Ryan McGuire smiles after finishing the Chicago Marathon on Oct. 8 (photo courtesy of Martin McGuire).

Ryan McGuire is a testament to hard work and achievement, having completed this year’s Chicago Marathon on Oct. 8 with a personal best time of 2:52:57. The 22-year-old remarkable runner, former Learning Independence for Everyday (LIFE) program student, and current member of the Transitions program for students with special needs, has excelled far past the average marathon time for a male in the United States, which is at 3:34:56. 

“Running gives me a relief,” he said. “I didn’t start out wanting to run marathons. However, when I found that I could run long distances, people seemed to be quite impressed, and the praise I received felt kind of good. My running seems to make more people happy than just myself, so why not run marathons?”

McGuire is on the Autistic spectrum with delayed development. He likes to be involved in all different things even though it’s difficult for him to communicate, his father Martin McGuire said. He also has many interests outside of running, which he began competitively at the start of high school. 

In his freshman and sophomore years at LT, he ran cross-country races with para-professionals and would finish the 5K races around four minutes behind the second-to-last runner. However, in his senior year, Ryan ran the conference meet 5K in 16 minutes and 23 seconds, coming in 18th out of 190 runners, making him the most improved runner in the history of LT’s cross-country program.

“I like the independence involved in running,” Ryan said. “I get the feeling that I am doing something without aid from anyone else. I need help with a lot of things, but I have found an outlet for my independence in running.”

Beating his marathon time from 2022 by 19 and a half minutes, Ryan ran at an average pace of 6 minutes and 36 seconds per mile, Martin said. He finished the last 9 miles at an average pace of 6 minutes and 10 seconds per mile and even ran the last mile at a shocking pace of 5 minutes and 47 seconds. His marathon training begins 16 weeks out from the race, but he runs all year round. Last year he ran 1,754 miles. 

“Both endurance and speed work allowed Ryan to improve his time in long-distance running,” Martin said.  “[He] does hill workouts, fartleks, strides, repeats, and long endurance runs. Ryan is willing to put in exhausting workouts without complaint.”

Ryan placed 85th in the 20-24 age group, and placed 1738th overall, out of more than 45,000 people. 

“Ryan has grown in so many ways from his earlier years where he would have extreme difficulties relating to other people and conducting simple tasks,” Martin said. “To see that Ryan has found a way to excel well beyond the capacities of almost all of us ‘normies’ gives me great joy. I think the success Ryan has found in running has greatly improved his confidence [as well]. He is still the most humble guy I know, but now he has gained confidence to achieve in other areas as well.”

Editor’s note: Due to Ryan McGuire’s difficulty with communication, all quotes attributed to him were given by his father on behalf of what he believes Ryan would say.