Thirteen miles could be somebody’s daily commute or a quick trip to a nearby city, but for Hugh Jordan ‘26, it’s a hobby, running half-marathons in his free time.
Jordan spends time almost every day running. Whether it’s outside or on a treadmill, running is something sacred to him. He has completed three official half-marathons but has run in the double digits by himself.
“This is something I started to do because I have the free time to do it,” said Jordan. “Everyone has something they enjoy doing, and for me, it’s running.”
The half-marathons Jordan has completed have all taken place in Michigan, including the Detroit Free Press Half Marathon, a course consisting of running across the Ambassador Bridge and through the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel connecting Michigan to Canada. In March, he plans to run his fourth half-marathon in Virginia.
“I do them with my dad most of the time,” said Jordan. “I’ve started to outpace him a little, so now I’m looking to do more of them by myself. It was my idea and I kind of just dragged him along with me.”
Jordan has always liked to run, often doing it to spend time with his dad and sister. Jordan’s mother Christine Jordan, saw the spark at just five years old.
“We ran the Jingle Bell Run together as a family when he was in kindergarten,” said Christine Jordan. “To my husband and my surprise, he just took off. It was a flat-out sprint for a mile and he loved it. He just thought it was fun like we should do that tomorrow.”
But he didn’t start to run half-marathons until his sophomore year of high school.
“First, I started running however I wanted, whenever,” said Jordan. “I wasn’t really keeping track or anything. But at the start of sophomore year, I did a ten mile and I really enjoyed that. So I did a half marathon and then another. It’s just kind of spiraled from there.”
Unlike many other runners, Jordan doesn’t see running as a competition. He uses it as a way to feel healthy, despite minor health challenges.
“I was born with a very minor heart condition so I’m just kind of naturally worse at cardio,” said Jordan. “I basically just pump blood a little slower which isn’t great for cardio. So I think running is a great way for me to, despite that, still feel healthy. I time myself, and I’ve gotten faster, but I do it because I want to, not to be fast.”
He also uses it as an outlet. He doesn’t care about his pace or time. This is one of the reasons why Jordan doesn’t participate in the cross country or track and field teams at school.
“I run because I want to and I’m afraid that putting it on a schedule and turning it into a competitive nature could take the joy out of it for me,” said Jordan.
His mother also sees running for Jordan as a way to do something he truly enjoys rather than anything else.
“I think it’s a personal thing, something really authentic and special to him,” she said. “It can be something to get him out of a bad mood or because he had a great day. It’s an outlet, a tool, something he looks forward to. Whereas some people feel bad because they were supposed to run, that’s never been a way he approaches it.”
No matter how often he does it, Jordan still finds running challenging. But that doesn’t mean he doesn’t like the challenge. Specifically, any run with incline is the most difficult, but there is nothing he dislikes about running.
“It’s definitely a challenge, it always will be a challenge,” said Jordan. “But I feel like it’s a really good time to just think for me. So I’ll be running, and so many thoughts are in my head that I blink and 15 minutes have passed.”
Although Jordan runs every day, it’s not something that he talks about frequently. Many of his friends are oblivious to the fact that he has this hobby.
“I would not have thought Hugh ran marathons just by talking to Hugh,” said Jordan’s friend Harper Cash ‘26. “He just never talks about running. But he also seems like he would do it. He seems like he enjoys it though.“
Although Jordan has done plenty of half marathons, he has yet to complete a full marathon. It’s a goal he sees for the future, just not something he’s training for at this time.
“Eventually I’d like to do a full one, but right now it seems a little too much physically,” says Jordan. “I’ll get there someday.”
Looking to the future, Jordan plans to run his fourth half-marathon in March in Virginia. But until then, he will continue to run with no specific training schedule, just whenever he wants to.
“If we can’t find him, we know he’s probably going on a run,” said Christine Jordan.