Airport Spotlight on Carol Thomas
For most of Carol Thomas’ life, she was never an athletic person. “The most running I ever did was running for the employee bus when I worked at O’Hare airport,” she says.
But, today, at age 79, Carol is preparing to run her 8th World Airline Road Race (WARR) – and the 47th on a real working runway. The self-described ‘runway junkie’ explains how she came to love running in such an unusual environment.
“I had some orthopedic issues about 10 years ago and I got really great care from a local chiropractor,” she explains. “He was the captain of a running team, and each visit he would ask me to join the group. I told him that I don’t run, but he kept asking me what size shirt I wanted! He was really my rock and inspiration for what I am able to do today.”
She consented and fell in love with the activity and the camaraderie that came along with running. But she wanted more.
“I worked for American Airlines at O’Hare for most of my career and discovered that there 
was an American Airlines running club,” she explains. “We did Hustle up the Hancock, road races, and the Run O’Hare event together which was great fun. That one was my first runway running event and I loved it.”
Since then, Carol has logged miles on runways all over the world, including in Inverness, Scotland; Auckland, New Zealand; Zurich, Switzerland; Oshkosh, Wisconsin; Kona, Hawaii; and Tucson, Arizona. Having American Airlines flight benefits makes it easy to travel anywhere American flies. She typically runs the 5K events in under an hour.
But the Chicago Executive Airport’s (CEA) Run the Runway, which is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year, is just a hop, skip, and a jump from her home in Schaumburg. The airport is owned by the Village of Wheeling and the City of Prospect Heights, IL. Carol first ran the CEA’s Run the Runway in 2016, and this year will be her fifth.
“What I love about running runways is that they are very clean, and the cones and lines help me run in straight lines,” she explains. “It’s the best way to spend my retirement.”
For more information on the CEA’s 2025 Run the Runway, click here.