The selfish runner

I read once that running a marathon is a very selfish thing.  Being single at the time, and a runner my whole life, I never thought of it that way.  But as I train for Chicago this time around, I'm reminded of that thought.  And it's really true.  Running really can force sacrifices from other members of your family.

We have two baby girls under the age of two.  It's a full time job to take care of them as you can imagine.  So when I go off to run long on Saturday morning it usually means my wife has the burden of taking care of the kids all morning.  And when we go out of town and everyone is anxious to go out to breakfast, and begin the day's activities, they aren't necessarily happy about having to wait for me to run first.  Unfortunately, when you are training for a race, especially a marathon, you have to follow your training plan rather closely.  And it doesn't generally allow for many days off.

I'm grateful to my wife and family for their understanding about my running.  She has done a couple marathons herself, so she knows what's involved.  It seems, though, like all runners get amnesia about the sacrifice involved in training for previous races when they decide to do another marathon.  I'm into double digits now in that category.  But now that I'm this far along, there's no turning back.  I'll just have to owe my wife a couple months of early morning duty after October 22nd!

Anyway, I am hearing from some of you that you are interested in training tips from experts.  I plan to share some thoughts from the coaches at Chicago Endurance Sports later this week.  In the meantime, I can tell you what I'm doing right now.  I've been gradually increasing my distance on weekends to get to 20 miles.  I did that last weekend, and plan on doing a couple more 20's in the next month.  During the week I'm doing 3 or 4 pretty easy runs, and one longer, harder run.  Sometimes it's a track workout (mile repeats), other times it's a longer tempo run with maybe a few hills thrown in.  I'm trying to get one day of cross-training and strength work in as well as one day of real rest.  I'm not doing as well in that category as I should, but that's always tough. 

I run because I love running, not because I love other kinds of working out.  In any case, that basic plan has evolved from the more strict schedules I followed when training some of the marathons I've run before.  There are lots of different training plans and ideas, but most have the elements I've mentioned to some degree.  I know a lot of first time marathoners worry when they fail to follow the training schedule to the letter, but believe me, if you get most the long runs in on the weekends at least, you'll be fine.

marathon preps

Like many of you, I'm training for the Chicago marathon in the fall.  In fact, I'm planning a 20 miler tomorrow morning.  I always feel that when you get to that point you have done the work, and it's a nice feeling, that you should be able to finish it without a problem.  I'm figuring on doing two or three 20 milers before the race.

In any case, since that is where my head is at right now, I thought it would be a good time to talk to the head person at the LaSalle Banks Chicago marathon.  Carey Pinkowski is not only the race director, but an accomplished marathoner himself.  He was the Indiana state cross country champion, and has run 2:20 in the Chicago marathon (before he was involved in it).  And he was a fan of the race loing before he became race director.  Under his guidance over the last 16 years, the race has grown from near extinction, to an event that sold out before most training programs had even begun this spring.

I'm reading a book about the history of the Chicago marathon right now by Andrew Suozzo.  I'm interviewing him during our Sunday morning show on Channel 7.  Anyway, it's got me up on some of the background of the race.  It's also been a look back for me.  I remember watching Steve Jones run the world record here on television.  And I remember running the race in 1995 with about 12,000 others.  The last time I ran was two years ago, and it was sold out.  It's been amazing to watch the growth year to year.

Carey says about two-thirds of the runners are now from outside Chicago, and about 5,000 are from out of the country.  It's really become a major tourist destination race.  Last year it was the top grossing hotel and restaurant weekend in Chicago. He believes they had to turn away about 10,000 applicants this year.  He's firm on holding at 40,000 runners though because he wants to make sure he can provide a good experience for everyone, and he believes 40,000 is the threshold.

That brings up another subject.  The last few years the race has been in early October, on Columbus day weekend.  This year it's moved back to October 22.  Carey says it's because the city asked him to do it to help fill the hotels that weekend.  The city has been supportive of the race, so it's the least he can do.  He has it scheduled back to Columbus day weekend after this year though.  I asked him whether he was concerned about the weather later in October, and he laughed.  He realizes the race has been blessed with remarkably good weather almost every year.  He says it may be a little colder on the 22nd, but some people have been concerned that it was too warm in earlier October because of Indian summer.  That probably means he's going to get perfect weather once again.

As far at the field, he's still working on some of the professionals.  Felix Limo is going to be back to defend his men's title.  Deena Kastor is going to try New York this year, after winning Chicago last year, but there will be a strong women's field.  The race has a history of launching great runners, and Carey has a reputation for discovering talent.  4-time winner (and former world record holder) Khalid Khannouchi is the best example, and Evans Rutto also ran a world debut record here.  So maybe we will be introduced to another new star this year.

I expect to share some of the rest of my chat with Carey in future blogs.  And in the coming weeks, I plan to have some training tips from some of the top coaches in the area.  So stop back, and if you get a chance, take at look at the interview with Andrew Suozzo on Sunday morning.

Til then, see you on the roads.

CARA

I was in the newsroom the other day when one of my running friends at the station asked about the mile markers on the lakefront path.  She thought they had been changed and were off a bit, and wondered whether I knew what the story was.   I didn't know, but it gave me an opportunity to call the people who would have all the answers.

The Chicago Area Runners Association is the foremost advocate for runners in the city and suburbs.  In particular, they are guardians of the lakefront path, the jewel many of us are grateful for.  Anyway, I called Ann Marie Houlihan, the executive director of CARA, for answers about the path.

I should mention sheepishly, that I am not a CARA member.  I run on weekends with the same guys I've been running with for years, and during the week, I run by myself.  I've thought about joining, but have never done it.  So, I was not really aware of what they do other than their fabulously popular marathon training program.

It turns out they do a number of things.   They have a whole list of standards (108) that race directors have to follow of qualify either as a CARA registered race, or the more stringent 'circuit race'.  Ann Marie says their primary objective regarding the running path is to help maintain the accuracy and comfort.  So she is the one who is out there with the wheel measuring the distances to make sure they are accurate.  They then consult with the Chicago Park District, who is in charge of it.  She says the people at the park district have been very receptive, and helpful.  Anyway, the update is that they remeasureed the northside running path this year for the first time in several years because of renovations to the path the Park District has made.  So they moved the mile markers a bit, and that process should now be finished, and more accurate.  They did the South loop last summer, and that should also be accurate.

I like to put pictures on this, because I think it adds a bit of color.  The only picture I have of the path, however is from a run last summer with our baby jogger.  We now have a double jogger, but I'm not a big fan.  Anyway, that's for another entry some other time.

Til then, see you on the path.

run hit remix

What a great time last night!  The run hit remix (renamed from run hit wonder) was last night downtown.  They also changed it from a 10k/5k choice to everyone running 5 miles.  They had bands at every mile and 10,000 runners on a warm, humid night.  It started at 9pm.  Very unusual, but that was part of the fun.  I saw a lot of familiar faces from the Chicago running community.  It seems this race is always filled with everyone from serious runners to serious music fans.  This is a picture of my wife finishing the race in a p.r.!

Speaking of the music, I'm curious what everyone else thought.  I have to admit, I wasn't blown away.  I know it's tough to find bands that appeal to the wide age range of runners out there.  My favorite was the U2 cover band on mile 4.  I saw there were alot of fans really into the headline concert afterward De La Soul.  It was fun, but I probably preferred last year's headliner, Joan Jett.

As far as the running part, I was trying to incorporate the racer into my marathon training, by turning it into a steady tempo-type run.  I wanted to run a little better than 7 minute pace, and make sure I still felt good enough to do a long run today.  And it worked out pretty well.  I ran about 34:20, and I'm planning on going 12-14 (a cut-back week) later this morning. 

It's tough to do a lot of otehr things during the summer when you are marathon training, so I'm taking advantage of the easier week to take Saturday to play golf instead of the long run.  I'm playing golf though with my usual running group.  Just can't get away from it entirely!

In any case, thanks for reading my ramblings.  I promise, I have some interesting stuff coming up soon.  I talked to the executive director of CARA the other day, and I will share some of that conversation in the next couple days.  And in the next couple weeks I plan on interviews with the director of the LaSalle Bank Chicago marathon, Carey Pinkowski, as well as coaches from Chicago Endurance Sports, and the owner of Fleet Feet Sports, Dave Zimmer. 

If you have any suggestions for others, let me know.  Til then, see you on the path!

CDC

Congratulations to all the runners in the Chicago Distance Classic!  I was anchoring Sunday morning as 10,000 of you passed by the streetside studio at State and Lake.  It was awesome.  I was pretty envious though.  What a great day to run!  The Chicago Distance Classic is notoriously one of the hottest days of the year, but this year the weather Gods were smiling on John Bingham and his new partners from LaSalle Bank.  The bank's involvement, along with making linking it to all the marathon training programs, helped more than double the size of the race.

ABC-7 and myself were associated with the CDC for years, when it was owned by the American Lung Association, and they struggled to get a couple thousand runners.  But this year they had 10,000 and they seem to be on track to get many more next year.  We interviewed my friend John Bingham on the air during the race, and I know he is pleased at how well it went.  I'm curious to hear from everyone who ran, what they thought of the course.

As for the marathon training part of it, I know it is good to have race experience about now, and the half marathon is a good distance for it.  Alot of the training programs have you going about that distance at this point anyway.  I am kind of making up my training program as I go along at this point.  I am building up the long runs.  18 this weekend, 20 in a couple weeks.  During the week I am doing one longer run or Track workout, and going pretty easy the other days.  I'm of the belief that the long runs are the most important part of being able to finish the marathon, and track workouts, hills, and tempo runs help you get there faster.  I remember from college cross country how much work you  could put in, and I'm definitely not anywhere near that.  But I'm enjoying it, which in my opinion, is the most important factor. 

I want to put pictures on this blog to make it more interesting, so this is a picture from the finish of the Soldier Field 10 mile over Memorial day weekend.  It's another fun race.  But I really just put it in here because it's the only one I could find in my wife's file of pictures.  Now if you want to see pictures of our kids......

Anyway, Jerry Taft wrote that he wanted to see more pictures of Alice Peacock.  And since this is a blog about running, I can show her running.  This is Alice after she finished running the Elvis is Alive 5k Saturday.  She ran well, and then did a quick change and was on stage singing less than a half hour later with Buzz Kilman and Elvis impersonator Mark Hussman.  Now that's impressive!  You can see the picture of her dressed as Priscilla Presley on my first posting. 

So if there is anything you want to talk about, or see pictures of, just add your comment, and we'll see what we can do.  I intend to include thoughts on marathon training from some of our area coaches in the next couple days.  So if there is anything specific you are wondering, let me know.  Keep running!

Introduction

Welcome to this site!  I'm glad you found it, and I hope you enjoy my thoughts on running, and are encouraged to share your own thoughts.

It's my intention to use this forum to write about one of my passions, running.  I know there are lots of other crazy people in the Chicago area and who share my love for running.  I saw many of you on the lakefront running path this morning, as I was enjoying a beautiful 18 miler. 

Yes, I'm training for a fall marathon.  I know there are thousands of others doing the same thing.  We share not only the running paths, but a language, understanding, and kinship.  My intention in starting this blog is to offer my thoughts and experiences from 25 years of running.  I ran in high school, college, and have about ten marathons under my belt since then.  I have yet to run a marathon I am happy with, but hey, it's the journey, not the destination right?

Anyway, I had plenty of time to think about what I wanted to write for this introductory message this morning as I ran solo for two hours and 20 minutes.  I want this to be about running, with plenty of talk about marathon training, but also about all levels of running and fitness.  I plan to offer tips and advice from some of the many experts I know in Chicago.  As we get going, I'll publish interviews with some of them.

I just emceed one of the most fun races on the summer calendar.  It's the Fleet Feet Sports 'Elvis is Alive 5k' in Lincoln park. It features a post race party with a concert by Elvis impersonator Mark Hussman, as well as appearances by singer Alice Peacock, and radio personality Buzz Kilman (as seen in the photo).  It was a blast. But there are lots of fun races this summer.  The Chicago Distance Classic is in the morning.  We'll have lots to talk about in the next few weeks and months.  In the meantime, enjoy the journey!