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First Marathon Story: 4:30 AM, No Bib, No Crowd: Running the Anniversary of Her Surgery w/ Carly Schrom

  • Writer: Taylor Sayles
    Taylor Sayles
  • May 11
  • 4 min read
Carly Schrom speaks with host Taylor Sayles about her first marathon journey.

Running was always a part of life for Carly and her family. She ran in middle school, high school, and college. She always loved training and didn’t have any trouble continuing to run after she graduated.


Carly struggled with some mysterious sickness during college and started working with a dietician on an elimination diet to see what was triggering her. While other doctors wrote it off as IBS and nothing serious, her dietitian was worried there was something more to it. Through a colonoscopy and another study, she was finally diagnosed with Crohn’s disease during the middle of her cross-country season in her senior year of college.


Just Wanting to be Healthy

Carly was eventually able to find a long-term treatment plan to manage her Crohn’s disease and found a way to maintain running. Running continued to be “me time” for Carly. Running was freeing for her, a time for her to sift through her thoughts, and explore and appreciate nature. It was important to her that she maintain a running practice even through her diagnosis.


Once Carly graduated, she wasn’t pushing towards any specific running goals, she just wanted to live “healthy.” A few months after graduating, she had terrible stomach pain, and knew something was wrong. She had started treatment and thought perhaps it was just active Crohn’s, but got a CT just in case. The voicemail from her doctor had more bad news: they had found tumors. She was told that they were benign tumors on her liver, all as she navigated joining the real world and continuing to run through the stress and anxiety.

She got a referral to a surgical oncologist to be sure, all while targeting an Iron Man ten months away (she had not done a marathon at this point). She was a month into the training when she met with the oncologist, who told her that she needed surgery in four to six weeks.


Carly postponed her Iron Man plans and scheduled the surgery, knowing recovery would be long. She started looking at the marathon as a way to retake control, but woke up with a stomach flu the morning of the race. Days later, she went in to surgery.


Taking it Slow

Carly’s gallbladder and 60% of her liver were removed. They found so many tumors that they stopped counting. They were all benign, but she was in the hospital for six days and left with a 10-inch scar. Recovery took six weeks – it was hard, and she barely left the couch. She was itching to get back on the roads, and it motivated her to keep going. On her birthday, she ran a (painful) mile. Being able to run – only for ten minutes – was such a gift.


Carly started consistently running two months after surgery. She took it slow, three miles every other day. She signed up for a half Iron Man in July, seven months after her surgery, and loved every second of it. She started thinking about marking the one-year anniversary of her surgery with something special – her first full marathon.


“Stupidly Determined”: Runner Her First Marathon

There were no marathons on the date of the anniversary, but she knew it was important to run it on that date to mark the journey. Her why wasn’t crowds or cheering or a medal – it was celebrating the journey she had been through. So she just decided to run it on her own.

She got up at 3:30 a.m. with her boyfriend, and started running. She relied on the GPS for the 26.2, carried gels, and her boyfriend dropped bottles for her along the route.


It was an anti-climactic start. It was a dark parking lot, with no one around. But she kept going. The weather was perfect, just under 30 degrees with light wind. It was just them and their headlamps.


In the last five miles, she took her last gel, knowing if she got through that, she’d be able to finish. At mile 25, she got choked up as she realized she was going to finish this thing. Finishing a marathon was a symbol that she was healthy again. Finishing back at her apartment, she was overwhelmed with emotions. She was filled with gratitude that she could run again, and carried the happiness, sadness, and all the ups and downs of life with her across the finish line.


Lessons Learned

  • Show up every day with what you have

  • Give yourself grace

  • Appreciate the ability to run

  • Give yourself a reason to keep going


Want to hear Carly tell the story herself? Listen to the full episode now: 4:30 AM, No Bib, No Crowd: Running the Anniversary of Her Surgery w/ Carly Schrom— available wherever you get your podcasts.


Listen to my most recent mini episode: What If Removing the Goal Got You the Result?



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Follow along with the show:

👣 Personal IG/TikTok: @tay.says / @taysays

🎙️ Podcast IG/TikTok: @myfirstmarathonpod

📺 YouTube: @MyFirstMarathonPodcast


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