Last October, working at the Bank of America Chicago Marathon, I had a decision to make.

I could share the full truth, or I could paint a picture of what I believed in for the running industry, but was not currently true.

I could show the amount of people who were not doing what we hoped they would, or the relative few who were.

I could make people feel like this was something they wanted to be a part of, or shame people for not making the "right" choice.

What was this moment last year?

It was the finish line of the Bank of America Chicago Marathon. Custom made aluminum (or aluminium for my British readers!) Culligan bottles were waiting for runners at the finish line. Aluminum is recycled 57% of the time, exponentially better than the 29% of plastic bottles.

The plan was for runners to hold onto them, and refill them at one of the many water refill stations at the post-race party (finish area). Ideally, they would take them home with them as a kind of memento and a reminder to get used to reusables.

Except I noticed pretty quickly that runners were not holding onto them; they were downing the water, then throwing them into the recycling bin. Absolutely better than the waste bin (and our Green Team volunteers made sure runners were directed towards recycling if they weren't paying attention).

Still, it made me sad that even with this very clear shift away from plastic water bottles, with the Bank of America Chicago Marathon preventing 150,000 plastic bottles from being a part of the race, runners still didn't reuse them.

In that moment, I decided to push aside my frustration, and make this video instead. I didn't know Culligan at the time; they were just a partner of the race, but I knew my mission: to get runners to make small, environmentally conscious choices whenever they could.

I could choose hope and inspiration, or I could choose frustration and shame.

I don't believe shame helps anything, so I went in the other direction.

I reminded myself that for many runners, this was the first time they were seeing something like this, and after all, they were thiiiirrssssttyyyyyy (as any of us would be post marathon), so weren't thinking about what this bottle represented.

A few weeks ago, I was back in Chicago for the Bank of America Shamrock Shuffle, and I saw the most beautiful change.

I saw runners all over the city, carrying their Culligan bottles, hours after the race. On the way to the Amtrak station, my Uber driver even had his Culligan bottle in the front with him, saying he had refilled it multiple times since the race.

So maybe a shift happened; maybe it was the shorter race distance; maybe it was a case of I was looking for anything to confirm my hopes and desires; but what I do know, is that working in this space, well, working in any space, we have to be able to celebrate the small wins.

These Culligan bottles are here to stay (partnering with all three of the Bank of America Chicago Distance Series races this year), as well as potentially for other races to come.

All this to say, if you or someone you know is running any of the Bank of America Chicago Distance Series races, refill and reuse that bottle; they are magic! Chloe loved it so much that she was proud (and I mean proud!!) to take it into preschool with her as her bottle for a few days after!

In awe of Senator Cory Booker for his marathon 25 hour (record breaking) speech. Here is a small clip of it.

​THIS thread from recent podcast guest, Steve Magness.

“Hope can be a powerful force. Maybe there's no actual magic in it, but when you know what you hope for most and hold it like a light within you, you can make things happen, almost like magic.”

-Laini Taylor

Thanks to our partner, Culligan.

I think this email made it pretty clear how much I admire Culligan. Those bottles though, they are only made for special events. What Culligan is actually known for are their water filters and purifiers. If you have been waiting for a sign to get something in your home to filter your water, this is it! As the summer approaches, you will be glad you did!

From the finish line to your home, Culligan provides cleaner, safer water to every part of your life – because when we take better care of our water, we take better care of our families, city, and planet.

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Be kind to one another, yourself, and this beautiful planet of ours.

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