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First Marathon Story: A Joyful First Marathon: Running Chicago w/ Sierra Wehrenberg

Writer: Taylor Sayles
Taylor Sayles
Aug 24
3 min read

Split-screen video of a smiling woman in a chair and striped sweater, with large text Sierra Wehrenberg.

An On-Off Relationship with Running

Sierra grew up in an athletic family. Her mom runs, a lot of her cousins run, and she was introduced to running at a young age. She started running in a structured sense in middle school, ran through high school, and then stopped for a bit in college before picking it back up when she struggled with her mental health in her sophomore year of college.


She started training for a half marathon, felt great and had managed to reconnect with so many of her running friends, but, of course, life doesn't always go to plan, and she found herself struggling with bad heart health after getting COVID, and having to get skin cancer removed the week before racing. While she still showed up at the start line, the race didn't go well, and she stopped running after that for awhile.


When Sierra moved to Boston, she fell back into running gradually. She had a lot of new friends who were running, and Boston has such an incredible running culture. Sierra started running for fun again, and gradually fell back in love with the sport.


And while she initially was just casually running, she ended up just "casually" signing up to run the Chicago Marathon with a charity. Sierra found the American Heart Association, which she personally connected with due to her own health struggles, and she started training.


Training for the Marathon

Sierra went into the marathon with no goals other than finishing. She felt the marathon distance would give her a new challenge, and allow her to do something new, where she wouldn't be comparing her current fitness to her fitness back before her cardiovascular health was impacted.


Sierra luckily found her friend, Emily, who had run three marathons before, who helped her through a lot of the long runs. As she got beyond the half marathon distance, the runs were intimidating and some were difficult - there was one 16-mile run that she had to come home and like down for 30 minutes in the middle.


She was learning fueling from scratch, and found herself completely wiped out by some of the longer runs. But she kept learning, and adjusting, and kept showing up.


Running the Marathon

Sierra went out to Chicago early with her roommate, who was from there. Her family started trickling in to the city to cheer her on. She took the train to the start line, and had a few moments to herself to prepare for the race with the charity team.


She started slow, and kept her pace even through the first half. She saw her family multiple times, and refueled at half way. The race started heating up in the second half, but her experience running in the south helped her barely feel it. The crowds were amazing, the neighborhoods were lively, and she was taking in the whole experience.


Sierra didn't put any pressure on herself, and just enjoyed the experience. She let herself stop, look around, walk through the water stations. Ultimately, she didn't hit the wall, loved the experience, and crossed the finish line a marathoner.


Lessons Learned

  • Go into your first marathon without expectations.

  • You've done the work; it's time to reward yourself with the marathon.

  • Be proud of your journey.


Want to hear Sierra tell the story herself? Listen to the full episode now: A Joyful First Marathon: Running Chicago w/ Sierra Wehrenberg— available wherever you get your podcasts.


Listen to my most recent mini episode: Survival Guide To Running Your First Marathon



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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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