It's been a great few days for visits to Chicago from some of the country's best marathon runners. Three different events brought three of the top runners here to Chicago to meet with local runners. I guess that's one advantage of living in this great city as opposed to Peoria (for instance).
The pictures here are from the Nike run last Thursday evening. They ran from the store on Michigan Avenue to the Field museum. It was an easy three miler, but there was a suprise waiting at the end. They had a mock finish line set up complete with people cheering, and top American runner Abdi Abdirahman joining them. I was unable to join them for the run, but I'm told it was great.
Marathon director Carey Pinkowski spoke at the end and introduced Abdirahman to the runners. Nike sponsored the event as part of their new sponsorship of the marathon. New Balance had been the Shoe and apparel sponsor for years, but Nike is taking over this year, and trying some innovative new things as part of that sponsorship. You gotta like the energy they bring to the table.
Monday night, another great American runner, Meb Keflezighi was in Chicago as well. He ran with the group from Fleet Feet Sports. The Olympic Silver medalist in 2004 is an amazing runner, and it was a treat to have him here.
But the biggest name runner was here at the Running Away store in Bucktown on Tuesday night. Joan Benoit Samuelson is really a national treasure. She won, as you probably know, the first Olympic Women's marathon in 1984. She held the course record here in the Chicago marathon for many years before Paula Radcliffe beat it a few years ago. And just a over a week ago she ran the Olympic trials marathon in 2:49, a record for women 50-54. That hardly does her resume justice, but I wanted to mention a few highlights. Meeting her is a thrill for most any runner. As I mentioned during our interview, she was America's sweetheard in 1984 after she won the marathon. If you would like to see my full interview with her you can. http://abclocal.go.com/wls/media?id=6111867
Off camera I asked her about her goals for the future, now that she seems to have accomplished just about everything imaginable. But she's not done yet! She said she wants to take advantage of the fitness she has right now from marathon training to try to set age group records in the 5k and 10k. It's great to see such an amazing athlete age so gracefully.
I can't think of many athletes who have been able to maintain world class running for such an extended period of time. Many of those who set age group records start running later in life. Here's hoping Joanie continues to run and inspire us for many years to come. Thanks to Nike also for bringing her to town.
The idea of bringing all these runners to town was to inspire runners as they kick off the training season. I'm not sure whether I'm inspired or intimidated, but either way it's been fun. Whatever you're training for, I hope you have the inspiration you need to get there!
See you on the roads....