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Things To Do Before You Die No. 67
Run a Marathon
By Amy Selby

“Live with intention. Walk to the edge. Listen hard. Practice wellness. Play with abandon. Laugh. Choose with no regret. Appreciate your friends. Continue to learn. Do what you love. Live as if this is all there is.”

If chiropractic had an instruction book for life, Mary Ann Radmacher’s wise words would be in its prologue. Erica Peabody, D.C., of Fenton, Mich., is a chiropractor who models her life after similar positive affirmations. Last year, Peabody challenged her mind and her body when she trained for and competed in a marathon. Even though she had plenty of opportunities to throw in the towel, she reached the finish line of the Chicago Marathon, a major race among the running industry’s elite. In a recent interview, Peabody shared her experience:

Do you have a list of things you’d like to experience or accomplish before the end of your life? I don’t have anything written out. I do have a few things I would like to accomplish in this lifetime. I’d like to travel to Europe and have a family, but nothing out of the ordinary, aside from the marathon.

How did running a marathon make it onto this mental list?
I have always been in the fitness industry. I have taught step aerobics and some yoga for the past seven years. I have always wanted to learn to love to run. So, I started in January and I signed up for the Chicago Marathon. My stepfather, cousin and I decided to do this together. We chose Chicago because it is one of the big five marathons of the world. Forty thousand people running it and there are 1.5 million watching it, and we wanted to be a part of that energy. Chicago is only a four-hour drive, so it was a convenient race to run in.

What was your strategy for completing the race?
I dedicated each mile to something or someone. Running a marathon is a lot of time to focus on pain. So, each mile I put my focus on things like love, gratitude, health, chiropractic, the Café of Life vision, integrity, family, wellness and healing. I ran a mile for my grandfather, my mother, my father, my three brothers, for people who can no longer run, and for the vision of the world under chiropractic care.

Focusing on those thoughts helped me feel better and recover quickly. I ran on Sunday and I was back in practice on Tuesday afternoon and felt 100 percent when I went back to practice.

Was there anytime during the 26.2 miles where you wanted to quit?
Mile 18 was where all the pain started to set in. At that point my stepfather had caught up to me and we ran the last eight miles together. At 22 miles I was over it. I felt like I was done, I was ready to quit and I didn’t care, but I would never let myself do that. For the last .2 miles I ran a full-out sprint. I don’t know where it came from, but I found it in me somewhere.

How do you feel about the race now that it’s behind you?
I wrote about it in my Christmas card this year and described it as the most intense, difficult, exhilarating, painful and rewarding experience of my life. I’m very happy I accomplished it. I’ve used it as a teaching tool in my practice as an analogy to help practice members get through difficult things.

Any advice for other chiropractors with a marathon on their life to-do list? Never give up. If it is one of your goals, go for it, and honor your body and respect the messages it’s giving you. I read somewhere that only 1 percent of the population completes a marathon. And, now I’ll have this accomplishment forever.