Posted: September 25, 2007

Athletics: Counting Down To The 30th Anniversary Lasalle Bank Chicago Marathon

30 Inspiring Stories in 30 Days As an employee of LaSalle Bank, Carrie Dietiker has even more reason to feel a strong connection to The LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon. As a return runner in the race, she was selected to be featured larger than life on LaSalle’s mural wall visible from the Kennedy Expressway near the Armitage exit. WHO: Carrie Dietiker AGE: 25 OCCUPATION: LaSalle Bank Commercial Lending Officer HOMETOWN: Elburn, Illinois PREVIOUS MARATHONS: 1 RUNNER STORY: The 2007 LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon has a special meaning to Carrie Dietiker. As an employee of LaSalle Bank she looks forward to participating in the event for the second time. She has enjoyed living and working in Chicago for the past three years and views the race as a method of connecting with the city and all it has to offer. She will be running with Team Tiara to support Girls on the Run - one of 85 charities associated with the Marathon. Carrie began running as part of her regular exercise when she was in high school. As a devoted volleyball player, she complimented practice with a daily five mile run. She was pleased with the benefits that resulted from running. It helped her to stay in a routine to ward off unnecessary pounds and gave her an overall upbeat attitude. She found that missing even a few days would affect her demeanor and she resolved to set aside time to stay with her program. She ran her first race while in college. Carrie partnered with her Dad for a 5K on Father’s Day. She immediately found herself in love with the sport and took pleasure in the friendly competition with her Dad. She has since run 3 half marathons (Highland Park, Nashville, and Virginia Beach) as well as her first full marathon in Chicago a few years ago. She was aggravated in 2006 when she missed The LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon due to injuries. Despite her withdrawal, she still came out on race day to cheer for her friends from the sidelines. She was now motivated to aggressively attack her physical therapy and begin training for this year’s race. Her exceptional story earned her the special honor of being depicted in the LaSalle Bank mural which can be seen by travelers on the Kennedy Expressway. She was thrilled to be included in the photo shoot and has found the mural to be a source of inspiration for her training. Meeting the other runners featured in the mural allowed her to connect with people who share her passion and have unique stories of their own. She couldn’t ask for a better environment to train in than the path running alongside breezy Lake Michigan in the summer. RACE INFORMATION: The LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon will celebrate its 30th anniversary on Sunday, October 7, 2007 as 45,000 participants advance to the start line, embarking on the culmination of 45,000 personal journeys. Along with the massive field of recreational runners, the 26.2-mile course will welcome a full field of world renowned professional athletes drawn to the flat, fast, urban setting and the potential to break world and national records. The professionals will compete for prize money and points in the World Marathon Majors series which will crown its first male and female champions with $500,000 each at the close of 2007. Since the inception of its charity program in 2002, The LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon has generated more than $27.5 million for a variety of charitable causes including $9.5 million in the 2006 event alone. Registration for the race opened on January 1, 2007 and closed when it reached capacity on April 18. Carrie’s story and all previously released runner stories are available at ChicagoMarathon.com. Subscribe to the Runner's Web Weekly Digest