South Side's Mr. Adams Runs in Chicago Marathon

By Alice Kauffman (10)
alice.kauffman@fwcsstudents.org

October 27, 2023

South Side’s beloved teacher, Mr. Nicholas Adams, has been teaching for 6 consecutive years, and recently participated in a very prominent marathon. 

The Chicago Marathon, a very successful and known running event, is level to the Boston and New York City Marathons on an excitement scale.

“I had access to a gym and an outdoor track but I only ran about 2 – 3 days a week, 4 – 6 miles, but would be physically active otherwise by playing volleyball, hiking, and backpacking,” Adams said.

Throughout the summer he worked as a park ranger, on the outside of Salt Lake City, Utah. He balanced this job (which has also made a gateway for cheaper and more frequent traveling), with exercise, and training for this opportunity.

“Every World Marathon Major has different requirements for entry but usually you can get guaranteed entry by running very fast, you can fundraise for a charity, or enter a lottery system.  I applied for the lottery last October and found out in December that I gained entry,” Adams said.

After he returned home from Utah, he trained throughout Foster Park, usually 8-9 mile runs (during August). He’s still working towards balancing his schedule, with many pastimes such as an 11-12 hour school day, including teaching, coaching E-Sports, and out-of-town trips over weekends.

Recently, Adams participated in a local race, called the River City Rat Race. Students saw him run in it, including members of the E-Sports team.

“That was neat, it is fascinating in general to see teachers in a non teaching environment, like not places in authority over you. Yes I know that they have their own lives, but you never see them and only see them in one light. As the head of E-Sports he is amazing, because he has like 5 different teams to coach,” Henry Satter (11) said.

“One of my running goals is to run a half and a full marathon in every state. While I know I probably won’t reach the goal, it’s at least helped me to travel more already. To date, I’ve ran in 23 half marathons in 5 states, including Hawaii, and 4 marathons all in different states,” Adams said.

While multitasking his travels, teaching, hiking, weekend outings, and coaching, he has a large list of runs for this year. He plans to run at least 4 more half marathons during the school year, and will even add Florida to his collection of running places! 

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