“Runners: Take your mark. Get set. Go!”

As Neal Coffey finishes uttering those words, four members of the Syracuse University community take off from the starting line, racing to complete their opening leg of the 4×800-meter relay.

Each runner covers two laps of the Skytop outdoor track before passing a baton to a teammate in waiting. Even though the four teams in this heat are competing against each other, runners can be heard shouting encouragement to everyone on the track.

That spirit defines the Syracuse University Noontime Running League, which recently completed its 53rd season on campus. Started in 1973 as an inter-university running competition between faculty and staff at Syracuse University and Stanford University, the league gives faculty and staff a weekly reason to step away from their desks and move during the workday.

The league consists of a series of weekly runs, with events ranging in length from 100 meters to 15 kilometers. Runners of all abilities are welcome.

This year, runners were randomly placed on the Orange or Blue team and scored points based on age-graded times, which fosters a friendly season-long competition and introduces faculty and staff to fellow members of the running community.

From No Running Experience to 8 Miles a Day

When Patti Ford joined the math department in 1977, her colleagues encouraged her to try running. She had never run before, and she was an avid smoker. Then her father suffered a heart attack, and Ford vowed to quit smoking and get in shape.

Soon after joining the league, she took a liking to running, often logging eight miles over her midday work break.

“It’s an informal activity that can be as serious or as casual as you’d like,” says Ford, who served with her husband, Terry McConnell, as the league’s previous commissioners. “The best part is everybody is out here working on their health and supporting each other.”

Becoming a Routine for More Than 40 Years

Coffey joined the University in 1981 and has been an avid league participant for more than 40 years. The league has become an essential part of how he takes care of himself, physically, mentally and socially.

“This has been a great wellness activity for my health and fitness,” says Coffey, the league’s commissioner. “This is a needed opportunity to unplug, step away from your work for a bit and enjoy a mental health break during the day.”

Many league members, including Coffey, take pride in having their children join them on the track for a fun, spirited competition that reflects the welcoming nature of the league.

Tackling Problems Through Running

Both Coffey and Ford say the league has another, unintentional benefit: helping them solve problems at work.

As the manager of operations and engineering for the Dick Clark Studios in the Newhouse School of Public Communications, Coffey is responsible for booking more than 4,000 hours of student time in the studios. This includes developing the technology that ESPN and the ACC Network use when live broadcasting more than 120 Syracuse Athletics games each year.

Whenever a technical problem stumps Coffey, he turns to running to relax his mind, and often, when he returns to his office, he’s devised a solution.

“There’s something about running and unplugging your mind that leads to an epiphany. Running has often helped me solve the problems I’m working on,” says Coffey, an adjunct professor of television, radio and film.

Ford, who also served as budget manager for the Department of Physics, looked forward to the league as a welcome distraction from the day’s qualitative math problems.

“When I would get back to work, it was like I had a brand-new start to my day,” Ford says. “I found myself with more energy and many times I used my runs to solve a particular problem.”

Even now, Ford says, the league’s biggest appeal remains its members.

“There’s something special about getting together each week and running,” says Ford, who officially retired from the University at the end of 2025. “There have been so many meaningful connections formed out on the track.”

Join the League

Coffey and Ford are always looking to recruit runners for the next season. Interested faculty and staff can contact Coffey via email (necoffey@syr.edu) or by calling 315.443.5392, or Ford via email (pefordxc@gmail.com) or by calling 315.729.5263.