Teen Enters the Chicago Marathon to Fight Poverty

There’s nothing quite as cool as watching a great kid grow into a wonderful young adult. When my own children were younger, I was an active volunteer at Belle Aire School. One of my primary projects for many years was coordinating the PTA Reflections program. The main perk was that I got to work with kids in all of the different grades. Josh Smith was hands down, one of my favorite participants ever. He was polite and earnest and funny and tried really hard. So it’s much to my delight that I was able to interview him regarding his plans to enter the Bank of America Chicago Marathon. During our interview, he was polite and earnest and funny. And he is preparing to try really hard for this huge undertaking.

Josh Smith is combining two of his interests to achieve what will be an impressive feat. The 18-year old, who is an avid runner, has begun training for the Bank of America Chicago Marathon, which will take place this fall.  A young man who is dedicated to community service, Josh has committed to raising $950 through his participation with Team World Vision.  

Josh originally planned to participate in cross country at Beloit College, where he’ll be a freshman studying Psychology and Anthropology this fall. He ultimately decided that the required seven-days-a-week training for cross country would be too great of a time commitment. Instead, Josh chose to work towards running in the marathon.

Before committing to run the 26.2 miles which comprise the marathon, Josh researched the idea. “I wanted to know if I had enough of a base of running to pursue it,” he said. Having run cross country and track at Downers Grove North High School, and participated in some 5Ks, he came to the conclusion, “I definitely have a good base.  He has since learned many of the participants will be first-time runners.

Josh chose to follow an 18-week online training program which began last week. “I’ll follow it day for day,” he said. During the week, Josh will run between three and eight miles daily with the exception of one day of rest. On Saturdays, he’ll have a longer run, starting at nine miles. 

By week 15 of training, Josh will be running 20 miles. He won’t exceed that distance until the marathon. “Once you get to 20 miles, there’s no rational reason to extend it. Past 20 miles, you’re actually hurting the muscles rather than working them. You’re tearing the muscles,” he said.  To date the furthest he’s run is 11 miles, but he is confident that he can nail the additional mileage.

Josh has scoped out the marathon route, which he describes as “a nearly flat course with one badly placed hill at the 25 mile mark. But it’s a good first-time runner’s course,” he said.  “My dad has done it and I want to beat his time.”

By the time that Josh decided to enter the marathon, he learned general registration had closed. “But I found out that certain charities had reserved spots for people who wanted to raise money,” he said. He looked through the participating charities, and chose one that especially appealed to him.

World Vision is a Christian humanitarian organization that focuses on providing access to essential resources such as clean water and sanitation to people in impoverished nations. Team World Vision will be made up of approximately 1,000 runners in the Bank of America Chicago Marathon, raising money for the organization.  

Josh has a passion for volunteer work. “Community service has always been important to my parents. They work at free clinics and we all help out at PADS about once a month,”he said. Last summer he traveled with his family on a medical mission to Costa Rica. “I was involved in triage, and was a translator for the doctors,” he said. “We were there for about a week, and worked every day for 13 hours.”

“In high school I had done a fundraising concert for Invisible Children," he said. "That sparked an interest in what’s going on in third world countries.” Josh also helped coordinate District 99’s Feed My Starving Children event several years ago, which was a massive undertaking involving the entire community.

Josh said that the fundraising aspect of emtering the Marathon is “another motivating factor.  Now it’s not just for me. It’s for people in need, so that will keep me going when I hit mile 20.”

To support Josh’s participation on Team World Vision for the Bank of America Chicago Marathon, visit www.teamworldvision.org. Click on donate, and then search for Josh Smith. Credit card donations are accepted online.