14
terrain July/August 2020
NOW HEAR THIS
ESPN's Michelle Smallmon goes the distance for charities.
By Kathleen Nelson
F
rom four-year varsity soccer player at Althoff High in Belleville, to University of Illinois grad, to sports radio producer, to on-air radio personality at ESPN, locally and nationally, Michelle Smallmon has come to realize how lucky she is. She's using her platform as host and digital content guru at WXOS 101.1FM on her quest to complete 50 half-marathons in 50 states while raising money for local charities. Here's an update on her progress, professionally and competitively. How did you get this idea to run 50 half-marathons in 50 states for charity? A lot of things came together in 2017. Right before I started work at ESPN in Connecticut, one of my high school friends, Mike Kelley, passed away from cancer. I realized how grateful I was to be healthy. After I moved, I decided to get to know the area by running. I hit my 30th birthday and started thinking about what I love: to travel. I wanted to see all 50 states. Then one night, I couldn't sleep and went down a rabbit hole and found an article about people who run in all 50 states. So, that's one part. Then I thought, "If I'm going to do this because I'm grateful for my health, then I'd love to give back." So, I decided 50 states, 50 half-marathons, all for charity. About the same time, some of Mike's friends put together a baseball camp in his name, so I decided to run to raise money for them. My friends shared it on social media, and we raised a couple thousand dollars in 48 hours. So, where are you in your quest? I've made 19 states. I was supposed to run in New Jersey in April. With COVID-19, I'll probably wait until everything calms down and I can do the actual races [rather than virtual races], since travel was supposed to be a big part of it.
running
LEFT
: Smallmon at the 2018 Brewers Mini-Marathon in Milwaukee.
TOP:
After the 2019 SHAPE Women's Half-Marathon in New York.
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