NEENAH (NBC 26) — One man did not let Sunday's cancellation of the Fox Cities Marathon allow his training to go to waste.
- Fox Cities canceled half and full marathons due to weather conditions
- Runners ran despite the decision
- See one man cross the finish line and get congratulated by someone special
(The following is a transcription of the full broadcast story.)
Despite their best efforts, the weather ultimately forced Fox Cities Race Organizer Amanda Secor and her team to cancel the half and full marathons.
“It was looking as if we would have thunderstorms, lightning, heavy rain into mid-morning,” she said. “We do have a one-hour time delay that we can use, but with the forecast exceeding that time frame, we had no choice but to call it."
However, not everyone was ready to abandon their plans. Among the crowd of disappointed runners was John Makeever, a dedicated marathon participant.
“Around seven or eight o’clock, I thought, ‘I’m going to go do it.’ I trained for this,” he said.
Without hesitation, he laced up his shoes and headed out into the downpour.
As he hit the streets, rain pelted his skin, but John said he felt exhilarated. He said he embraced the challenge, and told NBC 26 the rhythm of his feet splashing against the soaked pavement filled him with a sense of freedom. The race organizers had offered alternatives, including a virtual race, but John didn’t see those as adequate substitutes.
“I feel bad for those who couldn’t compete, who were looking forward to this day,” he said. “But I wasn’t going to let it stop me.”
The only person John had told he was still participating was his wife. John wanted to keep his solo mission a secret. As he ran, he encountered something unexpected. At the halfway mark, he noticed a familiar figure in the distance.
“I started passing a couple of people, and one of them looked familiar. It was my dad. I just about lost it,” John said, a smile breaking through the raindrops on his face. “That was a special moment.”
John said with renewed energy, he then pushed through the last stretch of his unofficial marathon. As he crossed the unofficial finish line, he said felt a wave of accomplishment wash over him.
