As Chicago Marathon season approaches, you may have noticed a petite, determined woman running up and down the streets of River Forest. Then you may have seen her again. And then two of them, side by side.
They’re the Forest Park Hanrahan twins, Laura and Molly, age 27, who are training for the run this weekend with their third sister Annie, 21, and cousin Jack O’Hara.
“I used to think people who ran the Marathon were crazy. But then I thought I’d cross it off the bucket list,” said Laura Hanrahan who ran in 2009. “We’ve got about 12 people that we know running it this year. We all ended up signing up. We have a huge support system.”
Sister Molly is running for charity to raise cash for “Back on My Feet” a group that uses a six-month running program to teach independence and goal-setting to people living in transitional housing or homeless shelters.
Sister Annie is running, even though she injured her neck in June playing Ultimate Frisbee. She says her mother, Mary, is her inspiration.
“She runs all the time. Even when I was little, she was running half-marathons and the Frank Lloyd Wright race in Oak Park.”
The family will celebrate with a party after the race, with out-of-town family and friends. Laura said she was pleasantly surprised that the training took less time out of her life than she expected.
“The training has been good, but you never know how you feel about it until the race is done,” she said.
