CLEVELAND — There’s no official finish line for this weekend’s Cleveland Marathon. Due to the pandemic, it’s a virtual race, like last year’s edition.
That means runners like Christopher Thaxton will chart their own course and run when they want by Sunday.
“There’s no feeling like finishing a marathon,” Thaxton said. “I’m constantly chasing that feeling.”
Every morning, no matter the weather, Thaxton laces up to run at least six miles.
“Whatever their routine is to start the day, coffee or whatever, for me it’s a run,” he said.
But that hasn’t always been the case.
Looking through old photographs, Thaxton pulled out one from 2017.
“I weighed about 100 pounds more,” he said.
But the Cleveland Marathon sparked something inside him.
“We were just walking around,” he said. “I had started to lose the weight at that point and thought, ‘You know, is that something that I could do?’”
He said he started walking more, then bought a treadmill. Gradually picking up his pace and distance as a way to keep the weight off.
He finished his first full marathon a year later, in 2018, and has completed nine so far. That list includes some major marathons like the races in Boston and New York. But his hometown marathon, the Cleveland Marathon, will always have a special place in his heart, he said.
“There’s no challenge in front of me that I don’t think with hard work that I couldn’t tackle,” he said.
One of the toughest challenges he’s faced in his running career was the 2020 virtual Cleveland Marathon.
“The later miles become very, very difficult when you’re out there,” he said. “Because it takes a lot of mental strength just to keep going when there’s nobody watching you. Nobody pushing you.”
Thaxton ran the 26 miles alone in a park. Members of his running group surprised him at the end.
“They had a makeshift trash bag finish line and silly string and celebrated me finishing my virtual,” he said.
For this year’s virtual race, he’s not expecting any fanfare. He’s just continuing to chase his own goals.
“A lot of people support and root for me and I would hate to disappoint them by going out there and not performing at my best,” Thaxton said.
The deadline to sign up for the virtual Cleveland Marathon is May 15.
An in-person marathon is scheduled for fall 2021.
