When Chef Tee Cozy strains up for the Chicago Marathon on Oct. 12, 2025, it’ll be the eleventh time the top chef from Cozy Noodles n’ Rice, a Thai restaurant in Wrigleyville, Sick., has run the race.
If there’s one factor obvious within the opening scenes of this new quick movie — the debut within the new PACE SETTERS collection by iRunFar in partnership with HOKA — it’s that Chef Tee, who moved to Chicago from Thailand in 1996, loves his metropolis. He additionally loves working. And he brings that very same sense of affection to all he does.
[Editor’s Note: If you are unable to see the video above, click here to access it.]
With the looming Chicago Marathon, we be taught what the occasion means to Chef Tee, who got here to the U.S. seeking alternative, and within the meantime, discovered group and which means in working. What began as one thing executed for train and enjoyable, working turned a central tenet in Tee’s life after a good friend inspired him to use for the 2014 Chicago Marathon.
He nonetheless appears shocked when describing the expertise of getting accepted all these years later. After taking practically 8 hours to finish that first marathon, he by no means appeared again. “I’ve to say working modified my life. It undoubtedly modified my life in the easiest way.”
However there’s extra to working for Tee than the straightforward act of placing one foot in entrance of the following. It’s about group, friendship, setting objectives, and bringing love into every thing he does. The truth that working typically mirrors life, or life mirrors working, will not be misplaced on Tee when he says, “Operating will help me create one thing good in my life, too.”
Having raced the Chicago Marathon 10 instances now, Tee shares tales of the group that has gathered round him through the years. His household waits for him on the similar spot annually, his clients collect between miles 7 and 9 to cheer him on, and he hosts a free carb-loading meal for any Chicago Marathon runner.
Tee clearly goals to imbue every thing he does with love. In his restaurant, he says, “All people had meals, however when you can add up some love and happiness and fervour into your meals and serve it, and within the place you may have, I ought to have extra success too.”
He explains, “In my tradition, we all know one another, we discuss, we’re very honest. Right here, generally, if we don’t know one another properly, we don’t present what’s in our coronary heart.”
Tee reveals what’s in his coronary heart. In his working, he’s fast to specific his gratitude for his working group, for the streets of Chicago, and for the individuals within the metropolis.
This movie is a reminder that there’s a lot extra to working than meets the attention, and everybody who laces up a pair of footwear has their very own causes for displaying up. With earnestness, Tee reminds us of the significance of objectives, of displaying up for ourselves and our communities, and of current in an area of gratitude and appreciation.
This publish was sponsored by HOKA.
