Reilly Wahlers on the run

The life of a dental therapy student doesn’t always make it easy to stay physically active. The long days of lectures, studying and clinic time can pose a serious challenge to even the most basic of fitness goals. But many students, as busy as they are, still find time to move their bodies and clear their minds.

Reilly Wahlers, BSDH ’25, MDT ’26, is a great example of someone who manages to balance the cerebral and the physical in her life. She ran her very first Boston Marathon this year, in just over 3.5 hours, after finishing the 2024 Grandma's Marathon last year with a qualifying time.

“Finishing the Boston Marathon was an emotional experience,” she said. “With about 30,000 runners and 300,000 spectators, it was high-energy and exciting. I’ve never been part of such a large event, and the crowd made it so surreal.

“I had set a personal goal to run in under four hours, knowing that it was a tough course and I hadn’t been able to train as much as I had hoped. Finishing in just over 3.5 hours was a great surprise. It was an uplifting and unforgettable experience.”

For Wahlers, running in Boston was the culmination of a long-time goal. “I became interested in running in high school, and I fell in love with running marathons,” she said. “I ran the Grandma's half marathon in 2018 and the full marathon in 2022. It’s always been my goal to run the Boston Marathon.”

Running is a great stress reliever for this busy student. “Running keeps both my mental and physical health intact,” she says. “It’s a time where I can be in my own thoughts and forget about the stressors of life.” But even as she basks in the glow of achieving such a challenging life goal as completing the Boston Marathon, Walhers admits that there can be challenges to being a dental therapy student on the run. “Training while in school is tough,’” she says. “It's hard to stay motivated after finishing long days at school. I typically run shorter distances during the week, and do longer runs on the weekend.”