Why I (Almost) Want to Run the Chicago Marathon

Why I (Almost) Want to Run the Chicago Marathon

marathoner

Never have I ever had any sort of a desire to run the Chicago Marathon. I can barely work up the motivation to run a 5K. A friend of mine from high school was so inspired by World Vision (an organization that provides clean water for people in Africa) that she decided to run the marathon this year. At first I thought she was insane, 26.2 miles is about 25 miles too many. But after meeting her at the finish line my perspective on this whole “marathon thing” has changed.

I had never understood just how much determination it takes to run a marathon until I watched Haley train all summer long. She went from being someone who had never run more than a few miles to spending her Saturday’s running 13. Needless to say, I was impressed. I was also blown away by the way she lit up when she got to tell people about why exactly she was running. With a goal of giving people water for life, Haley was so motivated to push herself on race day.

Her best advice is that running a marathon has so much to do with how you feel mentally. Being mostly in your head for over five hours trying to convince your body to not stop moving is a huge test of mental toughness. And I applaud marathoners everywhere for their physical and mental strength.

I couldn’t be motivated to run, but I was definitely motivated to be Haley’s super fan for the marathon. I borrowed a “Team World Vision” t-shirt from her,—which made me look super official on race day—received automated text messages that told me when she hit certain mile markers, and made sure I beat her to the post-race party so that I could give her a huge, congratulatory hug. I also made sure to keep her well-fed upon returning to campus, which involved a couple shakes from Lickity Split (an incredible ice cream and candy shop just south of Lake Shore campus that you have to try).

What really shaped my view of marathons was Chicago’s overwhelming excitement throughout race day. The Chicago Marathon goes through 29 of the city’s neighborhoods and an incredible amount of local pride is made evident as the city makes all the runners feel so welcome. Haley’s favorite part of the race was having the spectators call out her name and genuinely cheer her on—as well as reading the clever posters people made. Chicago’s high energy atmosphere on race day certainly made running all those miles a little easier for the marathoners.

I was so impressed to hear that Haley actually had fun while running and a huge part of that can be credited to the marathon spectators. That same energy got me so excited to be involved in race day festivities that I’ve been thinking, hey maybe someday I could do this too—but don’t hold me to it.

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