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100-day run honors late Paul Smith’s alum

Joe St. Cyr and Jordan Foulds pose atop Whiteface Mountain in August 2019. (Provided photo — Jordan Foulds)

Jordan Foulds has been running a lot lately. The St. Michael’s College women’s cross country alumna, who’s currently working toward a master’s degree at Paul Smith’s College, is in the middle of a 100-day running challenge to raise awareness about epilepsy.

The challenge is in honor of her late boyfriend Joe St. Cyr, a Paul Smith’s alum who died following an epileptic seizure last November, days before his 24th birthday.

“I decided to do a running challenge because running has gotten me through my worst days,” said Foulds in a statement. “Running is something we shared that allows me to feel close to him and clear my head.” Foulds said she chose 100 days because in 100 days, St. Cyr would have turned 25.

Foulds began the challenge on July 28, and is chronicling each day’s run — and sharing information about epilepsy — on her Instagram at @jrunsforepilepsy. The goal of the challenge is to raise funds for the Epilepsy Foundation.

Epilepsy is a seizure disorder that can develop in any person at any age. According to the Epilepsy Foundation, a nonprofit founded in 1968 and headquartered in Maryland, epilepsy affects 65 million people worldwide and 3.4 million in the United States.

Joe St. Cyr at the 2015 International Snowshoe Banquet in Lewiston, Maine. (Provided photo — Jim Tucker)

“Joe never knew why or when his seizures were going to happen,” said Foulds. “He had seizures in his sleep, so he went to bed scared that he’d wake up on the floor with his face banged up.”

Foulds and St. Cyr, who both ran cross country in college, bonded over a mutual love of running. St. Cyr, who graduated from Paul Smith’s in 2018, won awards in cross country, ran three times at the U.S. Collegiate Athletic Association National Championship, qualified three times for the U.S. National Snowshoe Championship, and both played and coached basketball. After college, he worked as a fishing guide in Saranac Lake and with High Peaks Cyclery in Lake Placid.

“He was also extremely passionate about fishing,” Foulds wrote on Instagram on the first day of the challenge. “So some fish pics may appear on ur feed.”

When she’s not running, Founds, who holds a degree in environmental studies, is doing geographic information system mapping for natural disasters in New England and working toward an advanced degree in natural resource conservation.

Founds has mostly been running near her home in New Hampshire, as well as on the beach in Salisbury, Massachusetts, with a goal of running a half marathon before the challenge ends. So far Founds has run about 60 miles and has raised more than $2,000.

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