Ready to run

Zach Burns, 25, Hyde Park
Favorite running accessory?
I never realized the importance of non-cotton socks until now, so I’m obsessed with my SmartWool running socks. I also bought a pair of running shorts on deep discount from Fleet Feet that are really short. We’re talking Dangle from Reno 911! short. Shows off my milky whites.
Favorite place in the city to run?
I live in Hyde Park, so getting as close to Obama’s house as possible is extra incentive. The Secret Service is real fast.
If there was a movie made about you running the marathon, which famous actor would play you?
Steve Buscemi. He looks pretty much how I feel come those later miles.

Marilyn Winters, 47, Irving Park
Biggest sacrifice you’ve made while training?
Toenails (added expense anyway) and air.
If there was a movie made about you running the marathon, which famous actor would play you?
Gabrielle Union. She’s my height, has some intensity, and did you see her kick major booty in Bad Boys II?
Which part of your body are you loving?
My butt is fabulous. It is tight and it sits up really high. For 47, that is a major feat. Can I include the legs, too? The muscles are defined, [and] the quads are talking to me daily. Look at them. They look so good I rub them myself.

Nathandla Brooks, 16, Roseland
Favorite running accessory?
My Team M3 shirt by Nike.
Biggest sacrifice you’ve made while training?
I had to give up my JROTC commander position [at school] because it conflicted with the Team M3 marathon training [a program that pairs adult mentors with Chicago Public School students to run the half-marathon or marathon]. But I always look for a challenge, and I chose marathon training because, to me, it was a bigger challenge.
If there was a movie made about you running the marathon, which famous actor would play you?
Sylvester Stallone because I feel like Rocky when I’m running. The theme music is in my head.

Abigail Hartman, 23, Bucktown
Favorite place in the city to run?
I can’t get away from the lakefront. I’m really bad about paying attention, though; I always have people telling me that they tried to say “hi” and failed because I was “in the zone.” Little do they know that it has nothing to do with running and everything to do with the fact that Harry just bested another Dementor [in the audio version of Harry Potter].
If there was a movie made about you running the marathon, which famous actor would play you?
I wish I could say it would be someone like Charlize Theron, but I’m too hobbit-sized for that, and unfortunately have been training too hard to be right for Simon Pegg of Run Fatboy Run. Probably Natalie Portman; [she’s] small, hard-working and intense. She’d have to go blond, though, of course.

Juan Moreno, 44, Logan Square
Favorite running accessory?
BodyGlide would be high on my list. One of my [friends] has warned me about chapping my nipples from day one, so the BodyGlide has been a must. Also, my girlfriend’s running socks.
Biggest sacrifice you’ve made while training for the marathon?
Chirrisqueez, a delicious concoction that comes straight from my girlfriend’s family in Guadalajara, Mexico. Take the finest tequila (reposado or añejo only), plenty of fresh fruit, other secret ingredients and throw it into a bowl; you need two hands to drink it. Since I realized early on that chirrisqueez and my marathon training weren’t getting along, I decided to divorce myself from the former…until the afternoon of October 11.
Which part of your body are you loving?
One chin. I’m loving the fact that the second and third ones have gone adios during training.

• More Spas & Gyms articles