Samantha Roecker

By Andrew Waite and Mona Caron

Age: 30
Profession: Registered Nurse (part-time) and University of Pennsylvania student (full-time)
Hometown: Burnt Hills
Current Residence: Philadelphia, Pa.
Family: Parents, Lauren and David; Sister, Meagan
Primary Sport: Running
Activities: Hiking

Sam Roecker can add a Guinness record to her long list of running accomplishments. On April 18, Sam ran the 126th Boston Marathon in scrubs in 2:48:02 while raising awareness and money for nurses’ mental health to become the fastest person to run a marathon in scrubs, beating the previous record of 3:08:22.

Inspired and motivated to do something due to the lack of mental health resources for health care workers, including a close friend from high school who had given so much to her Covid-19 ICU patients, and the ensuing stress of dealing with so much death, Sam came up with the idea to use running to do something good.

Sam wanted to help her friend who had been suffering from the devastation from the pandemic. At first, that meant trying to find options such as therapy for her friend. But mental health professionals were booked, and the more she looked the less she seemed to find. “She had given everything for patients for two years and it destroyed her. It just didn’t feel fair, and it was so frustrating to not have any resources available to her to help,” Sam said. “She was truly trying to get herself out of such a bad place. It was so irritating to me that there was really nothing out there to help.”

Most days, both before and after work, she put on her Moxie Scrubs and took to the streets. Sam, who splits time between her job at a Penn Medicine ear, nose and throat outpatient clinic and clinicals at an emergency room that are part of her program as a University of Pennsylvania Family Nurse Practitioner student, found ways to train with her very busy schedule.

While running in scrubs may have seemed gimmicky to others, Sam’s campaign makes a very serious point and raises money for an important cause. Sam’s goal is to send a message of support to health care workers, in particular their mental health and well-being during the pandemic. Her campaign has already raised more than $48,000 from an original goal of $26,200. The goal has now been doubled to $52,400 and it looks promising that she will reach and exceed that by May 31, the end of the fundraising campaign and the end of National Nurse’s Month.

Funds will go to the American Nurses Foundation’s Well-Being Initiative programs, supporting the mental health and wellness of registered nurses in the United States. The goal is to raise as much money as possible to support programs like complimentary therapy resources, expressive writing programs, financial consulting, podcasts and mobile apps dedicated to mental health and well-being, as well as content dedicated to grief and bereavement.

Moxie Scrubs is a nursed-owned company and has been very supportive of Sam’s mission and is one of her sponsors. Sam noted that their scrubs were more breathable and not much different from running in tights. 

Sam’s efforts inspired her former high school teammate at Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake High School and a current Burnt Hills cross-country and track coach, Megan James, to host a fundraising walk which took place on May 1 to keep the momentum going.

Her message has been well-received, locally and nationally. As a result of publicity that includes profiles in People magazine and the Philadelphia Inquirer. “I’ve also received a lot of nice messages from people on Instagram who I don’t know at all who are nurses just saying how thankful they are. That’s super unexpected and just really lovely,” Sam says.

Sam took an interest in running because of her parents and it runs in her family! Both parents are runners and younger sister Meagan ran at Boston College. But Sam started her running career on a whim. Originally, she was planning on going to the field hockey meeting to join the team, however her friend convinced Sam to go to the cross-country meeting with her instead. The rest is impressive. She began as a 7th grader on the freshman team at Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake High School. By 8th grade, she was running varsity, followed by success competing in high school and at Providence College.   

The Boston Marathon was her 12th marathon and third time running Boston. Her personal record is 2:29:59 in Chandler, Ariz. in December 2020. She does some strength training a few times a week and Pilates to recover while in peak training. When not in a training block, she enjoys going out for hikes with her dad in the Adirondacks. Other local personal bests include winning the Mohawk Hudson River Half Marathon in 2016, 2018 and 2019 (and setting the course record of 1:16:58 in 2019), and winning the 2018 Stockade-athon 15K in 54:49.

Sam trains with a group of women in Philadelphia who all have full-time jobs and have all qualified for the Olympic Trials. Her boyfriend Jason Ayr, also an accomplished runner and marathoner (2:18, Chevron Houston Marathon in January 2022) is also a great training partner, especially as a female in a big city.

Sam is excited to graduate from the Family Nurse Practitioner Program at UPenn in December 2022. After graduation, she’s not sure how long she will stay in Philadelphia. She’s hoping to move to a more outdoorsy place like Arizona or Colorado, rather than a big city. Goals for the future include the 2024 Olympic Marathon Trials and racing the half-marathon distance.

Sam is interested in sports medicine. She’s also enjoyed her time in the ER, even though her rotation in that setting began during the stressful period as omicron cases were beginning to crest. No matter what she decides, running will remain central to her life. “There were definitely some days when I was mentally exhausted, which kind of carried over into physical exhaustion, and training did not go as well,” Sam said. “But I just reminded myself that I usually felt better when I went running. That was my constant through the hard time.”

To support Sam’s fundraising and this important cause, please donate by May 31: givetonursing.networkforgood.com/projects/152794-samantha-roecker-marathon-fundraiser. Follow her: instagram.com/samroecker.  

This article is adapted from the original story that ran in The Daily Gazette. Andrew Waite can be reached at awaite@dailygazette.net. Mona Caron is the consulting editor at Adirondack Sports, a running mentor for the Freihofer’s Run for Women Training Challenge, and race director of the Good Karma 5K, when not working at the Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor.