A Chicago Marathon runner crossed the finish line with a box of deep-dish pizza — just one of the unusual foods she ate over 26.2 miles.
Instead of gels and energy gummies, Justine Huang, who lives in Brooklyn, New York, fuels her races with anything the crowd is handing out, including deep-dish pizza, McFlurries, Jell-O shots, donut holes, chocolate chip cookies, Rice Krispies treats, fruit snacks, orange slices, bagels, pickles and Coca Cola.
That was just some of what she ate for the Chicago Marathon.
This woman eats and drinks her way through marathons
When Huang ran her first marathon in Long Beach, California, in 2023, she hated it.
Growing up, she dreaded running. So when she decided to train for her second marathon in Chicago in 2024, she shifted her mindset and she slowed down, making her longer
runs more enjoyable. By the time the race came, she fell in love with running, and she was ready to break a personal record. Her family flew in from Asia and her friends came to Chicago to watch her run.
By her third marathon in New York City in 2024, she wanted to interact with as many people as possible. Her friends were waiting on the sideline with a shot of liquor ready for her, but along the way, she saw the crowd handing out food and drinks. She decided to take them all.
And yes, that included several shots.
She posted the video drunk during the marathon on TikTok, and now she has fans making posters for her, bringing shots and watching her run marathons across the country.
Training to drink and eat during a marathon
Huang, who originally worked in tech as a data scientist, is now in graduate school for sports business at New York University and posts what she eats on her runs. On her social media, you can watch her split up a 17-mile run with stops at two ice cream shops and take an extra long route to try a food crawl on a run.
"I think people actually don't realize how much food they need when they run a marathon because you need to be refueling, and I think most people don't actually eat enough while they're running a long run, and so a carb is a carb. Any type of food is fuel as long as you enjoy it and you're having fun with it," said Huang.
Surprisingly, it doesn't hurt her stomach, but it does require more bathroom breaks.
"I know some runners will plan to eat a certain amount of carbs every certain number of miles, but I don't really plan everything. I just go with the flow," said Huang.
The most she's eaten during a marathon was in Los Angeles, where the route stretched through a crowd of restaurants handing out food. She ate an entire ice cream cone, pizza, Girl Scout cookies and a chili dog.
During her most recent marathon in Chicago, Huang said it was like a party. Everyone was handing out drinks, and she tallied taking 21 shots during the race, one of those being a soy sauce pack. She can run through races in about five hours, but she can't out run a hangover, which usually catches up to her after the race.
"When you get to the race, it's more like a celebration. Because it's so special that the city literally closes down and everyone is out there on the streets cheering for you. So for me, time really doesn't matter," said Huang.
Huang was first named "McFlurry Girl" in 2025 when she stopped into a McDonald's along the way for a McFlurry. She reclaimed the title after grabbing another one this year. Her friend also brought along a deep-dish pizza, which she ate around mile 25.
Huang isn't done with eating and running yet. She's planning on doing the same thing for the New York City Marathon on Nov. 1.
"It can be really fun if you don't put too much pressure on yourself, and the running community is so great. Everyone comes out to support you during a marathon," said Huang. "I think just not taking it too seriously, basically, and it is a great way to get a lot of free food."
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: This marathoner does shots and eats pizza. Yes. During the race
