Golf Courses brag loudly about their course designers. There are the Jack Nicklaus, or Arnold Palmer, or Pete Dye courses around the world that draw golfers based on reputation. It's a great business for retired (or active) golfers to get into. Tiger Woods recently signed some multi-million dollar deal for the golf course design business he's starting up.
I've probably run hundreds of races over the years, but I'm pretty sure I couldn't tell you the name of the person that mapped out the race course for more than a couple of them. And those I can name happen to be friends of mine. So I found it pretty interesting that the Rock N Roll Half marathon folks promoted the name of their course designer.
Then again, when you have a two time Olympian deciding on the route runners will take through Chicago, it's worth crowing about. The man who designed this year's Rock N Roll course was Alan Culpepper, who is quite familiar with running in Chicago, having tied the American record for a marathon debut (2:09:41) at the 2002 Chicago marathon.
Culpepper's resume is impressive. In addition to his two Olympic teams (2000, 2004) he was on 4 world championship teams, and won three U.S. Cross country titles and three track titles at 10k and 5k. He also won the Olympic trials marathon in 2004, finished 12th in Olympic marathon in Greece, and in 2005 was 4th in the Boston Marathon.
Interestingly, those are four of just six marathons Culpepper has run. And he didn't run a great deal of shorter races on the roads either. For much of his career, he was focused on the track, where he set p.r.'s of 3:55 for the mile, 13:25 for the 5k, and 27:33 in the 10k. Yeah, that's pretty good speed and versatility!
He did enough on the roads, however, to have developed a strong interest in the organizational side of racing. So when Culpepper retired a couple years ago from the elite circuit, he was looking for a way to stay involved in running. And rather than coaching or merchandising, like many other retired elite runners, he hooked up with the Competitor group, which produces the Rock N Roll racing series.
His title is Director of Operations, which means he not only designs the course, but makes sure everything runs smoothly on race day. For the Chicago race, his challenge was to work with the city to come up with a course entirely on the streets rather than using the lakefront path for the latter half of the race, as they had done in recent years. He had to do that within the constraints of different road construction projects, Church schedules, and neighborhood concerns.
He tells me his goal was to make it as "Chicago marathon-esque" as possible. This year's race had about 21,000 entrants, and has really come into it's own in Chicago. Culpepper says he wanted to focus on highlighting the city, and made sure the runner's experience, from elite to beginner, was as pleasant as possible. Among the challenges he faced was figuring out where to put the 13 bands along the course. It seems a lot of non-runners who live in the neighborhoods object to loud music starting at 6:30 in the morning!
Culpepper says he was pretty pleased with the end result, especially parts of the course through the loop that attracted large cheering throngs of family and friends cheering on the runners. This was a great part of the course for them to gather, because it was walking distance to the start and finish area as well. On the downside, he says he thought there were a few too many cars still parked on the course for his liking.
I'd have to say I barely noticed any cars. But I did notice the great way the course incorporated the downtown streets, before winding through the loop and south past McCormick Place and back to Grant Park along Lake Shore Drive. I enjoyed the placement of the bands along the course, and appreciated that it was mostly flat and fast with few 90 degree turns. In other words, it was a really enjoyable run that showcased the city well.
Culpepper says he's enjoying this aspect of the business even more than he expected. He hasn't raced in a couple of years, and runs mostly for fitness these days. In the meantime, he's making a living and having fun trying to make sure other runners enjoy doing the races he helps organize. Not a bad gig.
See you on the roads.......
I really liked the RnR Half course. Highlights: Running by the Willis Tower twice, by the Berghoff, under the Lake Street "L", then the mile or so straightaway at the finish.
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