Discovering what great human force drives someone to complete their first 26.2

When 23-year-old Chicago resident Kennedy Waterman attended the 2023 Chicago Marathon last year, she was hooked. From the sidelines, she was overcome by a swelling of the best kind of human emotion: achievement, pride and celebration. Months later, she signed up herself. With no major long-distance experience or marathon-training, Waterman trudged bravely toward the task, determined to champion her new goal.  

She was not alone. Every year, thousands of people are drawn to the same mission—an almost impossibly difficult effort to run 26.2 miles. As someone who never truly understood the passion behind running, I followed Waterman around in the last couple months leading up to the race. In observing the process and practice behind her newly formed craft, I sought to understand just what compels someone to accomplish such a herculean feat.  

In doing so, I was given a glimpse of the feeling Waterman had on the sidelines the year before. Through the quiet mornings spent preparing at her apartment or alongside runs by the lake, the secret beauty of running unfolded before my eyes.  

Everything Waterman did—down to when she ate and how she slept—melted into this meticulous balance of functionality and drive. Through her practice, she crafted a connection with her body and, more importantly, with her sense of devotion to herself. By showing up for each run, she fostered a commitment to a conversation with her strengths, willpower, and trust. And with her exercise, she tuned into a rhythm intricately strung between her mind and muscles. Running became that of an intrinsic elixir, an energy fueled by this raw desire to better oneself by any means. In the end, there was no significant material gain, no tangible reward- just the buoyancy of pure human achievement.  

In the process of creating this documentary, I built an understanding of the art of running for the first time. But more importantly, I saw the gifts given to us when we reach for goals bigger than ourselves. Kennedy had signed herself up for something completely out of her comfort zone and ran for it. (Literally.) In confronting a task that might’ve been unfamiliar to her previously, she grew into a bigger and better version of herself, and her life was changed because of it.  

She reminded me that we reserve the right to surprise ourselves constantly and intentionally. As humans, we are apt to turn away from the things that scare us, the things we don’t understand. But if we instead face them with humility and curiosity, we can unravel parts of our identity and our strength we might not ever know existed. And who knows, we could end up running a marathon in the end too! 

Waterman smiling on the curb after successfully completing her morning run on Friday, September 27, 2024.