Tinley Couple's 'Marathon Love' Vying for Cover of 'Runner's World'

A local couple's inspiring story of devotion and triumph over tragedy could be front-page news. 

The acclaim wouldn't exactly be anything new for Jamie Parks and his wife Lynn, who have tugged at the heartstrings of thousands as Parks runs marathons while pushing Lynn in a wheelchair. The duo has appeared on Oprah (twice), and even had a documentary made about them. 

But Parks has a special surprise in mind for Lynn. He'd like for them to land on the cover of Runner's World, and has entered an online contest to make it happen.

"My wife, Lynn, and I started running together on July 21, 1991," Park said of their adventure together. "She had been severely injured in a car accident 4 years earlier and grew frustrated when I would race and people would stand in front of her wheelchair blocking her view of me finishing."

So he started pushing her in her wheelchair, as he propelled them forward. 

"She kinda thought i was crazy," Parks said, "but that wasn’t the first time."

Their History
The two had been dating just two years, and were five months from their wedding, when the car in which Lynn was riding was struck by another at the intersection of 183rd and Harlem Avenue.

She was comatose for comatose for 17 days and didn’t speak for five months. When she awoke and was able to communicate, she told him she'd only marry him if she could walk down the aisle.

"It took her 7 years of physical therapy, hard work, to finally be able to be strong enough to stand and walk with assistance. Dad on one side, brother on the other, we were married in 1994," Parks said.

Lynn wasn't a fan of watching from the sidelines. People clustered along the route would often block her view, Parks said. Before the accident, she had always joined him on his runs, riding her bike alongside him. So why not now? He started training at running while pushing her. 

"It was so hard at first, but weeks of practicing and trying, got a little bit faster. then did a race, then again," he said. 

This week marked 23 years since the first time the couple ran a race together.
 
Together, they have notched 250 races (4 marathons, including Chicago and Boston), and almost 22,000 miles. They also now enjoy watching their daughter Annalynn run cross country at Andrew High School.

"(Running) is important to me because every time I run, I am reminded of how God has blessed me to be physically capable of doing this," Parks wrote in his contest entry. "Lynn had that ability taken from her 27 years ago and still struggles with that fact. Running as a team gives us more time to be together and we both still enjoy competing in races."

Vote for Jamie, Lynn, and Annalynn.