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While many individuals cover marathon courses to fulfill lifelong promises to themselves, Maggie Guterl calls on them to strengthen her running resolve. The resident of the 1900 block of Bainbridge Street will attempt her sternest yet most welcomed endeavor at this weekend’s Stroehmann Back on My Feet 20in24 Challenge, for which she has raised funds to combat homelessness.
“Each year this is the race I put everything into,” the 32-year-old said Tuesday at Franklin Delano Roosevelt Park, Broad Street and Pattison Avenue. “I expect it to be very competitive this year, and I’d love to place, but aside from my actual involvement, I’m glad to be helping Back on My Feet again.”
The South-of-South dweller and West Chester native learned of the six-year-old, Center City-based chapter in 2009 and ventured to the 8.4-mile Schuylkill River running loop that year as a Midnight Madness entrant. Observing the Lone Ranger Ultra-Marathon participants testing their endurance, she decided to further her interest in lengthy paths by becoming one two years later.
“It’s definitely a different sort of suffering,” Guterl, a veteran of the Broad Street Run and Philadelphia Marathon, said. “There has to be something wrong with you if you’re an ultra marathoner.”
The personal trainer has found many things right about pairing her foot fortitude with Back on My Feet’s mission to enlist running as an independence-driving, self-sufficiency-intensifying practice for homeless individuals.
“It’s a unique program because of how much emphasis it puts on building up someone’s self-esteem,” Guterl said. “It feels great to run for a cause and to explain to people how vital it is to refrain from judging the homeless and start helping them.”
Tuesday’s trek to the Packer Park recreation site allowed the athlete to meet Rachelle Damminger, Back on My Feet’s vice president for communications and corporate relations, whose employer has helped 193 residential members to secure jobs, 177 to enroll in job training programs and reeducation opportunites and 137 to obtain housing. Through various facilities, the Philadelphia chapter, one of 10 nationwide, learns of downtrodden people to whom they can offer a community bent on fostering what its website notes is “the very profound and innate desire for all of us, regardless of age, race and scio-economic status, to feel recognized, appreciated, valued and important.”
“Many of our residential members come to us with an athletic background, yet for many of them, this is their first time running,” Damminger said. “No matter their experience, they come to us with diverse backgrounds, and we try to change any negative perceptions about them.”
The Back on My Feet worker added that when the solace-seeking individuals gather for runs, they possess uniformity in that no matter what led to their lot in life, they see running as a common balm.
“I agree with that completely,” Guterl said. “No matter who people have been or who they are, running is an equalizer. I know that doesn’t remain the same in all senses when races are over, but in terms of the need for stability, we’re peers.”
The reflective runner developed her racing enthusiasm as a girl and, after a brief hiatus, rekindled in with her ’07 involvement in the Broad Street Run. Circling City Hall, she found the atmosphere amazing and soon began to enter tri-state area competitions, with Tennessee luring her to a different time zone for the April 24, ’10 Country Music Marathon.
“I’ve been really active the last three years because I like simultaneously challenging and surprising myself,” Guterl, who finished second in her age group at July 7’s Waitsfield, Vt.-situated Mad Marathon/Half Marathon, a performance that made the Green Mountain State her 17th stop on her 50-states goal list, said. “Just like the homeless participants in Back on My Feet, I run to get a sense of determination and discipline, but I give them way more credit.”
Five race options comprise 20in24, with a five-person relay challenge, a pajama loop and a two-timer, two-person relay joining the Midnight Madness task and the Lone Ranger Ultra-Marathon as critical aids for Back on My Feet’s outreach. Guterl will make her third Ultra-Marathon appearance, with her initial attempts yielding 97- and 109.9-mile efforts.
“The preparation is intense, and, yes, I definitely get tired, but I put all my eggs in one basket for this one,” she said. “I’ve set a lofty goal for myself of 16 laps, so I’ll really be looking to make an impression.”
If she hits her mark, Guterl will come within 3.4 miles of the all-time 20in24 record by New Jersey’s Sabrina Moran, who on May 6 broke the American female record by covering 147.9 miles to win the Cleveland-based North Coast 24 Hour race. Having prepared herself properly, the local distance runner intends not to stress her body as she ponders improving on last year’s fourth-place finish.
“The experience is always a reminder of how fortunate most of us are because we use it to bring attention to a very important cause,” Guterl, whose overall weekend companions will include roughly 30 residential members, said. “I’m excited to be an advocate.”
Also involved with Achilles International, which helps individuals with all types of disabilities to compete, she values any contributions she can make to promoting running and, more importantly, believing in oneself. Due to subject herself to a five-marathons-in-five-days schedule in September and then November’s Philadelphia Marathon, she will gain more expertise in both.
“I left running for a time, but now I know it’s more than simply testing myself,” Guterl said. “It’s about growing, too.”
For more information, visit backonmyfeet.org.
Contact Staff Writer Joseph Myers at jmyers@southphillyreview.com or ext. 124.
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