Man Meets Expectations at Half-Marathon

If failure is the key to learning, this man is locked out, politely buzzing the neighbors in the hopes they’ll let him back into their apartment building.

On Sunday, September 28th, 2025, Chicago resident and first-time half-marathoner Henry Webster, 29, ran in the Chicago Half-Marathon and performed exactly how he planned. After training for two months to run 13.1 miles in two hours, what another half-marathon sign-up form called perfectly average, he crossed the finish line with two minutes to spare.

While he is a hobbyist 5K runner, this was Mr. Webster’s first time attempting runs at longer distances. When asked how he came up with the target number, he said, “I added a bit of a buffer to my 5K pace and it came out to around two hours. I figured that’s a nice, round number.”

In his reaction to the performance, he was uncomplicated, if uncompelling. “I said to myself I was going to do something, and then I did it. I don’t feel any strong emotions.” After being reminded that this is prime content for a social media post about personal improvement, he dug slightly deeper. “My splits were tight, even slightly negative. Maybe that means I made it too easy on myself. I should have pushed harder. On the other hand, I had a target and drilled that nine minute-per-mile pace into my head over two months. I did exactly what I thought I was going to do, so what more could I possibly want?”

The ambiguous sentiment hasn’t deterred him from participating in more half-marathons. He went home and signed up for another one in six months. Asked if there was a new target, he finally had an air of excitement. “One hour and forty-five minutes. Quarter clock turn. Eight minutes-per-mile. I like round numbers.”