COLLEGE STATION, Texas (KXXV) — Noel Gomillion and her family started running during the Covid-19 pandemic. Now, she'll soon be running with some of the best athletes in the world.
- The Paris Marathon Pour Tous is the first ever mass marathon at an Olympic event. For the last two years, runners from all over the world completed running challenges for a chance to be selected.
- Noel and 20,000 participants from around the world will run an historic route through Paris: the women's march on Versailles during the French Revolution.
Broadcast Script:
"We started running together during Covid because it was a way to get outside, get out extra energy, get a little healthier, and it made us feel good."
A hobby that started during the pandemic —
"Eventually, when we kept with it long enough, our bodies started to crave running, if we hadn't run for a day or two, our legs wanted to move — we wanted to go."
Led Noel Gomillion to the opportunity of a lifetime.
"My husband was reading his news feed and it popped up that there was a way to win bibs to be able to run in this mass participation marathon," said.
"Of course, we immediately downloaded the app and there were challenges that we had to do, running challenges."
The Paris Marathon Pour Tous is the first ever mass marathon at an Olympic event — for the last two years, runners from all over the world completed running challenges for a chance to be selected.
"So in February, beginning of February, I got an email from the marathon, saying that I'd won a bib," said.
"I was so excited when I opened the email — I was literally shaking when I realized what it was."
Noel says they started in the neighborhood and continue to run together as a family. She and her husband both entered the competition but she's the only one that got a running bib.
"I'm really happy for her."
Noel and the other 20,000 participants from around the world will run an historic route through Paris: The Women's March on Versailles during the French Revolution.
"The women's march to go from Paris to Versailles — and then to convince Louis XVI to come return to Paris, which he never left again, so it's a historic route."
It's also the same route that Olympic athletes will be competing on.