The 11th Eau Claire Marathon takes place on Sunday, where hundreds of particpants’ months of training will be put to work.

“I’m super excited,” Sophia Spittlemeister, a half-marathon participant and a sophomore at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, said.

Spittlemeister is among those to take the distance running course at UW-Eau Claire, where students learn the proper nutrition needed and how to build mental stamina for distance running. On Saturday mornings, the class holds its runs, which have increased in mileage over the course of the semester.

Instructor Matt Evans says the class is not created for one level of experience. Rather, it’s for a mix of first-time and veteran marathon runners.

“So this is not a class that looks at performance,” Evans said. “It really looks at goal setting and goal attainment and allowing people to figure that out themselves rather than having it dictate it like a normal class.”