After Kate Napleton heard about the explosions at the Boston Marathon, all she could think was so many people had to be hurt. That's because she knows there always are hordes of people at the finish lines.
She crossed the finish line at the Chicago Marathon in 2009 and plans to do so again this October.
"Obviously what happened yesterday in Boston was horrific and terrible and you're sitting there thinking, 'I want to do something. What can I do?'" said Napleton, 27, of Old Town.
A few hours later, she came up with Chicago Runs for Boston.
Using Crowdrise, an online tool to fundraise for charity, she's asking people to donate a minimum of $10 or $26 in honor of the 26.2-mile race to the American Red Cross, which responds to disasters. So far, $437 has been raised, which is 29 percent of the $1,500 goal to help out the Red Cross. Donations are accepted here.
"If you've ever trained for a marathon, you feel for anybody who was taken away from that moment at finish line," she said.
Napleton, an art director, is also planning to organize an unofficial lakefront run at Monroe Street at 5:30 p.m. Monday in support of Boston.
"I personally have found running to be therapeutic, and I think sometimes when you're faced with something like this that's violent and horrible, you feel like you can't do anything. I feel like by running, you're doing something," she said.
"If you get out and run and get endorphins going, you can feel like you're making an impact that says, no nobody can slow us down."
She encouraged people who can't make the lakefront run to grab friends in neighborhood and run around the block to honor the memory of those killed and injured.
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