FOX CITIES, Wis. (WFRV) - The Community First Fox Cities Marathon was called off Sunday morning before most runners had butterflies in their stomachs. Many found out over breakfast, giddy for the big day they spent months waiting for and preparing for. “I was really disappointed. I was already up and eating breakfast and getting ready to go," half marathon entrant Allison Rueff said. “I’ve been training for about the past four months or so for the event, so I was bummed to see that it was canceled this morning, but I do understand that we were having thunderstorms rolling in.” Residents in Green Bay participate in Good Neighbor Week through improvement projects “First marathon ever. I've done the half a few times, but I was giving myself a bigger goal to go for the full," Rueff's running mate Katie Stanley said. "I was pretty bummed when I found out this morning, I understand why they had to do it, but it was definitely a disappointment. 18, 20 weeks of training, and I was really looking forward to today.” "I was crying, I was crying," marathon entrant Kelsey Keller said. "You train, and you train for it, and you find your reason why." With more than 2,400 participants entered across all events, the race organizers know just what is at stake when deciding to cancel. They know that the date is circled on the calendar so far out for so many runners, but the safety of participants and volunteers is always the number one priority. “It’s an incredibly tough decision because we know that our participants have trained really hard for this moment in bringing themselves to our start line today, and we want to do everything we can to give them that platform so that they can go after their goals," Amanda Secor, Fox Cities Marathon race coordinator, said. “It was looking as if we would have thunderstorms, lightning, heavy rain into mid-morning. We do have a one-hour time delay that we can delay our start by an hour, but with our forecast it was exceeding that time frame.” That maximum one-hour delay is a result of the intense logistics that go into planning the race that winds through the Fox Valley. “We cross through seven different communities and we have a variety of police, municipal, volunteers controlling intersections, and we have to be mindful about road closures,” Secor said. “When you think about the complexities of a 26.2-mile course going through 7 different communities and three different counties, it really is complicated and complex, and it has community impact.” Although the race may have been called off, volunteers still worked throughout Sunday's aftermath. “We’re undoing the things that have been done. We will continue to clean up and make sure all of our resources are put away. We’re making arrangements to have all the food that would have been at our finish line donated to local food pantries," Secor said. “Weather is the one thing we can’t control. It’s all about safety.” According to Secor, participants have a month to record a virtual marathon to try to win a medal and are offered a discount for next year's race. Rain was plentiful, especially early Sunday morning, but lightning and thunder were minimized. As a result, many runners still ran their routes despite no official race being organized. “We’re hoping to get out there and run. I don’t know if we’ll do the whole 26 miles,” Stanley said before heading off into the mist. “It’s a lot of work to get to this point, so we’ll see if I do it again.” “I’ve done a lot of half marathons, but I’ve never done a full marathon, and it just seemed like a goal I wanted to try to reach," Rueff said. Just as Rueff and Stanley took their first few strides at UWO Fox Cities, Kelsey Keller and Brittney Mertens were rounding the last few bends of their half-marathon route approaching Riverside Park in Neenah. “We were running in pouring rain. We started running at about 7 a.m. when it was pouring out," Keller said. “Only my second time running in the rain, so it was an experience for sure," Mertens said. “Hoo” could it be? Green Bay Metro Fire Department helps remove mystery animal from vehicle But they did it for their own reasons. Keller's two surprised her by waiting for her at the finish line. "You find your reason why, my girls over there," she said. “Being a mom and losing yourself can be hard. Being a mom is the best thing that’s happened in my life, but sometimes, I’ve lost myself in it. And running’s giving me a little bit of me back and made me a better version of a mom for them.”