Even though the Detroit Free Press Marathon in October was 2L Mary Caroline Heinen’s first marathon, she was the third woman to finish. Her time was 2:49:51, which is a pace of 6:29 minutes per mile.
Before coming to Michigan Law, Heinen ran shorter distances in cross-country and track for Columbia University and the University of Michigan. Her freshman year of college, 2020-2021, she’d planned to run for Columbia, but competition was canceled because of COVID. For the next three years at Columbia, she ran cross-country and indoor and outdoor track.
After Heinen graduated, she had another year of eligibility and wanted to use it. She also wanted to go to law school, but she didn’t think it was a good idea to combine collegiate running and her 1L year. Instead, she looked for a one-year program that she could complete in between that would help her transition from mechanical engineering in undergrad to the law—at a university where she could also run.
She chose the University of Michigan. In 2024-2025, she earned her master of management from the Ross School of Business and ran for Michigan’s cross-country and track teams. After that, she wanted to stay in Ann Arbor, and her next step was Michigan Law.
As a 1L, Heinen kept running on her own and then set her sights on a marathon. Going from training with a team and competing in the 5k and 10k to training solo for a 26.2 mile race was an adjustment. She joined Crown Running, a remote, semi-pro team that helped her move up in distance.
“There’s something different that goes on in your brain when you have to go out there for over two hours, so I learned a lot about that process,” she said.
Stacking the work
Heinen fits in her runs around her law school schedule. “I’m very type A about scheduling, so every week, I’ll plan out exactly what time of the day I have a free spot to get a run in,” she said.
With both law school and marathon training, Heinen said, “It’s the same idea of putting your head down and doing the work.” With a marathon, “It’s just about getting the mileage in. I think it’s really very similar to the way that you go all semester with law school, and you do your readings and you have to stay on top of things and do everything each day, but then you don’t really get to see the results until you go and take a final exam.
“I spent all summer training for the marathon and didn’t necessarily know how it was going to go until I went out there. It’s just stacking work and being driven.”
Race day
When Heinen got to the starting line of the Detroit Free Press Marathon, she wasn’t sure what to expect. She had run 22 miles in her training, but never the full marathon distance. “It’s odd when you do a race that you’ve never even run that distance before,” she said. “But I feel like I’ve always been good at keeping a rhythm. That’s what I learned with the 10k, so that really helped, just staying within myself.”
She said she went out a little fast but then settled into her pace. The course is international: It goes over the Ambassador Bridge into Windsor, Ontario, and back under the Detroit River through the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel. “I ended up feeling really strong in the last mile or so, which was unexpected. I was able to sprint it in to get under 2:50.”
This winter, Heinen will compete in some shorter races, including the USATF Cross Country Nationals, and then plans to run another marathon this spring and the Chicago Marathon next fall.
Running appeals to Heinen in part because “it’s one of those sports where you can very clearly see when you’re improving,” she said. But it also helps clear her mind.
“There’s a thought that if you want to succeed in law school or any really hard degree, you have to put all of your energy into just school and just school activities,” Heinen said. “I think that it actually helps to step away.”
“Coming into law school and leaving collegiate running, I wasn’t sure if it was something I was going to be able to continue seriously and really succeed in. I think I’ve learned a lot about myself and my dedication and my love of the sport to be able to keep doing this on my own initiative,” she said. “It’s exciting to feel like I can still be very involved in law school and still not give up on something that makes me very happy.”
Banner photo courtesy of the Detroit Free Press Marathon.