CHRISTUS physician selected to compete in public Olympics marathon in Paris

A CHRISTUS Health physician is one of just 10,012 female runners worldwide to participate in a public Olympic marathon event called the 2024 Marathon Pour Tous (Marathon For All) on Aug. 10 in Paris.

When Dr. Julie Haygood received the email confirming her lottery selection, she was left nearly speechless.

“I kept reading the message to make sure it was real,” said Haygood, CHRISTUS Health clinical informatics medical director and hospitalist based in Tyler. “To me, it was like winning the golden ticket from Willy Wonka.”

This is the first time that the Olympics have held a marathon for the public during the Summer Games. Haygood is one of just 20,024 runners chosen worldwide.

The marathon will follow the exact route run by the Olympian runners beginning at the Hôtel de Ville at 9 p.m. on Aug. 10 and finishing at Les Invalides just a few hours before the Closing Ceremony of the Games on Aug. 11.

The 26.2-mile route will pass through nine districts in the city: Paris – Boulogne, Billancourt, Sèvres, Ville d’Avray, Versailles, Viroflay, Chaville, Meudon, Issy-les-Moulineaux.

“This is one of those races where I am not thinking at all about running a certain pace or trying to set my personal best,” Haygood said. “It’s Paris, at night. This is a once-in-a-lifetime type of opportunity.”

Haygood said her selection came as a surprise. She completed her first half marathon last year and completed her first two full marathons this year.

She entered the lottery with very little expectations of being chosen. She had completed the pre-requisite challenges to enter, completing 25 running challenges that secured her entry into the lottery.

But she still faced the odds of being picked out of hundreds of thousands of entrants.

Turns out, the odds were in her favor. In December, she received the email that she was chosen. She celebrated by calling her supervisor to make sure she could go, announced the big news to her family, and then promptly ran 26.2 miles at Rose Rudman Park in Tyler.

“I was never a runner. It was just not something I was very good at,” Haygood said. “I picked up running to try and break a sedentary lifestyle, and it turns out that I loved it. I feel that runner’s high when I run, and I realized that it is possible to learn something new at any age.”