Some runners took part in Cowtown Marathon after coronavirus concerns at Tokyo race

FORT WORTH, Texas - The series of Cowtown Marathon races brought about 26,000 runners to the heart of Fort Worth this weekend, including some who thought they would be running in Tokyo, but were not allowed to because of coronavirus concerns.

It was easy to spot marathon runner Lisa Keller and her colorful outfit.

“Pink, green, blue, a little bit of everything. Yeah, I love the colors,” she said.

She crossed the finish line of Fort Worth’s Cowtown Marathon on Sunday. A race she didn’t plan to be in.

“I’ve done 57 full marathons and two ultra-marathons. And this one was unexpected. This was unexpected. I was supposed to go to Tokyo,” Keller explained.

Keller was supposed to run in this weekend’s Tokyo Marathon, but it was cancelled for all but elite runners because of concerns over the coronavirus.

[REPORTER: “If they wouldn’t have cancelled it, would you have run it anyways?]

“Yes, and then I was a little worried that I might get quarantined, so we’ll see what happens in the next couple of days for the people who did go,” Keller said.

She said many who were allowed to go are disappointed.

“I’m on a lot of Facebook groups where some people did go and they’re posting that a lot of the attractions are shut down,” she said.

In Fort Worth, organizers of the Cowtown Marathon provided $25 vouchers for runners scratched from Tokyo.

“So a lot of runners that have been planning to travel internationally from the United States to Tokyo were fully trained for a marathon, and then their race got cancelled,” explained Heidi Swartz, executive director of Cowtown Marathon.

“I want to run a marathon, so where can I run a marathon and get to easily?” Keller said.

Keller, who lives in Chicago, is one of at least eight runners who planned to be in Tokyo, but made a last-minute trip to Fort Worth.

“I was running in 20-degree weather three days ago. I did not expect to run in 70s and humid and all of these hills,” she said.

It’s a goal of hers to finish a marathon in each state, in under four hours, and she crossed Texas off her list on Sunday.

Keller said her flights and hotel stays were already booked, but she was able to get refunded.