First Marathon Story: It Fell on My Actual Birthday: Why Maggie Finally Signed Up for Chicago w/ Maggie Lowenthal

Taylor Sayles
1 day ago
3 min read

Podcast guest Maggie is interviewed by host Taylor Sayles

Movement started early in life for Maggie. Maggie was a gymnast, always working, practicing four days a week. A shoulder injury eventually ended her gymnastics career, but she quickly transitioned to soccer and track in high school. Starting as a sprinter, even a mile-long run was her worst nightmare, until her sister came to town to run a half marathon. With a month to train, Maggie signed up to join her.

A Competitive Spirit

Maggie has always had a competitive spirit that kept her coming back to movement. As a kid, she realized she was fast, which initially got her interested in sprinting and running. The half marathon was her first introduction to longer distances, but it was clear to her from the beginning that long-distance running on a treadmill was not right for her, which she took into consideration after moving to Chicago, where cold and ice would likely keep her indoors.

Maggie found a group of people training for HYROX once she moved, and ran during that training, mostly focused on short distances on a treadmill. The high-intensity work required Zone 2 training, but also required strength, quick recovery, and short bursts of high-intensity running.

Maggie had always watched the Chicago Marathon, and had always been inspired by all the people running. In 2024, while watching, she realized that the next year's marathon would be on her 30th birthday. She realized she wanted to do something for herself, and challenged herself to sign up and train for 26.2 miles. The mileage was daunting, and wrapping her head around training took a minute, but she (and her sister) committed.

Maggie signed up for the marathon through a charity, Girls in the Game, which was also celebrating its 30th anniversary. It felt like fate.

Training for the Marathon

Maggie signed up for in-person training with the charity team, not really sure where to start. She was nervous, and got ahead of herself looking at the future weeks with massive mileage totals. Thankfully, she had access to running coaches through the program, and a community to help her through the long runs.

The first run over the half marathon distance was a little surreal. But with the guidance of the group, she never had a long run that she felt she couldn't finish. She enjoyed ticking off the milestones, and had few issues during training. Maggie credits her strength training, and background as a strength coach, for helping her make it through marathon training injury-free. It was a bit of a learning process to balance lower body strength training and running, but she made it happen.

Becoming a Marathoner

Race day preparation went well. She was able to walk from her apartment to the start line, lean on the charity team for race morning logistics, and enjoy the start of her 30th birthday.

Her plan was to stay with her sister for the first three miles, and they separated about then. Maggie was cruising through the half marathon point, feeling great. The weather was good, the shade was sufficient, and she saw so many family and friends. Around mile 18, she started to feel it. She turned on her music, had messages from friends and family waiting for her in the Rally app, and locked in.

The heat started to get to Maggie, and without her own water, she was fully reliant on the race aid stations. At mile 22, she was really feeling it. She stopped and chugged water, and felt like she had to start walk-run the remainder of the race. The down-and-back really mentally impacted her, seeing other runners ahead of her. She started getting discouraged, but ultimately knew she was going to finish. Once she saw mile 25, she turned on her "pump up" playlist, the crowds picked up, and she knew she was close. She ran up the last hill, turned the corner, and crossed the finish line a marathoner.

Lessons Learned