accomplished marathoner who has run 2:29 in the marathon and represented Team USA in the 2019 Pan American Games, where she finished 5th overall. We talked about Sam’s journey from running track at Providence College to taking up the marathon relatively quickly, her experience both running and crewing the famed Speed Project relay race, and her side gig as a running model for Tracksmith photoshoots.

The funds that Sam will raise will go towards the American Nurses Foundation's Well-Being Initiative programs supporting the mental health and wellness of Registered Nurses in the United States. You can learn more or donate here: https://givetonursing.networkforgood.com/projects/152794-samantha-roecker-marathon-fundraiser

Thanks for listening, and stay tuned for even more coverage of the Boston Marathon all week and weekend from the CITIUS Mag family. We’ve got great programming coming up and we can’t wait to share it with you all. Enjoy the show!

On racing the Speed Project in 2018:

“[Coming into Vegas] we couldn’t even run for a minute at a time; so we were trading off running every minute for the last segment and we still had a long way to go. You blink and it’s over but it also feels like an eternity.”

On her changing relationship with running:

“I’ve been running since I was in 7th grade, and competitive running has come and gone in that time. I’ve had times where I’ve been really competitive and times when it’s just been a daily mental release. I try not to get too caught up in the future because running is, ultimately, unpredictable.”

On elite racing as a full-time nurse:

“I just want to get the most I can out of myself and see how fast I can go. I definitely don’t think that working 10-hour nursing shifts helps performance, and I definitely have moments where I just want to take three months at altitude and see what I can do, but I also really like my career and that side of my life. I chose to do this.”

On being a health care worker during a pandemic:

“It’s hard to talk about it with people who don’t understand and you don’t want to bring home that negativity, but sometimes I couldn’t help it. It’s definitely challenging.”

On building a healthy relationship with running:

“What I’ve learned to appreciate as I’ve gotten older is that running is a constant. I always feel better after going for a run than before, even if it’s a miserable cold, rainy day. Periods where I’m not able to run are tough and so I try to appreciate that constant in my life that many people don’t have.”