Deep Dish
2019 Chicago Marathon
It takes a marathon to run a marathon. Yes, I know it takes 26.2 miles. I’m talking about the incredible toll someone must bear in order to just get to the starting line. It takes grit and sacrifice. When I did my first marathons, I didn’t take them seriously and it caught up to me in 2018. After running the 2018 Berlin Marathon with an IT band injury, instead of spending the rest of my vacation in Germany recovering, I recklessly hiked up Germany’s tallest mountain, Zugspitze. A moment of glory, turned into months of pain. I couldn’t run for a long time and anytime I walked I felt a nagging knee pain.
For much of 2018, I had this injury and yet I was getting physical therapy every week for it. I soon realized the place I was going to wasn’t really helping me avoid re-injuring myself. I needed to find a new place to do physical therapy. I went to the doctor's again to receive another recommendation and this time they directed me to Finish Line, a runner specific physical therapy studio in New York City. I went to Finish Line soon after and met physical therapist Dr. Emmi Aguillard. I told her my back story with running and how I was signed up for Chicago Marathon next year. I asked her “Is it possible to get back to running marathons again?” She said “Absolutely!”
A moment of glory in the Alps = Months in so much physical therapy.
And just like that I was on a quick road to recovery… actually that’s completely wrong. It was a long and grueling road. There was lots of scar tissue/gunk on the side of my right knee that needed to be dealt with. Many patients of physical therapy just want to get a massage treatment and not work on the mechanics. I had been that type of patient at the last physical therapy place, and now I was seeing where it got me. At Finish Line not only was I shown the proper mechanics, but my running form was corrected. Before going there, I was running with my back straight, little hip movement, and landing on my heels constantly. All things not recommended to do when running. Even to this day I get a little sloppy with my running form, but thanks to Finish Line I can remember how to correct myself.
By January of 2019, my IT Band injury was mostly healed, but then I had a health scare involving a “calcified substance” in my body that gave me a lot of physical and mental pain. Doctors didn’t really have an answer for what was going on, only to avoid strenuous activity. The lack of a diagnosis was scary. Until I had some clarity on the situation, it felt like I wasn’t really living. I just felt worried a lot. A couple of months later still without answers, I decided to get another MRI. To everyone’s surprise including my doctor, the MRI no longer showed the calcification in my body and the doctors cleared me. Thanks Heavens! I could go back to living my life, and running!
I finished up physical therapy on my IT band by early spring and was ready to go get back into running full time. As a way to get into the NYC Marathon for 2020, I decided to enter the 9+1 Program, which allows you to enter the marathon by signing up for nine races and one volunteer event sponsored by New York Road Runners, the organization that puts together the NYC Marathon every year. These nine races I felt would help me get ready for Chicago in October starting with shorter distances in the earlier months and working my way to the longer distances by the late summer. Occasionally there would be flare ups caused by overcompensating for the weak knee such as posterior tibial issues in my ankles, but physical therapy was able to address these issues and I was able to adjust my mechanics. There’s a tendency for other injuries to flare up while treating one injury. You can’t get frustrated. Your body is always trying to reach a state of equilibrium.
I make a few appearances in this video!
In July with 12 weeks left before the marathon, Emmi offered to be my coach for the marathon. I never had a coach before and was concerned even if I had a coach I still wouldn’t be able to do the marathon. “Not only will you finish the marathon, but you’ll be able to Boston Qualify!” Emma said to me. Her confidence gave me confidence. 12 weeks later thanks to Emmi’s guidance as my physical therapist and coach, I felt like an able marathoner again. And ready to finish a flat marathon in under three hours, the time required for men under 34 years old to qualify for Boston Marathon in 2021.
My parents came with me to Chicago to see me race. I had never been to Chicago before so it was nice to have family in an unfamiliar city to help get me around while I was “in the zone.” A few weeks before Chicago, I ran a half marathon in New Haven, Connecticut called the New Haven Road Race Half Marathon. It kicked me in the butt. There’s really no other way to put it. I was super cocky thinking I could finish at 1 hour and 20 min even though I hadn’t trained to run that fast. In the beginning portion of the race, I ran way too fast with the leaders. Then the next half I fizzled running much slower splits, cramping up, and feeling super nauseous. On top of that, to have my friend Charlie watch me race in New Haven after I was boasting with him how great I was going to do… it felt awful. Even the Connecticut pizza, the best pizza in the world according to Charlie, we ate afterwards didn’t make me feel better. I didn’t want to repeat that experience again in Chicago, not in front of my Mom and Dad. The plan was to run a steady a pace. Race the race you were training for, not what you’re hoping for. As the classic saying goes, “Hope isn’t a strategy.”
Race day I was full of positive vibes. My parents were with me, the weather was cool and sunny, and I was wearing some very fast shoes called Vaporfly’s. At that point in time Vaporfly’s were the only shoe on the market with a carbon fiber plate, which allowed the shoe to be lighter and had better recovery than any other running shoe. As a result they made you “four percent faster,” so there was no excuse to not have a personal record with them, right? I tried them on the day before the marathon running along the lake shore and they felt very springy. These shoes were awesome!
We’re all Vapor-”flying!”
After saying good bye to my parents, I made my way through Davis Park to get to my assigned corral. Having qualified for Chicago with 3:04:00 at the 2017 Gate City Marathon in New Hampshire, I was assigned Corral B. In this corral there was a three hour pacer, which was reassuring to see. Everyone around me and the pacer had the same goal. It felt as though we were all on the same team, “Team Sub 3.” I was ready to kick some butt, instead of the other way around like in New Haven. “Going to have a better race Charlie,” I thought.
Chicago Marathon for me was one of those races that when it started, you didn’t realize it started until you had already run a mile into it. I remember my watch had a bad GPS signal for the beginning portion of the race because we were going under tunnels where they shot The Dark Knight and running along narrow streets with tall buildings all around. I thought as long as the three hour pacer was behind me then I was fine. By Mile 3, whenever I looked back I didn’t see the pacer anymore. For a second I felt cocky, but then I quickly suppressed that feeling and just thought I’m only running this race one mile at a time. At Mile 3 it was way too soon to think about the finish.
For the first half the race I was running a 6:45-6:50/mile pace through the northern neighborhoods of Chicago. I enjoyed running along the lakeshore and these neighborhoods. “I could see myself living here,” I thought. The crowds along the streets there were very supportive, and sooner than I knew it I was at the half marathon mark and could see my parents with big smiles. My parents cheered me on and I gave them high fives. Each high five felt like a huge boost. In big marathon races, it’s difficult to find spectators you know. But when you do find them it’s as though they are the only spectators around, in a really nice and sweet way.
Based on a true story.
The second half of the Chicago Marathon required much more mental and physical discipline. That day there was a 10mph westward wind which made the westward “out and back” portions of the course slightly difficult, all of which were in the second half. The wind wasn’t too bad, but by third “out and back” it was getting a little rough. By that point there I was in Chicago’s Chinatown with six miles left to go, and that’s when I started to feel my first cramp of the race. Learning from what happened in New Haven, I was able to get a hold of the cramp quickly, open up the chest, and breathe out of it. My speed stayed the same.
After rounding the last out and back of the marathon in the South Side of Chicago, I hadn’t been looking for mileage signs while fighting my cramp and saw my watch had recorded 28 miles. I was confused. I knew my watch had issues whenever I ran through the downtown area, but now I needed to know the exact distance I had left. I saw a three hour pacers in front of me. Did they just pass me without me realizing? I then tried catching up to them knowing they were my last hope to running sub three. When I got to them I realized they were from Corral A, the corral that started ahead of my corral. Sub 3 hour was still in my sights! Soon after I saw the 24 mile marker and the downtown area again. The end was in sight! I looked at my watch again just to see what was time and I estimated I’d finish at 2 hours 58 minutes. It was okay to feel cocky now. The only hill in Chicago is actually at the end of the race about a 200 meters before the finish line. Though only 20 feet high, I’d admit it felt rough going up.
What comes up must come down, and with the help of momentum I ran down that hill and crossed the finish line at 2:57:05. Sub three hours, Boston Qualification! When I saw my parents again after finishing, I was crying tears of joy. I hadn’t thought a year ago I’d be able to run a marathon again, and to run one under three hours I was over the moon. We celebrated the sub three hour finish with deep dish pizza. Whether deep dish pizza is better than Connecticut pizza, that’s not for me to decide, sorry Charlie. But I will say this… the best pizza is the pizza had after a personal victory. Is this too “cheesy” of an ending?
I’m not crying… much.
New Haven Road Race Half Marathon Results: http://jbsports-results.net/index.php?eventname=New+Haven+Road+Race+Half+Marathon&date=2019&of=929&per_page=50&search=yes&start=0
