First She Ran the New York City Marathon. Then She Raced to Indianapolis for the Eras Tour (Exclusive)

Mar. 15, 2025

Kensi Knowling after finishing the New York City Marathon (left); Kensi Knowling at the Eras Tour in Indianapolis hours later, both on Nov. 4, 2024.Photo:Kensi Knowling

Kensi Knowling

It was a night 26.2 miles in the making … plus 658 more.

Kensi Knowling finally got lucky when, last summer, her mom secured tickets forthe Indianapolis stop of Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour. There was only one problem: the 25-year-old was planning to runthe New York City marathonthat same day.

Kensi Knowling (center right) and her friends celebrating after she finished the New York City Marathon on Nov. 4, 2024.Kensi Knowling

It worked, and three weeks before the marathon, Knowling learned her race would begin at 9:45 a.m. That day, she finally booked her plane ticket from New York City’s LaGuardia Airport for Indianapolis. Now she just had to run the 26.2-mile race at the pace she’d set for herself, which was no small feat since she’d also spent five months of the year injured.

Kensi Knowling and her New York City Marathon medal.Kensi Knowling

As the race started, Knowling let “the crowds and the music” carry her forward for the first section. She tells PEOPLE, “Around mile 14, I finally had the thought of, ‘Oh my gosh, this is still feeling great. I’m going to make it to Taylor Swift.”

“I realized I could slow down significantly and still make it,” she remembers. Also, before the race began, Johnston had let Knowling know about all the TikTok commenters and Swifties who were cheering her on.

“I was thinking of them at mile 23 when it got hard. All these people are tracking me and they believe in me, I’m going to be able to get there,” she says. “That was a great feeling.”

Knowling had worked out all the logistics from the end of the race to her Indianapolis arrival in advance. Her friends met her at the finish line with a bag she’d packed with an outfit for the plane and her dress for the show. She had asked Reddit users for advice on the best way to get from the finish line to the airport. Once she was in the sky, she changed into her concert outfit on the plane. Of course, she left her marathon medal on for the concert, too. “That was one the thing people kept asking,” she says about the medal. “I was like, ‘Duh, I’ve got to.’ “

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Kensie Knowling ready for the Eras Tour.Kensi Knowling

Knowling’s flight ultimately landed 40 minutes before Swift took the stage. Her uncle drove her the 15 minutes from the airport to Lucas Oil Stadium, where she ran to meet her mom, her sister and her best friend just moments before the show began.

“I was literally thinking, ‘This is the hardest part of the run, running off the plane into the stadium,’ ” she says. “It was very crazy. Everything was down to the wire.” During the three-hour Eras tour show, she didn’t sit, lest she start to fall asleep.

And it was almost like Swift knew about Knowling’s journey and was celebrating her at the show.

The dress Swift wore for thesurprise song acoustic setmatched the one Knowling was wearing, and Swift’s first song in that set combined “Cornelia Street” and “The Bolter,” which both had special significance for her.

“The Bolter,” fromThe Tortured Poets Department, was the song Johnston used whenshe posted the videoof Knowling greeting her family at the concert, thanks to its lyrics about running. And Knowling would usually run home from her marathon training onthe real Cornelia Streetin N.Y.C. “I was freaking out,” she says. “And my friends and family were like, ‘Why are you freaking out?’ And I’m like, ‘This is for me.’ It couldn’t have been more perfect.”

Kensi Knowling holding her marathon medal at the Eras Tour on Nov. 4 in Indianapolis.Kensi Knowling

Now, Knowling is relaxing and recovering with family in Indianapolis before returning to New York City later this week.

Many marathon watchers on Sunday’s route held Swift-themed signs, which Knowling says were “amazing” to see. “There was one that said, ‘Taylor Swift is waiting for you at the finish line.’ And I was like, little do they know, she actually is waiting for me.”

source: people.com