Tabor Academy 2015 graduate Julia O’Rourke was awarded a Fulbright Fellowship for an English teaching assistantship to South Korea, and continues in her passion for running while living with a Korean host family and teaching.
O’Rourke was the winner of the 19th Suncheon Nam Seung-ryong Marathon on November 10 that took place in Suncheon, about 1.5 hours by bus from Julia’s current residence in the city of Mokpo.
She ran the race with several other Fulbright Fellows from all over the United States currently teaching in various locations in South Korea.
Julia’s time was 1:30:36.71 – a 6:54 mile pace – which is Julia’s best half-marathon time out of the few she has run.
“She told me that she was calculating her split per kilometer during the race and didn’t really process that she was running sub-7 minute pace,” said Barbara Dadagian, O’Rourke’s grandmother. “She told me she hadn’t been able to train as hard as she normally would due to her schedule.”
Julia left for South Korea in July of 2019, and will return in July 2020. She plans to run another half-marathon with her friend, Hannah, another Fulbright Fellow, in December. Then, she and Hannah hope to run the Seoul International Marathon in March.