Va. Tech Grad to Circle Jamaica Pond 33 Times

The flood of frightening emails poured into her inbox on April 16, 2007. Danielle E. Thomas, a veterinary student at Virginia Tech, was just learning about a shooting on campus that would claim the lives of 33 individuals.

Saddled with a head cold, she was safely in her off-campus apartment that day, but on any other day she would have been right near either site where one of the two rounds of shootings took place. Thomas has pledged ever since to find a way to give back to those who weren’t as lucky.

This year, on April 16, the sixth anniversary of the shooting, Thomas will run around Jamaica Pond 33 times in honor of the number of victims in the tragedy on the small campus in Blacksburg, Va.

“I’m not racing anyone, I just have to keep going,” she said of the near 50 miles she’ll run beginning the morning of April 16.

Thomas, 36, a JP resident since 2009, anticipates it will take her at least nine hours to complete “33 for 33,” the name for her cause.

She has run marathons in the past, but never 50 miles. She has been training ever since she came up with the idea late last fall.

“It will definitely be a big distance jump,” she said of the length.

So far, Thomas has raised $2,435 toward her goal of $3,300, all of which will go to the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence.

Thomas said she chose the pond for a variety of reasons, not the least of which were visibility and convenience.

“It’s the perfect intersection of two places that have been so impactful for my life,” she said. “It’s such a focal part of the community, and it’s a circle.”