A year ago, many University of Iowa Dance Marathon members and thousands of other people were preparing to run 26.2 miles through the streets of Chicago in the Chicago Marathon. Unfortunately, runners were not able to participate in person for this year’s Chicago Marathon. That did not hold back the many runners that participated in this year’s marathon. Several Dance Marathon members have been working really hard for many months preparing for race day. Even though race day looked a little different than it has in the past, members still ran for the same reason, For The Kids. During each mile, runners were able to think about a Dance Marathon family and reflect upon their resiliency to keep fighting each day. In the past, runners would receive a temporary tattoo on their forearm that had the name of 26 families for each mile to motivate them to keep going. This year there will be 26 families that are going to be racing through the minds of many runners to push them through to the next mile. This year’s mile motivators were posted online before race day to remind and inspire runners who they are running for. In the form of video, each mile motivator family is able to share a message to help encourage the runners to push through their race and remind them why are they are running.

On October 11, numerous Dance Marathon members participated in a 5K, 10K, half marathon or full marathon and were able to share their experiences virtually! For a fall day in October in Iowa, the runners and walkers were able to enjoy the beautiful weather and run FTK! There were some runners that completed their race right here in Iowa City and other were able to complete their races back home. Some runners were able to spread their lime and invite family members to run with them For The Kids. Everyone was encouraged to participate and run with resiliency all together in lime! Many runners documented their race virtually and shared it with UIDM. It was a successful first virtual Dance Marathon the Marathon! Throughout the day mile motivators were shared in the form of famspiration as well as interviews with sponsors thanking them for all that they do for Dance Marathon and For The Kids. At the conclusion of the race at the closing ceremony it was announced that a collective 886.41 miles were run on October 11th in various cities all FOR THE KIDS!

Jadie Knobbe, Public Relations Committee DM 27