Olympic Medalists At Illinois Marathon Say Race Not Just For the Swiftest

For Frank Shorter and Lorraine Moller, victory in a marathon was beating the other runners. But the two Olympic medalists note with approval the increase in people who run marathons to achieve their "personal best".

Shorter and Moller are guests at this weekend's Illinois Marathon in Champaign-Urbana. Shorter said that when he started competing, the marathon was a sport mostly for competitive runners --- but he said that's changed.

"The race has become de-mystified in a good way," Shorter explained. "It's the idea that if you just put in the time, and you just put in the effort and put in the training, you can actually run a marathon. So we're actually at the point where everybody benefits from that."

Moller said she came to understand those benefits as her competitive running career came to a close. While she could no compete against the world's top runners, Moller said she discovered intrinsic rewards from running that didn't require being among the top performers.

"And gradually those intrinsic rewards, such as just the joy of moving, and running and feeling good --- and having that communion with nature and with my higher self while I was out running --- were rewards in themselves," Moller said. "And those are the things that, when I retired, that still get me out the door to go out for a run."

Frank Shorter took the gold and the silver medals in the marathon at the 1972 and '76 Olympics respectively --- while Moller earned a Bronze medal at age 37, in the 1992 women's marathon in Barcelona. Both were speakers Friday at the Illinois Marathon's Health and Fitness Expo on the University of Illinois Urbana campus. In addition, Shorter will be running in the 10K race Saturday morning.

About 19,000 people have registered for this year's Illinois Marathon events. That includes the marathon itself on Saturday morning, a Half Marathon, a Wheelchair Half-Marathon, a Marathon Relay, a Youth Run, the 10K Run and Walk, and a 5K run on Friday evening.

Elite athletes in this 3rd annual Illinois Marathon include Kipkurul Geofry, Siyoum Debele Lemma and Jeffrey McClellan among the men, and Habtamnesh Gashaw, Holly Fearing and Lucie Mays-Sulewski among the women.