Sisters Mara and Magen Polczynski usually jog together every day.

But, with about 24 hours of planning, they’re shooting for something a little more challenging — running 26 miles over 26 hours. They started at 6 p.m. Friday with an easy jog down a sunny suburban street, and plan to hop to new locations every hour until 7 p.m. Saturday. And then probably sleep all day Sunday, said mother Debbie Polczynski of North Huntingdon.

Friends and family members have joined the marathon challenge. Mara, 17, and Magen, 20, will be shuttled by mom or dad Andrew Polczynski to a different location where they will meet up with a new running buddy every hour.

“The more people that they talked to, the more wanted to do it with them,” Debbie Polczynski said.

They recruited companions for each leg of the race — and were surprised to find friends eager to sign up to run in the small hours of the morning.

“Actually those were the first time spots to go,” Magen Polczynski said. “People were, I don’t know, really excited to run in the middle of the night.”

Mara Poczynski was less excited than her sister just before the the first leg of the run.

“I don’t want to do this,” she said, laughing. “”I’m just doing this because I don’t want her to run by herself.”

Magen Polczynski said she saw a video of a woman doing the same thing on social media site TikTok and convinced Mara to join.

“I love running, I always have,” she said. “It’s relaxing for me.”

The sisters typically run a few miles together daily since school was canceled for the academic year amid the coronavirus pandemic. Mara is a junior at Norwin High School. Magen attends Westminster College. Both are active in sports, such as basketball and lacrosse, year round but their spring seasons were canceled.

Neither has run a marathon before.

Taylor Ingel, a friend of the Polczynskis who ran the first stretch with them and planned to run the last, said she wasn’t surprised when the fun-loving sisters came to her with the idea.

“They’re always doing crazy stuff like this,” she said.

The final mile will be at Irwin Park. They will be able to catch a nap or grab something to eat while being shuttled to the next location. Rather than starting each run on the hour, they’ve tried to stagger the schedule, occasionally giving themselves 90 minutes or so to try to sleep.

“We’re going to be tag teaming this carpool,” Debbie Polczynski said.

Renatta Signorini and Jacob Tierney are Tribune-Review staff writers. You can contact Renatta at 724-837-5374, rsignorini@triblive.com or via Twitter @byrenatta. You can contact Jacob at 724-836-6646, jtierney@triblive.com or via Twitter @Soolseem.

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