Faces in the crowd

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Ashley Keaschall can't get the boy out of her mind. A junior in the nursing program at the University of Iowa, Keaschall, a Rock Falls graduate, volunteers a few hours every week at the school's children's hospital in Iowa City. She spends that time trying brighten the days of youngsters who are dealing with serious diseases. One particular boy Keaschall visits received a bone marrow transplant five weeks ago. He hasn't been outside of the hospital walls since. P That's one of the many faces Keaschall will carry with her Sunday morning when she lines up at the start line of the Chicago Marathon and runs farther than she ever has. "I've always wanted to do this," Keaschall said of running a marathon. "When I was competing in high school, I was always out there to win. This is a little different. I am not out there to beat the other runners, but to finish. I don't really care right now if it's in 41/2 hours or 5 hours. I just want to prove I can do it." Keaschall, 20, signed up to run as part of a charity called Dance Marathon, which provides support for pediatric oncology and bone marrow transplant patients at the University of Iowa Hospital. "I am running for the kids," Keaschall continued. "This is completely different from what I've done in the past, like in high school where I was a sprinter and a hurdler. But I think having worked with these kids and seen what this charity stands for will really push me." - Keaschall won't be alone in representing the Sauk Valley in the crowd of 45,000 participants Sunday in downtown Chicago. At least seven other runners with ties to the area will lace up their shoes, stretch out their legs and test their will and bodies for 26.2 miles. Dixon's Cheryl Baker, 41, is another. She wears a necklace bearing the number 26.2, the distance of a marathon. Baker has run three, including last year's Chicago, during which temperatures reached the high 80s. One runner died and hundreds of others were treated for various heat-related problems. The race was called about 31/2 hours in, well before everyone had finished. "I was just coming over the hill and was close to the end when they called the race and told everyone to stop," Baker said. "It was very hot and very scary. There were a lot of runners dropping out." Temperatures are supposed to be in the 70s Sunday, so runners and event personnel will be ready for the long run. Last year's mishaps prompted marathon organizers to increase the number of water distribution points from 15 to 20 and medical stations from 18 to 23. Good thing, too, seeing as most runners have put in around 18 weeks of preparation. In addition to Baker, five more runners from Dixon, along with Keaschall and Sterling native and Chicago resident Abby Munson, have followed the Hal Higdon training program. The program runs each day that vary in length from 3 to 20 miles. The purpose is to prepare the body for the grueling nature of a marathon. "I think I am ready," said Munson, who is running her first marathon. "I've followed the program and I've ran at least 20 miles a time or two. It's only 6 miles more. I know I can do it." Beyond training, area runners have found things in their lives to provide a little extra motivation. - Almost three years ago, Munson studied abroad in the Republic of Ghana in West Africa. Munson, who was in her sophomore year at Augustana and two years removed from her days at Sterling High School, spent 10 weeks learning in the classroom and as she visited the cities and villages in Ghana. When Munson needed something to motivate her to give marathon training a try, she thought back to her time in Africa, about the poverty, lack of clean water and disease that plagues the continent. "I'd always thought in the back of my mind that running a marathon is something that I wanted to do," Munson said. "The timing was just right and finding the charity was just right." Munson, 22, is running for World Vision, a charity involved with the marathon that raises money for third world countries. The $1,000 that Munson raised will go toward cleaning up water and fighting AIDS in Africa. Munson is taking the year off after graduating from Augustana last May with a bachelor's degree in biology. She is working for AmeriCorps in Chicago for the year before going back to school, where she will study to become a physical trainer. - Since 2005 there has been an unofficial Dixon running club that meets pretty much every morning all-year long at the YMCA. Since January, the group has run 1,225 miles all together between training and running in events. The groups membership has fluctuated over the past couple of years due to injuries and other reasons, but right now they stand at six strong. All will run in the Chicago Marathon. Unlike Keaschall and Munson, this group is full of experienced marathon runners. "I think the hard part of the first time is wondering about those last 6 miles or so," Baker, who works at Raynor Garage Doors by day, said. "You never run the whole length when you're training, so you just don't know what to expect." The group also includes Joan Roth, Angie Crowson, Rusty Cox, Tammy Hill and Brian Smith. "I think it'd be really hard to keep it up without knowing these guys were expecting me to be there," said Hill, 49, a language arts teacher at Reagan Middle School. "They're there to support and push you." The group will not take much of a rest before tackling another training regime for the Goofy Challenge at Disney World, which takes place in January 2009. That event will require the runners to run a half marathon on Saturday followed by a full marathon Sunday. "It started as something where we tried to run a half marathon and we've just picked up event from there," Roth said. "We'll take about a week off after a marathon and then we'll be right back out there." Roth, 46, works as an accountant at Clifton Gunderson LLP. in Dixon. She is trying get under the 4-hour mark to qualify for the Boston Marathon in April.