Note – this blogs – “ 78.6 Miles – a Tale of Three Cities, and the one following called “The Tecumsah Trail Marathon Report” were actually some of my early writings about “going the distance” from 2005. I had originally just sent them out as a long email, but to keep everything together, I thought I would repost them here for anyone who can’t get enough. Happy 2008 Everyone!
Hi Friends and Family –
I've had a great few weeks - the adventure continues....
Just got done with Three, yes Three Marathons in 14 days
Three Marathons, Three Sundays.
Toronto, Milwaukee, Chicago. Working my way South.
Three Finishers Medals.
Three T-shirts.
And yes, these were all 26.2 miles. And at some points, all of them seemed longer than that.
All I had to do was keep putting one foot in front of the other until I was done.......
Since I really had energized this months before, it was only a matter of showing up and doing my best in all three cases.
Interestingly, ALL of these cities sport a Lakefront and, in fact, were mostly run in close proximity thereto. They were unique, each one, but the distance was the same.
So, the first one - Toronto......
Flew up to Toronto with my friend Scott on Saturday, September 24th.. Midwest Airlines, the Best Care in the Air. Upon arrival, we saw a few sights, and went to a very lame pasta dinner, but the main thing was the race on Sunday.
The race was about 2,500 runners. Not a lot of US people, but many from other parts of the world, including several of the Kenyan crowd. A small expo, and a so-so pasta dinner, but it was great to be out of the Country as it were.
The main thing I noted about the race was that Canadians - runners and spectators - were really, really nice people. It was a cloudy, warm and Very Humid day. As this was, of course, a Non-US marathon, the course was marked in Kilometers - not miles. (Scott by the way dropped this bomb on me on the flight up, watching with an evil grin as I turned several shades whiter while trying to integrate the mathmatical complexities that this presented)
The nice thing I learned about Kilometers is that, unlike mile markers, they come at you pretty rapidly. Unfortunately (again unlike Mile Markers) there are Far More of them. 42 plus KM versus 26.2 Miles. I kept checking my watch and trying to calculate my pace...."uh point six-two miles to the Kilometer? Or is it 2.2 pounds to the Kilo" but I gave up quickly. As Homer Simpson says about the Metric System "OH! It's just So Stupid!!"
The course was mainly urban through and around Toronto, but with a nice lakefront stretch. A really nice thing was different flavored Gatorade at all the different Water Stops. All the colors of the rainbow.
It rained a little on the course, but, but I managed to turn it off well. Finish time in Toronto was 4:04. As during my efforts here, I felt the weight of the races to follow the whole time, I couldn't make up my mind to speed, or shuffle - and thus dithered until it was too late to break four hours. Came as close as I could though.
Toronto had the best Race Shirt - a Red Asic Technical with the race logo and no advertising.
The Monday after the race was pretty bad, a little stiff and sore, (and the flight home only a few hours after crossing the finish line didn't help) but I got to the YMCA as soon as I could and turned off a spin class or two to shake out the lactic acid. Thus I survived the next few days leading up to the next one.
Next stop - Milwaukee - back home in Wisconsin. October 2nd
Milwaukee was about 2,000 runners. A stunning fall day, with bright sunshine. A point-to-point course, starting in Grafton, a suburb 26 miles north of Milwaukee, and following the lake all the way down to the North Milwaukee Lakefront park. The course is rolling downhill, and you have everything from Farm Fields, to parks, to Lakefront Mansions, and lakefront bike paths. There was a very nice breeze the whole way, that was cooling, not one to fight. Milwaukee is really homey - they put your name on your race bib so people cheer for you by name - and all the spectators do!
I had actually volunteered to be a Race Co-Captain for the Packet Pickup this year and as such was on my feet non-stop for the two days before the race, shuffling boxes, dealing with nervous runners and helping manage several volunteers. No sleep Saturday night as we had to be in Grafton for Race Day Packet pickup at the crack of dawn.
That being said, I still had the funnest (and almost the fastest) race of the three - turned off a 4:06 (it would have been faster in KM - ha!) but felt really great the whole way. Had a lot of fun working the crowd of spectators and runners, most of which I had given their packet to the day before. And, had a great downhill kick at the end with a stunning lakefront finish. Milwaukee is definitely my home town now!
Oh, and Milwaukee had the second-best shirt - a GREY technical with the race logo. Not as cool as Toronto! HOWEVER, I also got a very cool Black Volunteer Sweatshirt....AND an REI "Race Staff" Polar fleece for my Captain's duties. I'm Sporting Milwaukee gear three days a week now.....
I did the same thing as after Toronto, off to the YMCA for some spin classes immediately the morning following the Marathon. Also threw in a few hot tub sessions and did some shorter runs of the 3-4 mile variety during the week. Was ready to line up again for….
Chicago.....my old hometown. October 9
I gotta say, for those who don't know it - Chicago is a Really Big Race.
Really REALLY Big.
The runner expo in Chicago occupies about a city block in McCormick Place, a huge convention hall. It is like a major concert event. A cacophony of noise, people, activity, big companies - the City of Big Shoulders. You walk for about a mile just to get your packet and runner bib.
Over 40,000 runners signed up for the race. It is estimated that over a Million people spectate.
A million people.......
I've done Chicago 12 times now. Each time I ask myself "Why do I always do Chicago?"
Answer - 'cause it's there.... Or someone talks me into it. Or something. And, each year I forget what a crowd it is.... Can someone remind me next year, please?
Anyway come race day, it was a perfect day, weatherwise. Cool with a breeze, about 60 degrees. After all the speechifying and noise, and starting line hoopla, it took me only 6 minutes to get past the starting line after the gun went off. Which, for Chicago is not bad at all. The course covers all the great neighborhoods - Lincoln Park, the Loop, Wacker Drive, Little Poland, Greek Town, Little Mexico, China town...ending in Grant park by Buckingham fountain. Non-stop crowd support, bands, cheerleaders, screaming people, sirens - again, a CACOPHONY of noise. Lots of water stops, with blocks of spilled Gatorade, which, by the way resulted in treacherous footing from empty cups, gel packs, water......
It is a pretty flat course, except for one pretty good hill, which, for comedic purposes I'm sure, they put in the last .3 miles of the course.
I had a LITTLE foot pain, but managed to ignore it with the help of my friend I.B. Prufen - finishing in 4:11, which I put down to the crowd, and all the lateral movement, dodging walkers, empty cups, tiptoeing through the water stops.....etc. Oh, and probably doing two other ones the weeks before may have had an effect..... I was really glad to see the finish line, and kept cutting deals with myself to keep moving.........
Interesting that the winner of the Chicago finished the course in 2:07 (and I think he get's $50,000 for that) . At 2:07 on the clock, I was at about mile 13.6, or a little over half way. I suppose that the nice thing about running fast, is you can get off our feet quicker, but I bet if HE had to run for four hours......Oh, never mind.....:-)
Unfortunately for my Hometown the Chicago Marathon shirt, in fact, SUCKED.
As usual, by the way.
Too bad that one of the biggest races in the country has the worst shirt.
Prior to Chicago, I had considered adding Indianapolis to the list this upcoming weekend, making it "four in four" but right now, I'm looking forward to a weekend WITHOUT a Marathon. But, give me a day or so to recover..............
So, that is how I've spent the first few weeks of the fall of 2005. I guess there are worse ways to spend Eternity. And, you should see all my cool finisher medals!
Oh, and anybody want an XL Chicago Marathon Long Sleeve T-shirt? never worn! would be a great thing to wrap a Cold Dog or Cat in........
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Blessings to you all, and thanks for reading my ramblings....
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