The Prequel To The 50 In 50 By 50

In the spring of 2008, my wife decided to challenge me.  She saw that I was going through the motions of running the Chicago Marathon each year for the past seven years but did little else in the way of running and my times seemed to have plateaued.  For my birthday, she signed me up for a training group known as CARA (Chicago Area Runners Association).  Gasp!  Running is for introverts!  We do this to be alone with our thoughts, to hash out the day's frustrations, to...well, I guess I never knew running to be a social event.  Needless to say, I was a bit apprehensive about running with this group that was going to show me how to train for a faster marathon.  After all, the goal here was to qualify for the Boston Marathon.  I needed a 3:10 marathon and at the time, my best was a 3:22.  I needed some work and was willing to give this group thing a try.

There are certainly two sides to me with respect to socialization.  I could be as extroverted as one might anticipate considering I was the mascot in high school and college as well and an orientation leader in college.  However, I found solace in running and mowing the lawn, two of the most introverted activities I looked forward to often.  I should note that even though I've transformed my running into a soiree, mowing the lawn still remains the bee's knees of solitary activities as far as my summers are concerned.

I spent that summer driving 15 minutes (until now, I never dreamed of driving somewhere to go for a run - why don't you just run there?!) to a forest preserve on Saturday mornings to run with a group of about 5-6 people at my pace.  That being said, there were probably close to 150 people at all paces that would meet to train together.  It was an awesome community of like-minded people that actually socialized while running!  Though you may find yourself short of breathe while chatting on these long runs, it is a welcomed diversion to the miles spent on your feet. 

Four months of running with this group and that brings me to race day.  The 2008 Chicago Marathon was what turned me on to traveling outside of my comfort zone.  Not only did I qualify for the 2009 Boston Marathon with a 3:02 time, I made running friends that I ran the race with.  I never felt so good after finishing a marathon in spite of the fact that the temperatures climbed into the 80's.  I was ready to do it again in April when I was heading to Boston.

The Prequel - The Wife's Perspective

It became very clear to me very quickly after Mike and I started dating that he had a huge amount of innate talent, but not a lot of discipline to harness that talent. For example, his "training" regimen for the 2007 marathon (the first of our relationship) consisted of a couple of 5-7 mile runs a couple of times a week, and once - once! - he added in a half-marathon. Most people training for a marathon run significantly more than that, even just in the early weeks of training! And then he got up on the day of the marathon and just ran. 26.2 miles. 26.2 miles in the hottest Chicago marathon on record. And finished it so quickly, that we didn't even know the organizers had shut the race down after 3 1/2 hours (due to the heat) until we got home later that day.

It was then that I had the thought that if that's what he could accomplish with so little training, he could absolutely move mountains with the right program. It took a while, but I did finally get him to give the CARA group a try, and I knew right away he made the right decision. He enjoyed his runs and learned how to run better and faster. On race day, he shaved exactly 22 minutes off of his 2007 marathon time, and 20 minutes off of his PR. But the best part? All the (south side!) friends he made through CARA. His running life truly changed, very much for the better!

Chicago Marathons 2001 - 2010

After running my first marathon in 2001, I was humbled to say the least.  Having no idea what to expect of those who ran marathons at the time, I just assumed it would be choke full of lean, young, athletic machines like myself!  Of course, photos of me from this period would successfully dispute my recollection of being in such shape, but hey, I thought I was a rare breed having registered for a marathon and you don't have those photos to prove me wrong! 

Through the years after this first race, I learned the only thing rare about marathon runners, or runners of all race distances, had less to do with their physicality and more to do with their psychology.  Runners are mentally strong.  However, at the time, all that I saw were men and women of all ages, shapes, sizes toeing the line for the 2001 Chicago Marathon.  25,000 of them.  This race was weeks after the terrorist attacks on the Twin Towers and this set the tone for many during this race.  It was very patriotic and I was proud to be running it.  That is, until about mile 12.

I didn't know how to train for this.  I ran a couple of 8 milers and one 13.5 miler.  I had gone from running about 10 miles a week to about 20 - 30 miles a week that summer.  Because of that, I had a severe irritation in my knee that grounded me from running 6 weeks before the race.  I had 4 weeks of electroshock treatments and various forms of physical therapy to get me back on the road.  I was able to run again 2 weeks before the race.  My doctor laughed when I told him that I had planned on running the marathon; I was too stubborn to not run it.  Also, I was in college and $70 was a lot of money to waste on a race entry fee that I wouldn't use.  I was studying to be an accountant and we all know the stereotype associated with that profession!

The last half of that race was miserable.  The week after that race was painful.  I swore off ever doing a marathon again.  Well, that didn't stick, obviously.  I loved the challenge.  I went on to run every Chicago Marathon from 2001 - 2010.  However, I didn't really learn how to train for one until 2008 and I didn't have the idea to run one in every state until 2009.

What Are You Running From?!

This journey has to start somewhere so why not from a time when I had no idea what a marathon was?  Sure, I always enjoyed a good run around the neighborhood now and then but I was never one to participate in many races.  Near the end of college I knew a girl that spoke of this mysterious event like it was the creme de la creme of running events.  Being a numbers guy, I just thought 26.2 miles was a ridiculous distance.  Not because it was far, it was because of the .2!  It doesn't translate to a round number on the metric system (roughly 42.16 kilometers).  Why not 26 miles?  Or, 42 kilometers?! 

Now I had a bone to pick with the creator of this mysterious race.  The least I could do was to run it and determine for myself what was so magical about this 0.2 miles at the end.  Of course, that meant I was probably going to have to run more than 5 miles in my training for this.  Because I was bullheaded, or simply because the internet wasn't necessarily the wealth of information that it is now, that was how I structured my training for my first marathon; the 2001 Chicago Marathon...and that's probably what led to me loathing the marathon during and immediately after that race!  But, like most marathon runners will tell you, it spurred an immense interest in the race and I've been running them ever since.  However, before any of you continue reading, I should warn you of this SPOILER ALERT - There is absolutely nothing special about the final 0.2 miles except that I can usually see beer and food waiting for the finishers from this point!

There's no one happier than this bear with a beer after a race...