Crestwood’s Hamrick runs 157-mile race for good cause

The comfort zone holds no appeal for Kathleen Hamrick. When she’s facing a big, intimidating goal, that’s when she feels like she’s learning the most.

“That’s where I want to put myself,” the Crestwood resident said.

Hamrick works with Innovation Depot and UAB managing the Innovation Lab, which offers classes and resources for entrepreneurial students. She said there are 16 student-run companies that are in the lab, which received a grant in November for almost $6 million. The grant allows the Innovation Lab to supplement technology education in Birmingham and build stronger relationships between educators and employers in tech fields.

“One of the big holes where we need to be filling with students is technology spaces in Birmingham,” Hamrick said. “Our students are perfect for startup companies because they’re brilliant. They’re fully entrenched in new technology.”

Between her regular job at the Innovation Lab and weekend work with a local startup for cancer diagnostics, Hamrick doesn’t have much in the way of spare time. Many of her free hours, however, are spent flying planes and occasionally participating in weeklong races.

Hamrick started running in 2007, and she ran her first marathon despite never training past the five-mile mark. After that, distance was never really an obstacle for her. In 2012, Hamrick ran her first ultra marathon, and over that 50 miles she found ultra runners were more about reaching personal goals than competition and speed. That led to more ultras, and in 2013 she and her sister signed up for the 170-mile Grand to Grand Ultra.

The seven-day stage race required the runners to carry their own food, medical supplies and clothes. Hamrick said she and her sister completely underestimated the difficulty of the distance and terrain. Despite a stress fracture about 70 miles in, Hamrick completed the race and was the first woman under 30 to finish. Along the way she raised money for A Center for Eating Disorders.

It was during the Grand Canyon run that she heard about the Jungle Marathon, 157 miles of running, climbing, swimming and wading through the rainforest of Brazil. The run is considered one of the most challenging in the world, and Hamrick said about 50 percent of the participants drop out. She set a new goal.

“I think it’s important we all challenge ourselves in different ways,” she said. “I knew at the starting line there was a real possibility I wouldn’t make it to the finish line.”

It took 60 hours, including 12 hours on a boat, simply to make it from Birmingham to the starting line in Amazonia for the October 2016 race. Hamrick said the medics told runners to assume everything in the jungle could kill them, and one part of the race had armed guards watching for jaguars. It was beautiful, but not a forgiving place for a run.

“If you were to get lost, you would most definitely die,” Hamrick said.

Though it was a grueling race, Hamrick said there were also wonderful moments like seeing rainforest sunsets, jungle animals and children in small villages who would run alongside them as they completed stages of the race. At one point, her shoes fell apart, and Hamrick had to wade through rivers and marshes barefoot.

“I’m so glad I didn’t read about what was in that river before I went,” she said.

But she made it to the end of the race and was the third overall female finisher. She said one of the best parts was waiting at the finish line to see her new friends’ faces as they crossed. Through the race, she also raised $6,000 for Equal Access Birmingham, a UAB student-run clinic for underserved Birmingham residents, to help purchase an EKG machine.

She also has already set her next goal: an ultra marathon in Hawaii set between two volcanoes. Hamrick is hoping to make the run in 2018 and to raise money for the Birmingham Education Foundation.

“We all do our part in the ways that we can in our community,” Hamrick said.