Long Distance Runner Covers the Globe

In one of her less graceful moments as a seasoned runner, Erin K. Sprague ’05 stumbled up a kilometer-long glacier with a 17 percent incline. The mud-laden, rock-strewn, and icy terrain of Antarctica was most unforgiving.

“I would sort of run three steps up and slide two steps back down,” said Sprague, a former varsity track runner at Harvard. “It was progress, but very, very slow progress.”

Though the descent ended in a face-plant, Sprague’s completion of the Antarctica marathon in March highlighted the global nature of her philanthropic mission to run a marathon on all seven continents. Beginning in Beijing in October 2006 and ending in Queensland, Australia this past July, Sprague holds the record as the youngest person to run 26.2 miles on every continent.

For every marathon Sprague ran, her nonprofit organization—In the Running—raised money for one continent-specific grassroots charity that addresses humanitarian or environmental issues, such as the AIDS epidemic in Africa or the protection of Antarctic ecology.

For its South America organization, In the Running donated $10,000 to A Drop in the Ocean, a Harvard non-profit organization that supports grassroots microfinance institutions in developing Latin American communities. The transaction will be formalized within the next few weeks, Sprague said.

ADITO hopes to use the money to send Harvard students to Latin America to work for mircofinance organizations, many of which lack management information systems—one of the most pressing issues in Latin American microfinance, according to Sebastien D. Arnold ’10, ADITO’s chief executive officer.

In the Running chose ADITO not only because it is “contributing to these internal, local economies, but it’s also investing in these Harvard students,” Sprague said.

ADITO strives to use resources available at Harvard to aid microfinance institutions without the infrastructure and financial support of larger networks, in turn helping to lift individuals out of poverty.

Prior to founding In The Running, Sprague viewed running as a “selfish activity,” but this passion would become the very basis of her philanthropic mission.

In addition to her post-graduation work as an analyst at a New York-based investment firm, Sprague began to participate in marathons, and what began as a curious mingling of travel and running turned into a personal mission to run a marathon on all seven continents.

This dream solidified into reality when she learned that a marathon in Antarctica existed.

“For better or worse, I signed up for it,” Sprague said. “People seemed really excited about it, and one of the questions I received was, ‘What are you doing it for?’ I decided that was a great question.”

In September 2006, Sprague convened with a group of Harvard graduates to form In the Running. Though the organizers initially set modest fundraising expectations, Sprague’s mission provided a compelling cause for donors.

“Over time, we were able to build a brand and tell a story,” said Sprague, who is the group’s chief executive officer. “Giving a donation is sort of a one-time thing. We wanted to give [the charities] more of a story that they could use.”

The journey, however, was not without its stumbles. During “every single mile” she ran, Sprague said the ambition and physical demands of her project often overwhelmed her.

“It was a huge, unmanageable, unwieldy project if you thought about it all at once,” Sprague said. “I take philanthropic activity even more personally because for every mistake you make, that’s someone you’re not getting medicine to or getting an after-school program for.”

Despite the global scope of her project, running with African children on Mount Kilimanjaro, visiting charity sites, and meeting other philanthropists in her travels have inspired her to continue running.

During the Antarctica marathon, Sprague said she remembers doubting herself as she slipped her way up the glacier. The end seemed “interminable,” she recalled.

But as she reached the top, Sprague said she recognized the “enormity of the task.” It was a turning point, she said.

—Staff Writer Esther I. Yi can reached at estheryi@fas.harvard.edu.