giving rise to action; staying fit and sane through running
There was that picture of me in my Yankees tee holding the baseball bat over my shoulder. But I was only posing then. I started taking tennis lessons when I was 5 or 6, but I don’t remember anything I learned that far back. I think the year I became an athlete officially was 1973. That spring, almost a year after the passage of Title IX, my dad signed me up for T-ball. He gave me a glove for my birthday and a practice T for my First Holy Communion.
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Closing out 2023 with an overdue race review and a commitment to run better and write more in 2024!
The Frank Lloyd Wright Races were not included in my list of must-do Chicago races published at the end of 2019. This was because, although I saw the FLW races to be a popular event highlighting Chicago history, it takes place in the Chicago suburb of Oak Park, Illinois.
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This race was included on my list of must-do Chicago races in late 2019, although I had yet to run it. I had every intention of checking it off my list before the end of 2020, but… we all know what happened to the 2020 race season. In spite of my inexpereince, Run Mag Mile made the cut based on Kurt’s first-hand knowledge and recommendation. What appealed to me was that it is the only race which runs up and down Chicago’s famous Michigan Avenue.
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It’s Chicago Marathon weekend. Maybe a good time to share my Chicago Marathon story. New York City was my first, way back in 1997. Yet it’s the Chicago Marathon that is uniquely special to me. My Chicago Marathon story is one of hope and healing and ultimately survivorship and fulfillment.
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It’s been three weeks, so here’s my overdue reflection on the 2022 New York City Marathon.
November 2, 1997. That was the day I crossed my first marathon finish line. It was a cool and rainy day in New York City. My family – Chris, his mom, my parents, my boss, and my friend Kevin – out on First Avenue. On the west side of the street, just above 66th Street. Wet and cold, jockeying for position at the barricade in order to have a front row seat for the 30 seconds or so it would take me to pass by.
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