When you picture a medical student, what comes to mind? For many, it’s someone incessantly buried in books and flashcards, dedicating every waking moment to studying for the next exam.
Often, medical students are seen as those who must sacrifice interests and hobbies in pursuit of a medical career. However, this is a misleading picture.
A few UNC School of Medicine students are demonstrating that it’s possible to pursue passions outside of medicine. Enter Ross Davis, Michael Ly and Trinity Morrow, three second-year medical students who have shattered this stereotype.
Earlier this October, Ly competed in the Bank of America Chicago Marathon, one of the seven world major marathons. Meanwhile, Davis and Morrow competed in IRONMAN 70.3 North Carolina, a triathlon consisting of a 1.2-mile swim, 56-mile bike and 13.1-mile run.
Ly, a Charlotte, North Carolina native, ran track and cross country at Washington University in St. Louis during his undergraduate years. He qualified for the 2024 Chicago Marathon last fall by running 26.2 miles at the 2023 Charlotte Marathon in a time of 2 hours and 51 minutes (6:34 min/mile pace).
Throughout this fall, Ly trained rigorously, running up to 65 miles per week in anticipation of the Chicago Marathon. He explained how it actually helped him as a medical student.
“It takes away the monotony that med school can sometimes have,” Ly said. “Obviously med school is such a privilege and it’s awesome, but having an outlet to go home and do something hard and have a completely different goal [than medical school], it’s a big deal.”
Davis and Morrow experienced a similar reality. To complete 70.3 miles of swimming, biking and running, they estimated spending around 13-15 hours per week training.
Both Davis, from Hendersonville, North Carolina, and Morrow, from Hickory, North Carolina, had finished an IRONMAN 70.3 before this year’s event in Wilmington. They showed how it’s possible to train at such a high volume while still being successful medical students.
“Personally, I just feel if it’s a priority you can make time for it, and this was a huge priority for me,” Morrow said. “Physically and mentally, it keeps me well. If I’m on the bike, I watch videos or do flash cards. If I want to catch up with a friend, we go for a run together.”
“Being able to work on having a good work-life balance now and seeing how that’s playing out with this time commitment helps me understand how I’m going to do it in the future when life has even more pressure,” Davis added.
When race day arrived, the trio accomplished what they set out to do.
Ly encountered some nutritional issues and ended up in the medical tent during the race but still finished with a time of 3 hours and 23 minutes (7:45 min/mile pace).
“It was a really tough race, but I was super pumped to be able to finish it,” Ly said. “It was probably the coolest race I’ve ever done.”
Morrow finished the IRONMAN 70.3 North Carolina with a time of 5 hours and 1 minute, earning her 12th place in her age group. Immediately following the race, she was offered and accepted a spot at the 2025 IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship in Marbella, Spain.
“It might be insane of me to agree to do during clinical year, but I figured if I can do two races during first year of medical school, maybe I can do this one too,” Morrow said with a laugh.
Davis crossed the finish line with a time of 5 hours and 21 minutes. He was able to soak up the moment for all it was worth.
“Sixteen weeks of super hard work had finally come to fruition,” Davis said. “I hit the goals I wanted. It’s the greatest feeling ever. I wish I could impart to people it’s so worth it.”
All three spoke of the support they received from classmates and faculty.
“Classmates have been so supportive,” Morrow said. “They came to the race. A bunch of classmates knew about the race and trained with us – running, swimming, biking – there were different groups of people who did all of them.”
“We have friends who used to be swimmers and swim faster than us,” Davis continued. “It was very nice because we had classmates come and teach us for an hour. They’d teach us better technique.”
Ly’s PCC tutor, Sarah Ruff, MD, is a long-time marathon runner herself. She shared a lot of advice with Ly and invested in his entire process.
“We take a lot of time every week in PCC to talk about our highs and lows for the week,” Ly said. “Dr. Ruff probably goes a little longer than most instructors do because she really cares about us. I really do feel like our staff is super invested in us as people and as learners.”
Morrow also pointed out that her PCC tutor Hannah Coletti, MD, MPH emphasizes that medical students are human beings outside of medicine. That involves taking care of yourself outside the classroom.
“Keeping myself physically well correlates directly to my mental health,” Davis said.
“I think whatever you do you have to take care of your physical and mental health,” Morrow added. “This is part of me taking care of myself and challenging myself. Even when studying is hard or school is hard, I can check off at the end of the day that I got my workout done. That has meant a lot to me.”
Reflecting on his experience, Ly has seen how the whole training process and race result helped him become a better future physician. He drew similarities to how every part of medical school so far is leading up to Step 1, set to take place in the near future.
“It’s the process of working toward something and stacking consistent days and weeks on each other to achieve a goal,” Ly said. “It’s more about the process than what the actual race was.”
All three are ready to move onto their clinical rotations once Step 1 is in the rearview mirror. In fact, they’re all interested in orthopedic surgery. Davis and Ly will spend their clinical years at Wilmington while Morrow will stay in Chapel Hill.
By pursuing their passions and excelling both inside and outside the classroom, Davis, Ly, Morrow, and many others have shown that this balance is not only achievable for medical students, but essential for personal well-being. Their message is loud and clear:
“I encourage new medical students to keep doing the things you love,” Morrow said. “It’s possible. And try new things. It makes me sad when people think of medical school as a time where you have to give up everything that makes you happy. You don’t have to sacrifice your life outside of medical school. Keep being a human.”