I had run 16 marathons before this one, with the most recent being in 2014 Boston with a time of 3 hours and 31 minutes!

Many of my marathons have had some type of sentimental value i.e. I delivered my son Hunter in Nov 2009 and ran Boston in April of 2010. I also ran Boston in 2013 (the year of the bombing) and wanted to come back the following year with many of the runners that wanted to “take their race back”.

After years of consistent marathoning I struggled with multiple injuries including ACL reconstruction and another c-section. I distinctly remember when I told myself I was never running another marathon again, and I was good with that decision. Then life handed me another curveball. 

In September of 2022, I lost one of my closest childhood friends to suicide. We lived near parallel lives, both played soccer, ran track and both became PT’s. She moved to Chicago and I moved to Boston. When my colleague Alicia approached me with the idea of running the Chicago Marathon I said, I have to do this. I had never even been to Chicago and always had planned to visit. I reached out to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention and was granted a spot on the team. For this gift I am incredibly grateful.

Now for the training! Unlike marathons in the past, I was going from essentially no real “base mileage” on my running. Meaning that I was not running consistently more than a couple of miles here and there prior to starting to train again. I had shifted my focus to playing soccer and strength training making my legs feel VERY slow and heavy every time I ran. The one thing I had on my side was my experience, and every though each run seem to stink, as I strung more cruddy runs together I started to make progress towards the goal.

Heading to Chicago, I was feeling pretty banged up. The training took a toll on my aging body and everything seems to hurt. I brought all my equipment with me: needles, Norma Tec, foam rollers…the whole kit.  I spent lots of time on self care in the days leading up to the race with the mindset of all I wanted to do was cross both the starting line AND the finish line.

The race itself was hands-down the best marathon I have ever run! With my focus on the experience and not my watch I was able to soak in all the joy that running can bring. I allowed my self to stop and high five kids along the route, take pictures,  and even answered a phone call phone my kids when they had tracked how close I was to the finish. I was moved to tears several times throughout the run, something I have never experience with racing in the past.  

Having run for this charity and completed the event I feel so very blessed to have been given the opportunity to experience the Chicago Marathon. I thought my days of distance running had come to an end but I have found my passion again.

I am also very excited to announce that I will once again be running the 2024 Chicago Marathon for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.