Coworkers Go Extra Miles for Kids

November 2, 2026

On a sunny Sunday morning this fall, runners in the Bank of America Chicago Marathon passed by Mercy Home’s front door on West Jackson Boulevard, about 10 miles from the finish line. Among the more 55,000 who participated in this year’s event, including the more than 18,000 who ran to raise money for charity, 568 athletes ran under the banner of our Mercy Home Heroes team. This year, two of our coworkers ran as Mercy Home Heroes.

Senior Coordinator of Accounting at Mercy Home Debbie Watrous loves the art of a good athletic challenge. She has over 31 years of experience playing goalie for a women’s hockey team, has raced in triathlons, including five half Ironman Triathlons, and runs in Ragnar trail running events. She also ran the Bank of America Chicago Marathon in 2012 and 2025.

Watrous was inspired to participate in triathlons when she saw the Chicago Triathlon on television for the first time.

“I decided that day, if I could learn to swim that I would try to do it,” she said. “I signed up for [swimming] lessons the next day [at University of Illinois Chicago], and I did my first sprint triathlon nine months later.”

Watrous said it’s about pushing herself and seeing how much she can accomplish.

“And also, it’s a fair amount of therapy for me. I definitely do it to clear my mind.”

That’s been particularly helpful this year, after losing her brother-in-law Mike Foster and mother-in-law Mary Sherman.

“Staying active, especially running stupid miles, helped me work through a lot of emotions, good and bad,” Watrous said.

Even though she enjoys setting the bar higher with each event, Watrous still has moments where it feels overwhelming.

During a Ragnar Trail race, she had to run the trail in the rain at 3 a.m., with only a headlamp to light the way. Despite the low visibility, she remained poised and finished the race.

Watrous has learned valuable lessons from training and competing that she applies to other areas of life.

“[Competing taught me that] I can only worry about where my headlamp [shines],” she said. “I can only worry about this mile that I’m running now, [and] I can only worry about what’s right in front of me and what I’m doing now.”

That focus and determination helped her complete the three Bank of America Chicago Distance Series events this year—the Shamrock Shuffle 8K in April, the Chicago 13.1 in June, and the Bank of America Chicago Marathon as a Mercy Home Hero.

“I believe in Mercy Home and being able to raise money for [the Home],” she said. “There’s something about running for charity where it makes your training just seem to feel more important.”

The cause kept her motivated through the challenges of training.

“Every time I dread a workout, I try to reframe it from ‘I have to do this’ to ‘I get to do this,'” she said. “I get to do this AND fundraise for my amazing Mercy Home coworkers, youth, and community members. It really is exciting.”

Watrous said the other perks of the Heroes program also motivate her, like the annual pasta dinner in our soccer building the Friday night before the big day, and the celebration at Heroes HQ following the race.

“So many amazing humans to talk to about everything, nerves, excitement, and craziness that goes with an endurance race,” she said. “Of course, the food was so good!”

She also took advantage of the group long runs for both training and encouragement. “You will find some great people from so many different backgrounds with the same goal—the finish line.”

And like so many of her Heroes team members, Watrous especially looked forward to reaching the Mercy Mile, a stretch of the official course near Mile 17 that runs directly in front of our building on Jackson Boulevard. The adulation from friends and fans who gather there every year help propel our Heroes through the event’s final stretch.

“I volunteered at Mercy Mile before, so I kind of knew what to expect,” Watrous said. “But it was still such a boost to hear my name and my running partner Daniel Edwards’ name announced. The cheering was amazing!”

Edgar Zavala has never failed to show up and support our Heroes during the Bank of America Chicago Marathon. Every October since joining Mercy Home’s advancement department nearly 10 years ago, he has lent his voice to the jubilant fandom amassed at the Mercy Mile Cheer Station. But years of watching thousands of runners pass by the Home inspired him to experience the marathon as a participant rather than a spectator. This year, it was his coworkers and family members gathered at the Mercy Mile who cheered him on toward the finish line of his very first marathon, which he chose to run as Mercy Home Hero.

Raising funds for Mercy Home already occupies Zavala’s daily work life. As in the in-office supervisor of data entry, Zavala works behind the scenes to make sure our donations show up correctly in our donor management software. It’s his work that keeps the monetary donations up to date at Mercy Home. He also is a liaison to our Associate Board and a member of the Mi Gente affinity group for Latinx coworkers.

As 2025 wound down, Zavala decided that he wanted to take on the challenge of running 26.2 miles in 2026. He kicked off the year by running the New Year’s Eve 5K, hosted by the Chicago Sport & Social Club. Though he had been running for bit before that with Viento, the Little Village Runners Club, he wanted to focus on consistency to make sure he would be ready for the marathon this fall. With Viento, he began training for smaller races in the Bank of America Chicago Distance Series like the Shamrock Shuffle and Chicago Half Marathon.

“It [felt like] good progress signing up for those and then doing well,” he said.

With training on track, Zavala knew that he wanted his first marathon to be tied with something important to him: Mercy Home’s mission.

“Because this is my first marathon, and I’ve been at Mercy Home so long, I wanted to [be a Hero] because Mercy Home is a big part of me,” he said.

When Zavala began training seriously, it was a challenge. He said he started “pretty much from zero” and went through a period learning how to properly take care of his body and find the right gear that helped him train more effectively. He had to learn the importance of stretching as well as listening to his body. For him, the experience of preparing for a marathon has come with lesson after lesson, many of which were provided by our Heroes team staff.

“I learned a lot thanks to Mary [Connolly] and Nathan [Tamayo]’s coaching, emails, and First Friday webinars,” he said.

But after completing the Shamrock Shuffle, the Chicago Half Marathon, and the Inaugural Carrera Pirma in León, Guanajuato, Mexico, Zavala is feeling much more confident.

“[This fall] I did a half marathon without a medal,” he said. “I’m feeling good.”

During training, Zavala relied on both music and his running buddies to get through long runs. He said that the music playing in the Carrera Pirma helped him stay on pace. He’s also identified that finding times to take a quick rest to hydrate and take energy gels keeps him on track.

“[It will feel good] that I pushed my body to the limit and dedicated so much time to something that I really wanted to do,” he said. “This probably won’t be my last marathon.”

Congratulations to our dedicated coworkers Debbie and Edgar for going well above and beyond to help the young people in our care.

Since 2002, the Bank of America Chicago Marathon’s official charity program has supported local, national, and global nonprofits. The program allows participants to raise funds for an affiliated cause through their participation in the race. Mercy Home has fielded its own official team in the marathon, the Mercy Home Heroes, since 2010. This year’s team of 568 was the Home’s largest ever and represented the second largest local charity team in the event.