Scottsdale mom training for the Chicago Marathon
By Tim Hadac
By Tim Hadac
Managing Editor
Southwest Chicago Post
Diana Gomez has at least three.
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| Diana Gomez |
First is a cause close to her heart: the Ignite the Spirit Fund, a non-profit charity that has, since 2003, helped over 925 families in need and donated more than $3.1 million to ease the hardship of Chicago Fire Department families
“My heart is set on the Ignite the Spirit Fund because my husband’s a firefighter,” Diana says with a note of pride in her voice as she mentions her husband, Luis Gomez; who serves at CFD Engine 116 at 60th and Ashland. Additionally, her brother-in-law, Berling Gonzalez, serves at CFD Truck 18 near 50th and Union.
The Chicago Marathon is set for Sunday, October 11, but Diana is looking for her fellow Southwest Siders to sponsor her. Her goal is to raise $2,200, and she could use a boost to make it there.
No donation is too small, she says, and those interested are encouraged to visit https://haku.ly/7af4dbdab1 for more information.
A lifelong Southwest Sider
The daughter of Guatemalan immigrants, Diana graduated from Brighton Park Elementary School in 2001 and Kelly High School in 2005.
A lifelong Southwest Sider
The daughter of Guatemalan immigrants, Diana graduated from Brighton Park Elementary School in 2001 and Kelly High School in 2005.
When asked if she ran cross-country or track and field at Kelly, she chuckles and says, “Oh, gosh no. I wasn’t athletic.”
After high school, she went on to DePaul University and earned a bachelor’s degree in Accountancy. She currently works as a CRM (Customer Relationship Management) administrator and specialist at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
She and her husband have lived in the Scottsdale neighborhood for about 13 years.
Diana says that running the Chicago Marathon is something that has been on her bucket list for about 10 years.
“At first, I thought I’d do it before I turned 30, but life threw me a few curveballs,” she explains, noting that one of those curveballs was several years of infertility and multiple losses that ultimately led to the birth of Mila and Emma, her twin 6-year-old daughters, who are first graders at St. Bede the Venerable School.
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| Mila, Emma and their mom. |
“Sometimes people see them and say, ‘Oh, twins! Double trouble!’ but I always see it as ‘Double the blessing.’”
And so it goes with Mila and Emma’s mom, who will turn 40 the day before the Chicago Marathon.
A run to heal
A run to heal
Finally, beyond helping a worthy firefighters’ charity and accomplishing a bucket list goal, Diana is participating in her first-ever marathon—all 26.2 miles of it—to help heal an emotional wound she endured after she was accosted while running in Durkin Park a couple of years ago.
It was an unpleasant, frightening experience—so much so that Diana stopped running solo in the park and switched to hitting the treadmill at home.
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| At the 2025 Step Up for Kids event. |
“[Running the Chicago Marathon] is part of my own healing,” she says. “I need to challenge myself to overcome that fear.”
She does run outdoors, but at large, public events—various 5K and 8K events like the Bank of America Shamrock Shuffle, a half-marathon and the 1,643 steps up all 80 floors of the Aon Center downtown (the Step Up for Kids event to support Lurie Children’s Hospital).
Diana finds the vibe at such events exhilarating—not just from the camaraderie among the runners, but from the volunteers and the spectators.
“The whole environment is incredible...that total strangers are there cheering you on, supporting you. That’s the type of thing that can have a good effect, a healing effect. That support from others helps propel you forward, not just at the event, but beyond, in your everyday life.”
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