CHICAGO _ Esi Koomson didn't think she'd ever run farther than half a mile. But with the help of a local running group for high schoolers, she ran a 5K. Surely, she thought, that was her max. But then she tackled a 10K.
"I was kind of thinking, this is the most I can do. But then I still wanted to keep going, to see what I really can do." She completed a half marathon next, and now, Koomson is signed up to run this weekend's Chicago Marathon.
It was other Chicagoans' encouragement that kept the 16-year-old King College Prep high school senior running. The other runners who urged her to run instead of walk during the slog of a race, the mentors who convinced her that 800 meters could become 26.2 miles, the high fives at the lakefront when people recognized her group, Students Run Chicago.
Formed five years ago by runners wanting to introduce high schoolers to the mental and physical benefits of running _ the highs, the goal-setting, the camaraderie _ the nonprofit pairs students with coaches and provides shoes, uniforms and race entry fees. This year, 26 students including Koomson will run the marathon. Students attend schools all across the city, but most live on the South Side; some are immigrants and several are running the marathon with their parents who are immigrants.
Marco Galvan, executive director, said it can cost hundreds of dollars to register and train for races; the group wants to take away financial barriers. Since it began, more than 100 students in the group have completed a marathon.
"It's very difficult to commit to running a marathon as an adult. It's a lot more difficult as a student, a kid," Galvan said. "Setting up that goal, and saying that you're going to actually set on that course, and then failing, is the biggest fear."
For Galvan, getting a group of teenagers to meet on a Saturday at 6 a.m. to run is both a challenge and opportunity to help students grow. They learn to become organized, to set and reach goals, to consider how their actions impact a group. With a training regimen and coaching, he said, they try to provide both guidance and a weekly spot where encouragement and positivity is guaranteed. He added, "It's hard to find something, when you're in high school, to feel good about."
Koomson first found the group through a friend. She hadn't had much running experience, but organizers convinced her it wasn't for seasoned marathoners _ Galvan often tells students it can be a group for "couch potatoes."
Joining the group in the spring, Koomson first ran a 5K, jogging with the friend who introduced her to running. After each race, she found she could run farther. And she listened to people who thought she could run a marathon.
"Hearing that from other people, it was like, I'm not realizing my potential," she said. "Other people saw what I could do, so that made me think deeper."
Plus, she didn't want to quit. "I don't like quitting stuff. You came all this way, and now just to quit, that's not fair to everybody else that has been putting work into you, and to yourself."
Throughout the spring and summer, Koomson followed the 25-week training program the group provides, running a couple times a week on her own _ usually straight down State Street until time to turn around _ and meeting the group for early-morning weekend runs.
"Running a marathon is something that takes strength mentally and physically, but it's more a mental thing," she said. "Running has opened my eyes and shown me that if I really wanted to do something, as long as I put in the work and the effort, I can do whatever that I wanted to do."
On their group runs, a shared playlist Galvan created after asking each student for favorite songs reflects the diversity of its members. Artists' home countries range from Mexico to Ghana, Koomson's contribution. Her personal running playlist includes artists like the Nigerian singer Patoranking. When she runs alone, it's music from her home country that's blasting.
Koomson arrived in Chicago five years ago from Ghana, where she lived with her mother and brother, while her father, who works as a valet and Uber driver, worked in the U.S., hoping to bring his family together and with better economic opportunities. After years of living apart, she moved to Chicago and later her mother and brother joined them. And a new baby brother was born last year. "That was like, finally, we get to be together as a family," she said in their apartment, where she was dressed in pink-and-gray pajamas for her school's pajama day and about to snack on an after-school meal of jollof rice.
Her family will be there to cheer her on Sunday.
Ahead of the marathon, Koomson plans to eat some bread, drink some juice, and prepare the night before by laying out clothes and placing her phone in a waist pouch Galvan gave her.
After the race, she's looking forward to celebrating with the rest of Students Run Chicago and pizza. And she wants to look back at all the photos she took this year of herself, running. She remembers, each time, the feeling that she could not run farther.
"I initially doubted myself, but now here I am," she said.
