First Fox Valley Marathon puts suburbs on map

The Fox Valley is about to be put on display for visitors from as many as 30 other states - and one from Japan.

Apparently, the way to draw that many people to experience the Fox River towns and surrounding area is to tell them to put on their running shoes.

No event draws national interest like a marathon, and the inaugural Dick Pond Athletics Fox Valley Marathon, Dreyer Medical Clinic Final 20 and Fox Valley Half Marathon events on Sept. 19 get an extra boost because they are scheduled perfectly for those training for the Chicago Marathon in October.

The Fox Valley events start and finish near downtown St. Charles and wind through Geneva, Batavia, North Aurora and Aurora. Like other races, they will feature runners with varying levels of experience.

The most well-known to those in St. Charles will be Tera Moody of Colorado Springs, who was a state champion miler during her last two years at St. Charles High School in 1998-99 and has gone onto a prolific international career as a runner.

Moody, who ran in a 1-mile race in downtown St. Charles on Memorial Day, has entered the Final 20 event as a tuneup for Chicago.

"I'm really happy with where my fitness is," said Moody, who was nursing an Achilles injury when she ran in May. "I ran in a half-marathon and an 8-mile run event later in the summer, and I really came off that injury well.

"I'm really excited about this being the first year for this, and I love coming back to St. Charles because I don't always get to do it," Moody added.

"Some of the race route will be along areas I ran when I was in high school, so it will bring back memories."

Roger Hauge of Excelsior, Minn., is the oldest runner in the full marathon at age 79. And he may be one of the most experienced.

"This will be my 145th marathon run, and I have done one in all 50 states twice, so this is my third time around," said Hauge, who ran his first mile at age 60, and his first marathon in the Twin-Cities in 1993 at age 63.

As a vice president for Northwest Airlines in Europe, Hauge said he was in a pattern of not eating well or taking care of himself as he approached age 60.

"A co-worker was a runner and he kept bugging me to try it," Hauge added. "So I tried it, and the results were unbelievable in how great I felt and how much weight I lost.

"But runners are like ducks and they nibble you to death, so this fellow kept bugging me to try a race, so I did," Hauge said. "The difference between a runner and a jogger is the race entry form, and by becoming a runner, it kept me at it. Otherwise, I was headed back to the couch."

Hauge said he will run with 58-year-old Hajime Nishi of Japan, who is well-known among marathoners for being the only person to run seven marathons on seven different continents in seven months. Nishi is making the long trip to the Fox Valley event to evaluate it for his website and other running journals.

While experienced marathoners will fill the entry sheets, plenty of first-timers are entering the field.

Dave Sheble of St. Charles, who, along with friend Craig Bixler, formulated the idea and created the Fox Valley event three years after participating in a similar marathon in Grand Rapids, Mich., said there is a special feeling for first-time marathoners.

"We love to see the first-time runners participating," Sheble said. "There is nothing quite like seeing them cross that finish line after five months of training, and then they receive that medal and it becomes a family heirloom."

A couple of first-timers hoping for that experience are 25-year-old Michael Petrus of Geneva and 34-year-old Mark Boehm of Naperville.

Boehm is a little more nervous than your typical first-timer, mainly because he is nursing a knee injury.

"You get a little discouraged when you don't get your training runs in," Boehm said. "But the knee is feeling a little better and I'm in a tapering off phase anyway."

Boehm competed in a half-marathon in Champaign in May, and was in the Naperville Triathlon last month.

Petrus, who was a soccer player and wrestler at Geneva High School, said he didn't get interested in distance running until a roommate in college inspired him to try it as a way to stay in shape.

"It was giving me motivation to continue to work out and set goals to reach," Petrus said. "I've been running by myself for a long time, so I'm looking forward to being in a big group of other runners."

<div class="infoBox">

<h1>More Coverage</h1>

<div class="infoBoxContent">

<div class="infoArea">

<h2>Stories</h2>

<ul class="links">

<li><a href="/story/?id=406168">Suburban race hopes to spark new tradition <span class="date">[9/7/10]</span></a></li>

</ul>

</div>

</div>

</div>