# 129: It Fell on My Actual Birthday: Why Maggie Finally Signed Up for Chicago w/ Maggie Lowenthal

An episode of [My First Marathon](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1740805607), 15 Jun 2026, 47 min.

Audio: https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/audioboom.com/posts/8916624.mp3?modified=1781517743&sid=5128391&source=rss

Maggie Lowenthal grew up a gymnast and a sprinter, but spent most of her life convinced that long distance running just wasn't for her. She ran a couple of halves, got into HYROX, built a strength training foundation, but kept watching the Chicago Marathon from the sidelines every fall. She never planned to run it herself, but that changed when she realized the 2025 race would fall on her actual 30th birthday, and her sister was in too. Maggie trained through a Chicago summer, logged her long runs along the lakefront with her charity training group, and showed up on race day with a birthday sticker on her shirt and her friends and family spread across the course. The first half felt almost easy. Then came the miles she had never run before, the sun, and that infamous Chicago down-and-back stretch that has a way of making every runner question their life choices. Follow along with Maggie: @Magggiemoooo (Instagram) Follow along with the show: 👣 Personal IG/TikTok: @tay.says / @taysays 🎙️ Podcast IG/TikTok: @myfirstmarathonpod 📺 YouTube: @MyFirstMarathonPodcast 🌐 Website & extras: myfirstmarathon.co & myfirstmarathon.co/resources Book a free 1:1 Coaching Call with me! — https://app.acuityscheduling.com/schedule.php?owner=37408473&appointmentType=85354440 Join the First Marathoner Community! — https://www.skool.com/myfirstmarathon/about

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