CHICAGO, IL – A Chicago Police Department (CPD) officer left onlookers and police supporters in awe earlier in October, when the officer in question tackled the entire Chicago Marathon while adorning both his full uniform and approximately thirty pounds in gear.
To put it plainly, running a marathon is no easy feat, trekking 26.2 miles in a single run. The history of marathons from a competitive standpoint dates back to being among the original Olympic events in 1896.
But the concept of the running distance dates back even further to Greek lore around 490 B.C. where legend tells of Philippides running said distance and collapsing to his death immediately thereafter.
Nowadays, people often train for months and even years to prep their body to handle the strenuous run, but officer James Mendoza opted to make the trek even more challenging on October 8th by donning his full uniform and gear for the entirety of the run.
Chicago-based attorney Dean Tatooles, who was snapping photos of the event in support of one of his friends tackling the marathon, had noticed Officer Mendoza amid the crowd and was initially confused by what he was witnessing.
“This is weird, there's a police officer in the middle of the runners,” Tatooles recalled while speaking with a local ABC outlet, “And then I saw he was wearing a bib. And then I saw he was wearing all the tactical equipment.”
In light of the unexpected display, Tatooles stated that he wound up snapping a photo of Officer Mendoza and even cheered him on.
“This guy is a beast. And I ran up next to him and gave him a pat on the back and started screaming at him, and he looked at me. And apparently around the corner he was running pretty good, so maybe it worked out.”
The CPD officer and Navy veteran is reportedly an avid runner and had completed the aforementioned marathon which helps financially back the Chicago Police Memorial Foundation (CPMF), an entity built on helping support the families of fallen officers.
Officer Mendoza also saw the effort as an opportunity to highlight his city’s first responders in a positive light.
Phil Cline, who serves as the executive director of the CPMF, commented on the feat accomplished by Officer Mendoza, saying, “While everybody else has the lightest shorts and shoes and everything, Jim's out there doing it with his full uniform on.”
Cline added that Officer Mendoza, along with the 80 other people who tackled the marathon, helped raise approximately $160,000 for the Chicago Police Memorial Foundation.
The nonprofit executive director painted Officer Mendoza as an inspiration, saying, “You can't go backwards, you've got to keep moving forward. He showed us that not only can you do that on the street as a policeman, but he did it as an athlete.”
To put it plainly, running a marathon is no easy feat, trekking 26.2 miles in a single run. The history of marathons from a competitive standpoint dates back to being among the original Olympic events in 1896.
But the concept of the running distance dates back even further to Greek lore around 490 B.C. where legend tells of Philippides running said distance and collapsing to his death immediately thereafter.
Nowadays, people often train for months and even years to prep their body to handle the strenuous run, but officer James Mendoza opted to make the trek even more challenging on October 8th by donning his full uniform and gear for the entirety of the run.
Chicago-based attorney Dean Tatooles, who was snapping photos of the event in support of one of his friends tackling the marathon, had noticed Officer Mendoza amid the crowd and was initially confused by what he was witnessing.
“This is weird, there's a police officer in the middle of the runners,” Tatooles recalled while speaking with a local ABC outlet, “And then I saw he was wearing a bib. And then I saw he was wearing all the tactical equipment.”
In light of the unexpected display, Tatooles stated that he wound up snapping a photo of Officer Mendoza and even cheered him on.
“This guy is a beast. And I ran up next to him and gave him a pat on the back and started screaming at him, and he looked at me. And apparently around the corner he was running pretty good, so maybe it worked out.”
The CPD officer and Navy veteran is reportedly an avid runner and had completed the aforementioned marathon which helps financially back the Chicago Police Memorial Foundation (CPMF), an entity built on helping support the families of fallen officers.
Officer Mendoza also saw the effort as an opportunity to highlight his city’s first responders in a positive light.
Phil Cline, who serves as the executive director of the CPMF, commented on the feat accomplished by Officer Mendoza, saying, “While everybody else has the lightest shorts and shoes and everything, Jim's out there doing it with his full uniform on.”
Cline added that Officer Mendoza, along with the 80 other people who tackled the marathon, helped raise approximately $160,000 for the Chicago Police Memorial Foundation.
The nonprofit executive director painted Officer Mendoza as an inspiration, saying, “You can't go backwards, you've got to keep moving forward. He showed us that not only can you do that on the street as a policeman, but he did it as an athlete.”
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