2024 Chicago Marathon: Part 1

I know, I know. Who let the former shot putter run a marathon? If you know me, you know I’ve spent a good chunk of my life engulfed by power events. Shot put, discus, hammer, javelin, and jumps. Events that take anywhere from a fraction of a second to maybe a few seconds. My passion has always been power- creating a lot of force with a lot of speed. 


The marathon. Exactly opposite. 


26.2 Miles


That’s a big difference.

So how did this come about? It all probably started around ten years ago when Elisabeth decided to run the Chicago Half Marathon when she was spending a semester living in the city during her undergraduate studies. At that time I was supportive of her, but I wasn’t able to help her train in any way and I was okay with that. While I did wish her the best, I saw marathons as an event that broken people slogged through because they had something to prove to somebody that didn’t care. The runners I knew fell into two groups- my teammates throwing down some fast time on the track and the 55+ jogger who couldn't lift their gaze off the spot on the ground six inches in front of them. There was no in between to me. You were an elite athlete or a shuffling mess of plantar fasciitis, stress factors, and your knee injury du jour. 


I’d like to say that I had a change of heart after seeing Elisabeth complete that half marathon or any of them after that, but I did not. I held the same thoughts for a number of years later. 


Now during that time I did still run some 10ks and 5ks especially if they were for a good cause. I still knew strong runners existed in my periphery, but I also had many more clients blame their discomfort (probably wrongly) on all their years of running. Needless to say, running didn’t click with me. I would much rather have been on a bicycle all day than run for more than an hour. 


To this day, my throwing friends and I will still make jokes about the futility of running to each other. Comment such as,
You’ve changed…
What about your fast twitch muscle fibers?!
There goes the gains


These jokes are all prevalent in the group that prides themselves in single attempt, max effort power events. It’s all in good fun, but for a lot of us it’s a silent statement of disbelief that anyone could commit so much time, effort, and discomfort to a sport that is done for “fun”.


Again, this mentality continued on for some years. No disrespect, just some jokes. 


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Last year marked the ten year anniversary since Elisabeth ran her first Chicago Half Marathon. Being ten years older, wiser, and stronger, she decided to run it again. I joined this time. My motivation was not to run the Half well or fast or because it interested me. Instead, I wanted to run it to spend more time with my wife. Training for a big race like that takes a lot of time. Our schedules are already full enough. I figured if we wanted to spend more time together, this was a great way. 


We ran the half. It went well. Lessons were learned. We both decided we could and would do it again, but agreed that we would never run a full marathon.



This thought process didn’t last long. As we watched the full Chicago Marathon from our apartment last fall, we both became inspired. Sure enough a few days later we had signed up to take part in the 2024 Marathon.

​The way we chose to sign up for the race was through a charity team. This means that you pledge to fundraise a certain amount of money for a charity in exchange for a spot in the Marathon. 


Elisabeth and I both chose the run for the Nourishing Hope Team. Nourishing Hope is an organization right in our neighborhood that we became involved with early on when we moved to Chicago. They do great work providing food, healthcare, and social services to our neighbors right here in Lakeview. Whenever we volunteer there, I am always amazed how much food gets distributed to so many families. It’s quite inspiring to see such an efficient and effective system. Nourishing Hope does good work.


Elisabeth and I knew we had to fundraise for this organization. So we committed and signed up. We spent the winter maintaining mileage from our half marathon training last fall. We added in some cross training too. All the while we continued to volunteer at Nourishing Hope. 


Now, here we are, late spring. Pre-season for the Marathon training. Mileage is fairly conservative, paces are easy, but the build is beginning for when we kick off our training program with the Chicago Area Runner Association (CARA). We’re excited.


Just the same, we’re now at the point where our fundraising is also beginning to kick off! We have some big goals of raising quite a bit of money for Nourishing Hope- an organization we’ve really come to respect and care for. 


Next month on June 9th, Bolt Fitness (the gym I work at) is running a special class to fundraise for our team! All are welcome. Runners, non runners, exercisers, whomever. HERE is a link to the class if you’d care to join.


If you’re unable to join, but would still like to donate, below are links to our fundraising pages.

Keenan's Fundraising Page

Elisabeth's Fundraising Page


This is a big investment of time and effort both on our parts. We haven’t really trained for anything like this before, but I’m eager to try the “other side” of the science of exercise. Well thought out training plans work, even if it is something totally new to you as running a marathon is to me. I’ve seen it hundreds of times over with strength training, sports skills, etc. . . Now its time for me to do it with an endurance sport! 

I still do not identify myself as a "runner". I'm not sure if I ever will. Maybe I just don't like labels.

Over the summer I plan to write and document the training process as we approach the Marathon. Stay tuned for the training reflections, program review, fundraising updates, and all the fun that follows this awesome event. 
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