(Sunday Paper, Year VIII, Issue 42)

Last Sunday I ran the Chicago Marathon so of course we need to discuss it for maybe a couple more weeks.

(Exactly how long depends on how many pictures I think are worth sharing.)

There’s a lot I’m still going through in my head about the whole experience - almost all of it is good.

I’m sure more will come to mind at some point but here are some of my initial thoughts following my fourth marathon.

The Race

I guess the fact that this was marathon number four is a good place to start. You may remember that marathon number three was…not great. So there was kind of a lot riding on this one for me. After a good training cycle, another miserable run would not be ideal.

I’ve heard people suggest that you have multiple goals for a long race like this - an A goal, a B goal, et cetera. I didn’t write these out but I kind of had them in my head - if I had to write them now I guess the A goal was to set a personal best, my B goal was to break that 5 hour mark, and my C goal was to try to enjoy the experience…and really the overarching goal was to not fall apart like I did in North Carolina.

I didn’t get that B goal, which I’ve mentioned has been a goal before. Tossing the North Carolina one aside, I’ve felt more prepared with each successive marathon. And, essentially, I think, they’ve all been the same.

My first Boston was 5:05, but I stopped to say hi to family and I don’t know that it was two minutes worth of stopping time, but there was stopping. And Boston #2 and Chicago were both 5:03. So, in this context, three minutes seems like a lot of minutes to overcome.

But, C goal achieved…and A goal was actually achieved too: the second Boston was 5:03:48, and Chicago was 5:03:42. So I think it’s kind of hilarious that I improved by 6 seconds. (And, I should mention: I had to pee at the very start of the race. The feeling might have gone away if I waited long enough…but there was an opportunity to grab a porta-potty about six miles in and I grabbed it. Evidence that the feeling might have not gone away is that the pee was not a quick pee. I don’t think it was 3 minutes long…but it certainly was longer than my average pee. So. Did the pee cost me a sub-5 hour marathon? I don’t think so. But my Strava tracked me at 4 hours, 56 minutes. So let the record show maybe? Also, at right you can see my tracked diversion.)

I liked the Chicago Marathon, but I had a weird sensation over the weekend (not the pee)and I couldn’t quite place it until Monday or Tuesday: I really like Chicago. I thought I was going to enjoy the Chicago Marathon and check out the city as an extra. I think the way it turned out was this was an outstanding trip to Chicago with a marathon mixed in.

The City

So let’s talk about that weekend.

I’ve mentioned before this was my third trip to Chicago - the first came in 2015, for a friend’s bachelor party, and the second was in 2018 - Kathy had a work trip that took up a couple of days but all of us came and I spent a couple of days with the girls and then Kathy joined us for a couple of days. I think that’s how it went.

Back in 2015 we did the architecture boat tour one day and I remembered loving that so Kevin, Danielle, and I did that on Monday after the marathon. I loved it again…and I will love it a third time if I go back.

Monday was fun because everyone wears their medals around the city and there are discounts for marathon finishers and I remembered seeing that last year on social media and thinking, “If I do Chicago I’ll just wear my medal on Monday.” As it turns out, people told me Boston and New York do this too but I guess since I live outside of Boston and didn’t stay in the city the next day I didn’t realize it. So, long story short, it’s nice that these cities celebrate their marathoners the next day.

I won’t pretend to know the city of Chicago the way I know Boston, but I now have a familiarity with the route of the marathon and I am trying to learn more about the different neighborhoods I ran through. The Under Armour store had this cool mural on the wall that I took a picture of to get a sense of the neighborhoods. (I also got a free poster at the expo that survived the trip home that similarly lays out neighborhoods.)

My hotel, I think, was in Streeterville. I like that area - on Tuesday before I left I walked down by the lakefront and now I need to convince one of the girls to go to school in Chicago so I can visit the city often. I really love it there.

The Weekend

Ronald McDonald House Charities is obviously a great place to raise money for. But Team RMHC also, as it turned out, took great care of us as runners. On Saturday night they hosted a pasta dinner and there was a family that spoke and shared their experience with the Chicago Ronald McDonald House. It was nice not to have to scramble for dinner or wait in lines the night before the race. As it turned out, too, Carey Pinkowski, the Chicago Marathon race director, stopped in to say a few words. (RMHC also provided a tent where we could hang out before the race and then after the race, with some lunch too.)

So Saturday night was the pasta dinner, and the rest of the weekend was pretty much deep dish pizza from various places. Giordano’s was my pick for best…although the line was too long at Lou Malnati’s, so I can’t compare it to that one. (I guess with how busy it was it must be pretty good.)

I brought a lot of work to do and didn’t touch any of it until Tuesday early in the morning (I did not sleep well on this trip) when I panicked and tried to get at least one thing completed. (I succeeded.)

I have more thoughts but I think I’ll leave it here for now.

We’ll relive this for at least one more week.