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LaWanda Ward, ’03, says she wasn’t an athlete in high school.

She is now.

Ward, director of the law school’s Pro Bono Program and Public Interest, ran the Mount Kilimanjaro Marathon on June 28. That’s a photo of her at a camp on the mountain at 12,000 feet with the clouds behind her.

The run in Moshi, Tanzania, was Ward’s first marathon outside North America. There were eight American women in the June race; Ward came in fourth and received a trophy for her efforts.

Turning age 40 a few years ago also was an inspiring milestone, Ward said. She began running, half marathons at first – she’s completed 35. Ward has competed in 5 marathons, and now is challenging herself with ultramarathons; she’ll participate in the Chicago Lakefront 50/50 on Halloween, and the Black Diamond 40-miler in Tennessee on November 28.

Ward’s goal is to run a marathon on all seven continents. She has completed two, and has plans to run the Rio de Janerio Marathon in 2017. There is a race on the continent of Antarctica that she has her eye on as well, which she plans to do in 2017 or 2018.

“It’s a good time for me,” Ward says of running. “I clear my mind and ideas come to me. Some of my best thinking happens when I’m running.”