Tales of the Ordinary Days

Chicago Marathon 2005 My dear friend, Kristi, and I have run together for over fifteen years. About ten years ago, at the coaxing of our other running friend, Angy, we joined a larger group of more competitive runners. This new group was comprised of a wide range of ages, motivations for running, and eclectic personalities; a nice way of saying people who run at 5:30 each morning couldn't possibly be normal. The varying runs and runners brought a new element of interest to Kristi and my routine and the change up was welcome. Rather than talks of kindergarten the potty-training, the runs quickly became all about logging in miles and tracking running paces. This was when running a marathon entered our radar screen and seemed like something we could actually accomplish.  Our logic was that we were logging in the training miles, so we should be up for running the distance. Kristi and I toyed with the idea of a marathon, but always fell back on the fact that w...

We thought we would end our road trip with a quiet day in Chicago. We were wrong. 40,000 runners flocked the city to complete the 36th annual marathon. Note that this number doesn't count those who came as onlookers or volunteers. And we hadn't a clue when we booked our trip. The tip came at the airport. As we waited for luggage, Garrett started up a conversation with a luggage attendant. The question posed was whether we were in town to run the marathon. Hmmmm... Obviously that was a bigger deal than the Husker game. After contemplating how to best change our Sunday plans to accommodate this new found news, we chose to take the L into the city and park between the airport and Downtown. Thank-you to the luggage attendant. Our rerouted road trip worked out perfectly. We made the two hour trek from West Layfayette and then after a short subway ride, we found ourselves in the heart of Chicago. And all while in the midst the mobs participating or enjoying the marathon. The...