Do a Little Dance....

I love the concept.  There are some great races out there these days with themes that draw runners to what promises to be a good time.  There is the Rock-n-Roll series, The Elvis is Alive 5k, the Terrapin 5k, the Cinco de Miler, Soldier Field 10 miler, to name a few.  The Guaranteed rate Disco Dash promises to join those races as an 'event' type race that draws people not only for the run, but the party afterward.  Saturday's post-race party featured a concert by the band 'The Shagadelics'.

It was a relatively small race on the Lakefront path in Lincoln Park with about 600 runners.  But they were blessed with terrific weather, and a festive crowd of runners, many of whom were dressed in their best 'disco era' costumes.

I was honored to serve as emcee for the stage portion of the festivities.  That meant I got to introduce the founders of the Peapod Project, which is the charity that benefits from the race. They provide 'memory boxes' to parents who lose infants shortly after birth, helping them to preserve their memories of these children taken from them, tragically too soon.

Those duties interfered a little my pre-race routine.  I managed to get a couple miles in for a warm-up, but then never really had a chance to stretch or get myself mentally focused to race.  At least that's the excuse I'm going with for my sub-par race.

Really though, this was a very familiar course on a part of the path I used to run daily several years ago.  And the path was pretty busy with what seemed like thousands of runners ramping up the mileage on their long runs in training for the Chicago Marathon or another fall race.

We were all enjoying a great Chicago morning.  For me, this was an especially fun race because several of my friends decided to run it also.  My friend Greg Sanchez actually ran 15 miles as part of his marathon training before lining up for the 5k.  Then he ran a really good race, beating me by a few seconds.

 

In my role as emcee, I also got the opportunity to put a medal around the neck of my good friend and training partner, Rick Staback.  Rick easily won the 50-59 age group and finished third overall in the race.  He's training for the master's national championship 15k next weekend, and jumped into this race to get some good speed work.  We started out together in the race, and I watched him run away from the pack with a couple other runners early.  Good luck to Rick this weekend!

The Disco Dash really is all about fun, but also is for a great cause.  The Peapod Project provides memory boxes to parents who lose an infant child.  It helps comfort them through one of the most difficult times of their lives, and it becomes more important later in their lives.  The race sponsor, Guaranteed Rate, a mortgage company, really helped grow the race this year, and promises to make it even bigger in the next few years.

This one of a number of races coming up that have been on my calendar for some time, but seemed so far off during the middle of the summer.  Other than the Rock-n-Roll half  

marathon a couple weeks ago,I was enjoying a little respite from racing.  I guess that's over.  The other day I started thinking about the upcoming race schedule, and realized I've got a race coming up just about every weekend for the next couple months!

So congratulations to everyone who ran on Saturday.  If you'd like to check out the results, you can find them here:  http://results.active.com/pages/page.jsp?eventID=1984591&pubID=3 

I'll see you on the roads.....

 

Designed by a Celebrity

 
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.......

 

Rock On!

Some days you hit the halfway point in a race and wonder how you're going to manage to keep going for the second half.   Other days, you look up and realize you are past the halfway mark and didn't even notice it because the miles are flying by so easily.  Chances are, if you've been running for any length of time, you have probably experienced both feelings.

Most every year of the X-sport Rock-n-Roll Chicago half marathon (and it's earlier incarnation as the Chicago Distance Classic), I have felt the former sentiment.  It is traditionally just about the hottest day of the summer, and I'm usually dragging myself to the finish line.  Last Sunday, however, was different.  And it was great!

The skies were overcast, and the temperatures were in the 60's when we started at 6:30 in the morning.  As the miles clicked off, a light drizzle started falling. Race organizers were well prepared for heat with water sponges, hoses, and plenty of fluids along the course, but there was really little need for those on this day.

Because of past experiences with the heat at this race, and the fact that I've done minimal training for the last month or so, I had lowered expectations for the race.  In fact, I planned to run it for fun with a couple of friends, and catch up a little. 

And from the start, that's the way it went.  Dave Zimmer, of Fleet Feet Sports (far right), and Doug Kaplan (middle), of Competitor group (which puts on the race) and I agreed to go out at a little slower than eight minute pace.  I was feeling so good, I probably pushed them a little more than they preferred for the first few miles, and they reined me in a few times.  They are both strong runners, and on another day, I would be pushing to keep up with them.  But I was having a good day, and really enjoying the conversation, as well as our evaluations of the bands at every mile.

Nevertheless, when we hit about the six mile mark, after a water stop, I found myself a little ahead of them, and figured they were trying to get rid of me!  So I resigned myself to running alone for a while.  I immediately found I missed the conversation, but the miles were going by so easily, I figured I'd just run from one band to the next and continue to enjoy it.

And that's what happened.  The miles kept clicking away, and I really never felt them.  You gotta love a day like that.  Doug's colleague, Tom ran up to me during the last mile, and we pushed to the finish to make sure we were under 1:45, and we made it easily.  It was like a training run, which is kind of what I had in mind anyway.  It's about 7 minutes slower than a half marathon time I ran this spring, but every race of the season doesn't have to be about running a fast time.  This was not only much easier, but much more fun!

After it was over, the fun really began.  I wrangled a pass to the VIP tent, and there were some genuine celebrities there to rub elbows with.  And they all ran the race as well.  The fastest was someone I've admired for years, and was thrilled to get a chance to meet.  Roger Craig should be in the NFL hall of fame soon for his great career as the San Francisco 49er's running back.  Along with Montana, Young, and Rice, he led the 49ers to amazing success over the years.  As a lifelong Bears fan, I refuse to even look up the number of Super Bowls, but I know there were a lot.  And I know he did a lot of damage to the Bears over the years.  After getting the chance to meet him, I would nominate him to be in the hall of fame for nice guys as well.  He runs a lot of races these days, and has become a pretty accomplished distance runner.  Sunday he told me he had a little trouble with the humidity, but managed a 1:48. 

John Ondrasik, the lead singer of the group Five for Fighting also ran the race, after serving as the headlining act last year.  He followed through on a promise he made on stage last year to run the race, and he finished strong.  As did NBC Today show weather man Al Roker, who ran the race for the second year in a row and improved his time by more than a minute a mile.

It was a great day for a lot of the runners who've been suffering in the summer heat wave for the last several weeks.  It was nice to enjoy the cool weather again.  And I'm hoping it continues for the next race on my calendar.  It's the Guaranteed Rate Disco Dash, on the Lakefront path, starting by Diversey Harbor, and I'm honored by be serving as the emcee.  It also for the benefit of  a great cause, the Peapod Project.  You can find more information at the race website.

http://www.guaranteedrate.com/chicago-disco-dash-race.php

See you on the roads.......

A Fun Read

The title suggests it is a book about running.  Ok, I'm listening.  But, it turns out to be much more than that.  It's a book about priorities and perspective.  Jim Axelrod's journey is about so much more than completing a marathon.  Along the way, he discovered what is really important in life.  Now, you've got me.

On the surface, Axelrod and I seem to have a lot in common.  We're both broadcast journalists.  He's a CBS national correspondent, I manage to get a few stories on the air here in Chicago.  We're about the same age.  We are both runners, and balance our running with family and professional responsibilities.  Jim's book, In the Long Run, is about his effort to train for, and run the New York marathon.  I ran it the same year he did.

We are also quite different.  He is a well-travelled network correspondent who has covered the White House, the war in Iraq and many other big stories.  I occasionally get a road trip to Gary, or Dekalb.  He is the author of a book that was reviewed on the CBS morning show (you can find the interview here: http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7365589n).  I write a blog about running that I link to Facebook.  At least I've run more marathons than him!

Anyway, when I saw a brief review of the book somewhere a while back, I was immediately intrigued, and ordered a copy.  I often get backed up with the books and magazines that seem to pile up before I get a chance to read them, but this book immediately went to the top of the pile into the 'must read' category.

And once I started reading it, it was one of those books I didn't want to put down, but also didn't want to race through.  It's a thoughtful book, and I wanted the experience of reading it to last.

The running part is actually a pretty small portion of the book.  You wouldn't read it for training tips.  In fact, Axelrod took a pretty random, unorganized approach to training.  He was out of shape, overweight, drank too much, and hadn't run since high school when he got the bug.  He sought advice from relatives and friends, but he didn't follow any specific training program.  He increased the distance of his runs mostly based on confidence.  He stopped and started his running program numerous times over the year leading up to the marathon.  He did virtually nothing besides running different distances at the same pace.  No intervals, hills, or tempo runs. 

Initially his goal was to beat the time his late father had run at his age.  Eventually he realized 3:29 was well out of reach, and he decided that simply finishing was victory enough. 

He cut back on drinking, lost weight, and began to eat healthier.  And he did finish, in about 4:30.  He also hurdled numerous obstacles from work conflicts to injury to reach his goal.  And he made some realizations about his life that helped him understand that he needed to make fundamental changes in his priorities before it was too late. 

He emerged a better person, not for having finished a marathon, but because he learned to value his family more, and his career less.  He made peace with memories of his troubled relationship with his father.  He writes that it was tremendously emotional to cross the finish line in Central Park.  In many ways, it was just the beginning.

See you on the roads.....