Too often lately I feel like I've been using this space as a bit of a diary, writing about my own running. That's fun for me, but I don't know how entertaining it is for others to read. So, for a change of pace, I thought I'd introduce you to one of Chicago's better amateur runners.
27 year old Greg Costello was the top area finisher in the Olympic marathon trials a few months ago in New York. He ran his marathon P.R. that day with a 2:20:28 on what was a fairly difficult course. I got a chance to talk to Greg a few days ago as he was preparing to head to Osaka, Japan to represent Chicago in the Osaka half marathon. His participation is being sponsored by the city as part of the 'Sister Cities' program.
Greg is self-coached for the most part, though he gets a lot of input and advice from Chris Wehrman, another top Chicago area runner. I found it interesting that Greg tried to qualify for the trials in the 2006 Chicago marathon, but came up short. He was confident he was in shape to run a qualifying time though, so he continued training for a couple more months and ran a qualifying time at the Austin marathon in February. That meant having to do some heavy training during the harsh winter conditions we always face here in Chicago, but he got it done.
Leading up to the trials, he averaged about 110 miles but got in a few 130 mile weeks before the race. Most of those runs were along the lakefront path, but he did get out to Waterfall Glen occasionally. For hills, he says he ran some up Cricket hill along the path near Montrose, but really didn't do much else. He also did some work on the track ranging from 1000 meter to mile repeats (6).
Obviously it worked. On a day when many of the other runners struggled in New York during the trials, he was one of about two dozen who set P.R.'s. and now that he has a taste of it, he says he's hoping someday to qualify for the trials again, perhaps on the track in the 10,000 meters.
His immediate goals for this season are to improve his P.R. times in shorter races like the 5 and 10k. He's run 14:28, and 30:09, but he believes he can get close to 29:00. Long term, he says he'd like to do some of the legendary marathons like Boston and New York, but he knows he has plenty of time to do those. And as one of the footware managers at Fleet Feet Sports, he has a job that caters to his training.
It's great to see runners like Greg making up a strong group of competitive runners leading the pack in lots of local races. There is some pretty good competition up front these days, and it's always great to see them down the home stretch of races while I'm running in the pack quite a distance behind. Congratulations to Greg and good luck in Osaka!
See you on the roads...
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