I ran my 7th Chicago marathon on Sunday in 3 hours 36 minutes and 59 seconds. This pace qualifies me to run the Boston Marathon in 2021. While I have an invisible disability, I ran proudly among disabled athletes. I ran again with a volunteer guide who never left my side. I felt blessed every step of the way, especially when we passed a medical tent rather than landing in it. I am feeling a runner’s high that I hope will last forever.
I often say TMI should be my middle name. I always want to say what I’m thinking and feeling with no filter. It takes a lot of energy and focus to hold back. I guess it’s why I loved and miss my days as a journalist because I could put that energy into questions. I was a health reporter and I miss the hope and perspective those stories gave the viewers and the community. Lately, I feel at a loss for words because of my own story. I’m lucky to be here so I want to write about my heroes, people who deserve their own special medals.
#1 Hot Hip Hop Mamas: Shortly before the marathon, on October 3rd, these awesome friends from hip hop class at FFC in Elmhurst held a fundraiser for me. The same group also started a sign-up system to help get me to and from class since I don’t drive due to epilepsy. I have now had the pleasure and honor of getting to know many of these amazing women. They are badd ass studs, as our teacher Kristin likes to say. Several weeks ago I had a seizure during class and it was handled beautifully by my girls. Then, before I ran 26.2 for the Epilepsy Foundation of Chicago, they packed a class for me and my cause. The Sarah Carlson who talks too much didn’t know what to say that day. The icing on this cake is the fact that Kristin made me a music playlist for the marathon. It’s one of the reasons I smiled the whole time. Though it was hard not to stop and shake it. Especially in Boys Town where I saw a giant poster of Beyonce.
#2 Athletes with Disabilities Program: For three years now, the Bank of America Chicago Marathon has assigned me a guide. I chose to do this when I started having seizures while running in recent years. I fought through three episodes during the 2018 race, one of which landed me in a medical tent. The program is run by an amazing staff and made possible by selfless volunteers. There is no better reminder that we have good in the world. My guide this year, Matt, is a real hero not to mention a real athlete! Before this year’s race started on Sunday morning, we met a man who volunteered to push a teenage girl in her wheelchair through the marathon. Wearing a pink tutu and smiling, he was simply happy to be taking her through the crowds for 26.2 miles. During a marathon, some runners freak out, thinking, “Why did I sign up to run this?” These volunteers push through for someone else.
#3 Epilepsy patients – the 1 in 26: I can’t stop thinking about Adelaide, the four-year-old who passed away just before the marathon last weekend due to her battle with epilepsy. Her parents, Kelly and Miguel Cervantes (Miguel starring as Hamilton in the Chicago musical), are heroes along with every parent and patient who loses. Loses life or loses parts of life that they deserve to experience but cannot. There is no doubt the brain is the most mysterious and beautiful yet stubborn and complicated part of the human body. Sadly, epilepsy turns the complexity into an evil that often knows how to hide. The stigma and discrimination that follow are sickening. While I wish I didn’t have epilepsy, I am always grateful I was diagnosed and not my kids. The parents who fight on behalf of their children and lose sleep every night deserve medals every day. Thank you from the bottom of my heart to those who donated to the Epilepsy Foundation of Greater Chicago for my 2019 marathon. Also, to those who show constant love and support and encouragement, please know it means the world to me. It’s time to end the stigma. https://epilepsychicago.org/
Marathon Expo 
Chilly Morning 
Marathon Chasers 
High Five Mom Mile 11 
High Five Dad Mile 18 
Running to the Beat 
Flowers from my OP girls with my baby faces smiling in the background
#4 Family and friends: In my case, we’re talking blood relatives and friends who are family … as well as friends who are old, new, FIBS and cheese heads alike. From my boyfriend John who loses sleep on Saturdays so I can run at the crack of dawn all summer and my parents who follow me for hours in the car while I run around Elmhurst … to the new cheer parents who have helped me through a seizure in the football stands and my sisters from OPRF, UW-Madison, Madison, Edison and the prairie path who have saved me emotionally. I’m working on finding something better than thank you. For now, please know that you are the reason I continue to run for epilepsy instead of from it.
Seize the Day with Sarah 