The Bank of America Chicago Marathon won’t only feature star athletes this year, it will once again feature stars themselves.
Among the famous runners hitting Chicago’s streets next month will be comedian Rob Riggle and activist Christy Turlington.
Riggle, whose big-screen roles include Step Brothers, The Hangover, the Other Guys and 21 Jump Street, announced his participation in the Chicago event on Instagram last month.
He will be running for Salute Inc., which gives financial assistance to veterans, according to a marathon spokeswoman.
It’s not Riggle's first marathon event after he ran the 2002 New York City Marathon in 5 hours, 46 minutes and 52 seconds, records show.
Turlington will be making her second Chicago Marathon appearance, after running in the 2014 race with a time of 4 hours, 4 minutes and 42 seconds. She also ran the Boston Marathon in April.
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Turlington will run for the non-profit she founded called Every Mother Counts, which works to make pregnancy and childbirth safe for every mother.
In a recent interview, Turlington said there is a special significance between marathon running and her organization.
"It's a big part of our work, to use running as a way to communicate that distance is a barrier for women to access healthcare," she told Town & Country Magazine. “There are a lot of connections between running marathons and birth: that feeling of 'I can't do this,' then the ridiculous endorphins you get."
The Chicago Marathon steps off Oct. 9 and takes runners through 29 neighborhoods in the city. Last year, an estimated 1.7 million spectators lined the streets to cheer on more than 37,400 runners.
