On July 11, Jamie and Lynn Parks ran their 25,000th mile on their 25th anniversary of racing together. Since 1991, Jamie has been pushing his wife, Lynn, in a racing chair almost daily, averaging 1,500 miles every year. The couple has participated in more than 300 races as a team.
After a 1987 car accident left Lynn unable to walk, she went through seven years of rehabilitation, motivated by the goal of walking down the aisle to marry Jamie. Now Lynn can walk on the treadmill or with someone spotting her. She joins her husband for his runs, and they cover 35 to 40 miles a week.
Last summer, Jamie realized they were coming up on two huge milestones—their 25,000th mile and 25th anniversary of their first race—and wondered if they could coordinate them to fall on the same day. He then planned out his mileage to make it happen and invited friends and family to join them for a celebratory one-miler on the special day.
Throughout their running careers, the couple has hit several achievements. In 2002 they carried Olympic torches; in 2007 they were featured as Runner's World Heroes of Running; and in 2008 they ran a 2:57 personal best at the Boston Marathon.
Although the anniversary is a huge milestone, Jamie wanted to mark it in a fairly casual way—a simple run from their home in Tinley Park, Illinois. They finished under a banner they had used in the past to mark their 10,000- and 20,000-mile achievements.
“Some people asked, ‘Wouldn’t you rather run someplace meaningful?’” Parks said. “And I said, “Actually, 98 percent of the runs Lynn and I do start at our door, so I think that’s the best place to start.”
Running with their 17-year-old daughter, Annalyn, made the event even more special, as they have been running with her since she was three weeks old.
“I love my wife, and I love my daughter,” Parks said. “I couldn’t imagine a better scenario of how our lives have turned out.”
