October 10, 2021: The Bank of America Chicago Marathon

A quarter-century ago, I lived in metro Chicago, working as a young chemistry professor at Northwestern University. The work was challenging, but I was professionally successful. Most surprisingly to this boy from southeast Texas, I figured out how to survive five months of winter. There were some incredibly sad times. In spring 1997, one of the graduate students that I mentored died in his sleep, from Marfan's Syndrome. This was upsetting for everyone in the lab and many in the department, including me as his research advisor. Then in December 1997, my first wife suffered a miscarriage. We had waited until I had earned tenure to start trying to have a child. This was terribly upsetting for us both. When Emory University reached out to me asking if I might be interested in a position, I originally thought I would just take a look, and if they offered me a position, I could leverage the outside offer to improve my situation at Northwestern. What surprised me was how impressed I was with the department and with the university. It didn't hurt that my interview was in January 1998, experiencing the mild winter in Atlanta compared with the frigidity of Chicago. Over the next few months, one thing led to another, and by end of the summer of 1998, I accepted a professorship at Emory University. We moved to Atlanta in October 1998. Over the years, I've maintained a negative view of Chicago. The last time that I went there was for a conference around 2005. But in the past couple of years, I decided that I needed to revisit Chicago, see if I can take some positive memories. So I applied for the Chicago Marathon through the lottery, and was accepted on the second attempt! 

"L" ticket

Unfortunately, my training was delayed by several weeks by an unexpected bout with spinal arthritis. By mid-July, I could run without pain. Coach Carl Leivers arranged a 16-week training program, which was effectively two weeks of recovery and a 14-week marathon build. At my request, he put together a training schedule that got me up to 14-mile, 16-mile, and 18-mile long runs, then 20-mile and 22-mile training runs, which I completed on the Tucker Middle School track, to get my legs accustomed to running a flat course. I completed all of the training runs, but the last 2 miles of every single long run was excruciatingly difficult. I felt like I was a few weeks behind in training - I was a few weeks behind in training. It reminded me of Calculus II and Quantum Mechanics courses in college, where the material made sense but only a few weeks after we had covered it. Those were my lowest grades in college.

But there was no delaying the Chicago Marathon! Everything was in place, and so Bonnie and I flew to the Windy City on Friday October 8. We stayed at the Silversmith Hotel on Wabash Avenue, just a few blocks from the start and finish line. We enjoyed delicious meals at Nando's Peri-Peri (Portuguese), Barrio (Mexican), Uncle Mike's (Filipino), Remington's (American), Goddess and the Baker (breakfast), Siena Tavern (Italian), Artopolis (Greek), and for the last evening, a home-cooked meal with Hannah Chung and Jon-Peter Kelly, friends from Atlanta that recently moved to Chicago. I also had a nice lunch reunion with SonBinh Nguyen, one of my colleagues who is still at Northwestern. On Saturday we went to Evanston, took a look at my old house from the street - very different 23 years later. On Monday we took an architecture boat tour on the Chicago River and Lake Michigan, seeing how the skyline had changed since 1998, and also recalling good memories at the Lyric Opera, the Joffrey Ballet, and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

Kiss for good luck!

At Buckingham Fountain before the start

For the marathon, I was in wave 2, corral J, for runners expecting to finish in 4:10 - 4:20. That might have been realistic if I had experienced the ideal training cycle and had perfect running conditions, but neither was the case on Sunday morning October 10, with 72 deg F temperature at the start. As I lined up in the very back row of my corral, I saw another runner wearing a shirt "Overconfident & Undertrained". I hoped that I was neither overconfident nor undertrained. My strategy was to stay on a conservative 2:00 run / 0:30 walk interval pattern, running very easily for the first half marathon, trying for as slow as 2:30, then picking up the pace at the very end to finish in less than 5 hours, giving myself a chance at a negative split effort. 

In corral J

Our corral started at 8:15 am, to the music of the Alan Parsons Project, "Sirius", which was the opening music for Chicago Bulls basketball during the Michael Jordan era, the second half of which coincided with my time in Chicago. I had studied the map for mile 1 in microscopic detail, planning 3-minute goals coinciding with quarter-mile landmarks. I was aiming for a 12-minute first mile, and passed the mile 1 marker at 11:20. So that was a little faster than expected, but I considered anything slower than 11 min/mile a successful opening. I worked my way through downtown Chicago, appreciating the incredible crowd support. Everyone had said that Chicago is "pancake flat", but that's not exactly true. In addition to the occasional overpass or underpass, the areas along the Chicago River are built up, so there is a slight incline heading up to each bridge. Just past the mile 3 marker, I spotted Bonnie, stopped for a couple of seconds to grab her hands, then continued running north on LaSalle Street. 

Mile 3: "Marathons are easy!"

I passed the 5K mark at 34:25 and the 8K mark at 55:12, just over an 11 min / mile pace. I actively kept slowing myself down as we made our way past the Gold Coast into Lincoln Park - I remembered going to a party there many years ago. 10K mark at 1:09:05, still working at the slightly slower than 11 min / mile pace. At times there was a little moisture in the air, but it never really rained. However there was a light breeze which helped moderate the temperature, especially after I had worked up a bit of a sweat. The race route paralleled Lake Shore Drive for about 1/2 mile. Some of the drivers were honking to encourage us, while people lined the other side of the street to cheer us on. Making the turn at Sheridan Road, I had expected to see the Loyola University of Chicago campus, but it turns out that was a few miles further north. As we turned onto Broadway at the northernmost end of the route, there was a large screen showing messages to runners. One showed "Hi Mom!" which I figured applied to about 30% of the runners. There were quite a few runners around, so messages to me didn't appear as I passed the screen, but after the race I saw three cheer cards for me - thanks Brian and Beverly Minor, Judy Tennell, Robin Valentine, and Kristi Swartz! 

Eight miles in, I was still feeling good, enjoying the experience. My mantra was "Patience." The Beastie Boys' "You Gotta Fight for Your Right to Party!" was played as I turned the corner to head south on Broadway, followed a few blocks later by a live band playing an old Beatles pop song, although I couldn't remember the specific song after the race. As we ran near Wrigleyville, I realized it's a shame that I never made it to a Chicago Cubs game in six years. In Boystown, I had expected a big drag show, but this year it was just a small stage with four dancers. By the time that I came through, it was probably 1-1/2 hours since the first runners had passed, so perhaps the show was winding down. 15K at 1:42:38, that amounted to an 11 flat min / mile pace. It was now 10 am, more than 1/3 of the way through the marathon, although I tried to just focus on running the mile that I was in. I began to wonder who had won the overall marathon, as the leading men and women runners would have finished by then, with a 46 minute headstart on me, running twice as fast. The crowd support continued, if anything growing stronger as we worked our way south toward downtown. 20K at 2:16:50, half marathon mark at 2:24:28, about 5 minutes faster than planned. That meant that I was now committed to a 4:49 finish if I was going for the negative split goal. Maybe I ran too fast in the first half, but I don't think that I could have moved much more slowly. I saw Bonnie again at this stage, as I worked my way around the Chicago loop, then heading west to begin the second half of the race. 

Half marathon: no problem!

I was determined to maintain the easy pace. Knowing that my training had not been great, I didn't plan to speed up until mile 25 or so, assuming that I would have anything left in my legs. A sign announced our entrance to Greektown, confirmed by the delicious aroma of pita and shwarma. We ran about 1-1/2 miles due west toward the United Center, crossing the 25K mark at 2:51:42, still run-walk at the steady 11 min / mile pace. We turned back to run east toward the city, seeing the Willis Tower in the distance as our landmark. At the mile 17 water station, volunteers were handing out wet sponges. I took one, mopped my face, which felt good. Most people threw away their sponges, but I decided to hold onto mine. Turning south on Halsted, crossing the Eisenhower expressway, somehow I turned my ankle on a gap in the asphalt. Arggh, I didn't need that distraction! It wasn't too painful, but it did bother me for the rest of the run. Turning at the University of Illinois-Chicago, I remembered visiting the campus some 25 years ago, but struggled to remember what I might have lectured on. Possibly it was an overview seminar. Back then, I had a few projects underway, but all of them at relatively early stages. 

I began to feel uncomfortable by this stage. I had run nice and slowly, nonetheless my quads were getting sore, the ankle was bothering me, and I was getting warm. 30K at 3:28:13, I was beginning to slow down, just when I wanted to stay steady. Doubts began to creep into my mind. My mantra changed to "Glide", to remind myself to run with good form. That helped, but the soreness in my quads was beginning to limit my stride. Then just past the 19 mile sign, we turned onto 18th Street, into the heart of Pilsen. This was originally a Czech neighborhood, but in the mid-20th century became more Latino. Happily, the crowd support dramatically increased, which helped me pick up the pace, at least for a few minutes. Then things grew quiet again, turning south on Halsted Street, passing the 20-mile mark. My watch was at 3:44:26. On a good day, I could expect to finish the last 10K in an hour. That would have smashed my negative split goal, and possibly have given me my second-best finish. I tried to maintain the 2:00 run / 0:30 walk intervals, but was having trouble forcing myself to resume running. The neighborhood became more industrial, not much stimulation. Turning east onto Cermak Road, I saw a runner down on the left, although he was conscious, attended by medics, and seemed to have a leg problem. We went down into an underpass below an interstate highway, where it was so dark that I had to remove my sunglasses, after I nearly collided with a slower runner. I didn't think that there was anyone slower than me out there. On a bridge crossing the Chicago river, another runner was down on the right, again conscious and receiving care. He looked like he was completely exhausted. The temperatures were now uncomfortably warm. By this time I had received a second sponge, to periodically squeeze over my head, even down my legs. At the water stops I took an extra cup just to wet down the sponge, which was a good move. Fortunately all of the aid stations were well manned with plenty of Gatorade and water. 

Somehow I didn't hear Bonnie calling my name

Now I was entering Chinatown. Crowd support increased again, along with the sounds of drummers, so loud that I completely missed hearing or seeing Bonnie. I wasn't expecting to see her at Chinatown, but she took the "L" from downtown to the Chinatown station. Turning right under the Chinatown Gateway, I fondly remembered coming here on a couple of occasions for authentic Chinese cuisine. That helped me to continue for a few more minutes. But the route passed through another interstate interchange, most of which I walked through. 35K at 4:07:18. I had covered that last 5K at a 12:30 min / mile pace, which wasn't going to get me to the finish line in a negative split. Around this point, I noticed that the alert system had changed from yellow (moderate alert) to red (high alert). At that moment, I failed to deploy my fight mantra. It was just a matter of getting to the finish. Passing the mile 22 marker, all I could remember was how difficult the 22 mile long run had been two weeks ago.  

Still upright but obviously exhausted

The race route was now on an access road paralleling Interstate 90, in what I called mile "twenty-awful". Everything hurt, so much so that the twisted ankle wasn't necessarily my biggest problem. Finally, we crossed the interstate on 33rd Street. I had forgotten the details of the race map, and was dismayed when we turned south(!) on State Street. I even said to someone running near me, "We're going the wrong way!" We were on the Illinois Institute of Technology campus, which looked much nicer than I recalled from a visit many years ago on a snowy winter day. There were not too many people to cheer us on, as we passed the mile 23 sign. Turning left onto 35th Street, that was now our southernmost part of the run. Crossing Michigan Avenue, then turning left onto Indiana Avenue, finally in the home stretch of this very long run. At 31st Street, we made a jog onto Michigan Avenue, approaching the mile 24 marker. "9 laps on the track", as Coach Carl would say. Had I felt better, this is where I could have made a move, only 2.2 miles to the finish. But instead I decided to conserve energy and walked for a couple of blocks. After crossing the interstate highway, I returned to the run - walk plan for the rest of the way. I began looking for the Willis Tower as a landmark far in the distance. Crossing Cermak Road, right before the mile 25 sign, I heard Bonnie call out - I turned and waved and perhaps even managed to smile! 40K at 4:51:24, wow, that was a 14 min / mile pace for the past 5K. A sub-five hour finish was now impossible. With only "5 laps" to go on the track I thought I should run the rest of the way, but ... I didn't feel well enough to break the run - walk pattern. I remembered how I had picked up the pace at the end in the New York City Marathon, but today I didn't have that strength. I just didn't slow down as badly as I had from miles 20 to 25. 

Mile 25



Thank goodness for the sponge!

Shortly before reaching the right turn onto Roosevelt Road, the runners were constricted to the left side of the street, as the "800 meters to the finish" sign came into view. That made us run a little further, when I was trying to follow the blue chalk line marking the shortest route to the finish. There were a couple of course marshals, who pulled someone off of the course. Aha, a bandit without a bib, who wasn't going to get into the finish area to pick up a medal. Roosevelt Road was uphill, crossing a train track, but I was prepared for that. I just took my time, even took a 30 second walk break. The road was a lot longer than it had looked from the pace car in the 2019 television broadcast, such a long distance between the "400 meters" and "300 meters" sign. After forever, we turned left onto Columbus Drive. 200 meters to go. I could see the finish line up ahead. We passed over a timing mat, to signal our names to the announcer. I listened for my name, didn't hear it, but there were quite a few runners around me. The music into the finish line was "Thunderstruck" by AC/DC. But there was no lightning to spark my legs to speed up into the finish. At least I ran and did not walk as I crossed the finish line. 5:08:30. My second slowest marathon - the slowest being the one that I foolishly ran injured

My first thoughts upon finishing were that I was glad that I wasn't running anything at all the next weekend (the PNC 10-miler and 5K in Atlanta on October 17) and that I was 100% comfortable with my resolution not to run a marathon in 2022. I was disappointed that I didn't run this marathon better. The twisted ankle at mile 17 didn't help. But I just wasn't prepared to run 26.2 miles on this day. After a few days of reflection, I felt better and more accepting about my performance. My training was limited by factors beyond my control. I began to focus on the remarkable fact that I recovered in time to get into good enough shape to cover the distance from start to finish. 

The Chicago Marathon was really well organized in every way. 
I definitely recommend it if you're looking for a big city marathon!

More importantly, I left Chicago with a more balanced view of my time here. There were some good times, some tough times. I have no regrets about permanently escaping the harsh winters. But I now have a lot of positive memories from this trip, even with the tough marathon experience on Sunday. 


October 2, 2021: Winship "Win the Fight" 5K

Eight years ago this weekend, I ran my first race. I was nervous, didn't quite know what to expect in a 5K race. But less than 30 minutes later, I had crossed my first finish line - and was ready for more! 

The hardest work for Chicago Marathon training is done, having run 22 miles on a local track last Saturday, to prepare body and mind for an extremely flat course. In the midst of a two-week taper, I'm focusing on "freshening", keeping the legs in shape but not working anything to exhaustion, and trying to relax mentally so that I'm ready for the challenge of 26.2 miles. This morning's 5K race was simply to support the Winship Cancer Institute at Emory University, as the second portion of today's six easy miles. 

Not much social distancing, so I kept a little distance until the race officially began

After making a 2-3/4 mile loop of campus, running the sidewalks alongside most of today's race route, I walked to the starting area at Asbury Circle in the center of the Emory campus. Knowing that a breakthrough COVID infection would totally derail all of my marathon preparations, I kept my distance from the other clusters of people happily chatting, standing to the side as we all waited to begin. At 8:40 am, the starting pistol sounded, and the crowd began moving forward. I moved into the corral, surrounded by the huge crowd of other runners. I had a little anxiety, even thought about holding my breath, and was relieved that the group in front of me began jogging even before crossing the starting mat in front of the Emory Clock Tower. 

My only goal for today, other than not injuring myself, was to practice the first 3 miles of next Sunday's marathon, specifically: patience in the starting miles letting other people were running past me, one final test of the 2:00 run / 0:30 walk strategy, and getting accustomed to manually clicking my lap counter at every mile sign, as the site of the Chicago Marathon is famous for terrible GPS reception due to the tall buildings downtown. The first few minutes were uphill toward the Goizueta Business School, then a left turn, moving over to the right side of the walk just in time for the first walk break. Right onto Clifton Road, then another right onto North Decatur, heading downhill toward the Emory Village traffic circle. Fortunately the cluster of people around me thinned out quickly, so whenever the watch sounded a walk alert, I could comfortably slow down without getting in the way of anyone behind me. 

Running easily on Oxford Road, then turning into campus on the familiar road that I take every day, we began gaining elevation. A utility cart pulled out in front of me, spewing nasty exhaust. I thought those carts were electric vehicles? I picked up the pace to stay in front of the cart's exhaust pipe, which meant that I was racing the cart up the hill. I began to pass people, which had not been my intention. After a moment the cart stopped, I guess to turn into the parking garage, and I went back to my own pace. I passed the first water station, and then the mile 1 mark at 11:29 elapsed. Now onto fraternity / sorority row, continuing to head uphill. Typically there are students cheering us in this block, but it was quiet in that location today. I thought back to the 2017 race, when I had charged up this hill - twice - on my way to a sub-25 minute finish and a 3rd-place age group award. This year the route was a single loop, to keep the participants distanced throughout the run. I was quite happy that we only tackled this hill once today. 

I crossed Clifton Road around 17:30 into the race, which marked the midway point. A moment after crossing Clifton, I heard the sound of an emergency vehicle moving south on Clifton. I took a look behind me, and saw that an ambulance was turning onto our road! We had only one lane reserved for runners, so the ambulance could pass in the left lane. But I noticed that the runners in front of me were moving from the road onto the sidewalk, and I joined them until the ambulance had passed. The only time I remembered seeing that was in a 1-mile race a few years ago, when a runner had suffered a heart attack at the finish line. This was 20 minutes into the race, so I wondered if one of the speedsters up ahead had overdone things. 

And to my surprise, my heart rate alert sounded at that moment! I had set the alert to sound at >160 beats per minute, so I immediately slowed to a walk. I saw 180-something bpm on the watch! This wasn't supposed to happen at an easy pace, and certainly not in mile 2. Sometimes the sensor sounds when my skin is cold and dry, or if the watch is loose, but today the band was tight, and at 70 deg F and my skin was warm and sweaty. I kept walking for a moment to the second water station, where I accepted a towel and a bottle of water, then resumed running. 

Turning right onto North Decatur Road, the heart rate alert sounded again, as I passed the mile 2 marker at 11:56, 23:25 elapsed. Two years ago, I must have been approaching the 3 mile sign at that point. Putting that out of mind, I used my mantra "Patience" and thought about the flatness of the course to be run in Chicago next Sunday. This was the highest elevation point of the race route, and my heart rate quickly dropped as the route went gently downhill. One more walk break as we made a right turn onto Clifton Road, at 27 minutes, then back to easy running. 2.4 miles elapsed today: four years ago, I had cleared the finish line and was catching my breath. Oh well, remember "Patience" and "Chicago". 

I'm glad that the ambulance didn't have to come for me. 
In the moment I was wondering what was going on with my heart rate,
but I guess it was the hill climbing that did it. 

In this section, a young boy would sprint past us, getting a lot of cheers and encouragement, then would slow to a walk, and I caught up to him and passed him. Then he sprinted ahead. As we were running down a service road behind the Law School and the Emory Clinic, I passed the boy again. I tried to encourage him, "You have a young heart - go go go!" but after that, I don't recall seeing him again. We turned onto a small road behind the Emory Clinic parking deck, down and up, then turned left to run between the two buildings of the Winship Cancer Institute. 

Crossing Clifton Road again, then into the bus turning circle in front of the historic Emory Hospital building. At 34:30 elapsed, time for one last walk break. I passed the mile 3 marker, 11:27, clicked the lap counter on my watch, and began running again. We turned left on a walkway between a couple of the dormitories. I had resolved days before the race that I was going to just maintain an easy pace through the finish line. But in the heat of the moment, I must have dropped my "Patience" mantra at the 3-mile sign, and gave in to the irresistible urge to pick up my pace, and pass a few people in the last stretch. Another utility cart pulled out to my right, so I decided to try to race the cart again. The cart picked up more speed than I could manage, but I made it over the finish line at 35:49 on my watch.  

Chemistry majors run! I'm wearing the race shirt from 2014.  

I saw only a few people that I know in today's race: Kalpana Patel, who works at Emory and also runs with Tucker Running Club, and a couple of students from spring 2020 CHEM 203Z, Carolyn Ma and Douglas Kavaguti! 



Solemnly remembering some important people that I've lost to cancer. 

_______

If you want to follow my run in real time during the Chicago Marathon, the app is now available for tracking runners. My bib # is 31681, starting in wave 2, corral J, probably between 8:15 - 8:20 am (central time), Sunday October 10. 

Goals for Chicago: 

Gold: run a negative split race, no time goal required

Silver: sub-4:45 (personal best is 4:24:07 in March 2020, second best is 4:45:22 in February 2021)

Bronze: finish without injury