Bob and I decided to attend the Chicago Marathon to cheer for our son Rob. What a great occasion to see Rob and his wife Andy, who we hadn’t seen since their wedding in February.
Rob’s been running consistently since 2012. I looked forward to attending his running events in the early days, many of which were local 5Ks in Fairfax and Northern Virginia. A memorable race: when he placed first (I think he placed first) in a New Year’s Day 5K for his age group: We joked that partying and hangovers probably kept the serious contenders away! When my friend Olivia was doing 50 half marathons in 50 states, he ended up running in 5 half marathons with her: VA, WV, PA, NC and MD.
Rob’s done 6 marathons, three of which we’ve seen in person: Marine Corps Marathon in 2013 and 2014 and Chicago 2019. We missed the MCM 2015, Richmond 2016, and NYC Marathon in 2017. Moving from Virginia to Florida in 2015 meant missing his races.
The times for his first two marathons were 4:36 and 4:34. We made a whole day of it – traveling on the Metro, finding a few places to see him along the route, and experiencing the fullness of a marathon – with big crowds, positivity, and excitement everywhere. We felt as if we were part of history watching the first place and early finishers sprint through the entire marathon, preceded by police and official vehicles.
I would like to outline some STARK differences in being a spectator from his early running days compared to today.
It’s amazing for anyone to finish a marathon, but you witness different types of people at different stages and times during the race. At the Marine Corps Marathons, we were surrounded by big crowds of spectators, fearful that we would miss our runner in the huge crowd of runners.
During the first two races, there were lots of laughs, runners dressed in costumes, people cracking jokes. During the last several miles of the 4:30+ crowd, we saw runners walking, pulling off to the side to massage a cramp, rest, sit on the curb, spit, trip, or keel over. Some are in agony; many are struggling to finish. Sweat, fatigue, annoyance, and sheer grit are written all over their faces. That’s the type of runners I saw when Rob was making his way through the last four miles of the MCM in those early years.
After the Marine Corps Marathons, the main gathering area near the finish line was a sea of festivity. The events were well organized and attended; the food they gave the runners was decent; the Metro lines leaving the race were long.
Let’s advance a few years: Rob cut his Marathon time down by 30 minutes in Richmond and attained a PR of 3:57 at the NYC Marathon in 2017. When we facetimed a few months ago about his training and progress, he was smiling, saying his training was going “very well” for Chicago. I know not to ask an athlete what they think their time will be for an event, but from what he was saying, I estimated that he would finish this marathon somewhere between 3:20 and 3:40. I CAN’T ask specifics and he won’t tell me. I’m banned. In the past, I’ve had the reputation of “sharing” too much information about his anticipated time.
I told Rob that if he ever participates in the Boston Marathon, I’d attend. He jokes that that day might be when he is in the 60+ age group, when the qualifying times are easier. If we are alive and well, we would be honored to attend. I spent 4 awesome formative years at Boston University, living in the city, and would like to go back for a visit.
Back to the marathon…
Bob and I stayed near Midway Airport, which involved taking advantage of public transportation to get into the city. We took a look at the course, and asked Rob when he might be running by the 14th and 17th mile point. He said around 9:00am for mile 14. He and Andy selected a hotel within a mile or so from the start line and her plan was to cheer for Rob at mile 3, 13 and 25. Bob and I didn’t want to get up so early to be at mile 3, so we chose to head to mile 14, 17 and then the finish line. This way, Rob could hope to see family members at four or five different points along the course.
What was nice about mile 14 and 17 was that they weren’t easy spots to get too from public transportation, meaning it required more walking, and maybe sparsely populated in those spots. As we got off the “L” (or subway or Metro- we kept calling it the Metro, even though it’s the CTA – Chicago Transit Authority or Loop or L), we walked over a bridge around the mile 13 area and heard live music. It reminded me of Rob’s report of the Asheville Half Marathon, where there was a band at each mile along the course!
We walked a little more and found a good spot past the 14 mile mark. The course was well marked, with a sign indicating each mile along the course. I was ready with a bunch of homemade signs – 5 to be exact, with phrases on both sides. They said: Go Rob, Go Christian, Go Kevin, Go Keith, Rob Griesemer #10549, Never Never Never Give Up, You Can Do it, Pray-You Need it, Free High-Fives, and my personal favorite that I should trade mark or copyright because I invented it and have never seen it: WTF-Way to Finish with an arrow pointing in the direction of the finish line.
I was equipped with the signs and I asked Bob to take videos and pictures and keep me informed of the exact location of the four runners we were tracking on the Chimarathon app. We found the crowd very sparse and runners were coming in “packs.” I’ve noticed this phenomenon in the front runners. You might see a lone runner or two, and 6-7 seconds later, you’ll see a few together. Maybe there is a drafting thing going on with the gazelles?!
Bob and I, as spectators, were watching focused, engaged, and determined runners. Rob later told us that any female we saw in this group would most likely qualify for the Boston Marathon. Runners who walk, peel off to the curb, sit down, or joke and smoke were nowhere to be found. This was the top 5-15% of the runners.
At one point, I pulled out my poster that said “free high fives.” 50% of the runners who zipped by me extended a hand for a high five. Bob said that we would probably get a completely different reaction from runners later into the race.
Someone asked if we saw runners dressed in costumes. Heck no. One guy had running gear that mimicked a business suit, but was definitely quality running gear. Years ago at the Marine Corps Marathon, there were dozens of runners in costumes in the slower groups. No tutus or Big Birds here.
Many of the runners who flew by appeared as if it was just another day in their ordinary lives. A guy looked like he was skipping ahead to greet the ice cream man. One was tiptoeing through the tulips. One woman almost looked bored, like she had to go and take care of errands and more important matters when she completed the marathon. One man was shirtless in the 43 degrees. Many had sleeveless shirts and everyone wore shorts. I was bundled up in my winter coat, hat and gloves. I bet if we observed the slower runners, they would have more clothes on.
As a spectator, many runners were smiling and leisurely jogging for fun, yet underneath, I suspect they were executing a well-planned strategy. They were averaging between a 6:00 minute and 7:30 pace. They made it look effortless. No one was struggling and only one older (60ish) and slightly heavier man had some sweat forming on his forehead.
The runners looked different in the top 14% vs. the lower 50% that I noticed in the past. How about the spectators? Guess what? I could “feel” a sense of determination and competitiveness among the spectators! The crowd was quieter, maybe because it was smaller too. We were keeping track of our runners’ success on the course and it was interesting: the people I talked too were delighted that our runners were a little ahead of their schedule. I met a nice woman from the upper west side in Manhattan and she was delighted that her girlfriend was maintaining an 8 minute mile pace, when she was anticipating an 8:20-8:30 pace. She gladly held up a second sign with me when Rob approached on mile 14.
Bob said Rob would be coming soon, so we took our positions and got ready. I held the sign high and Rob said later that he noticed the sign several yards away and knew where we were. He was looking strong and happy. We saw that Christian was near mile 11 or 12, so we decided to walk a block to the mile 17 point to see Rob again. Once again, he zipped by running near the guy holding the 3 hour and 15 minute pacesetter sign.
On mile 17, everyone was searching the crowd for their runner. When I held up a sign, a guy a few feet behind me scolded me after a few seconds. He did this 2-3 times, even when I held it briefly and readjusted it to not obscure his view. Fortunately, there was enough room for us to reposition ourselves to get a good view. The crowd was only one deep, with plenty of room along the sidelines.
We waited for Rob’s friend Christian, who was maybe 5-10 minutes behind. We hadn’t coordinated with Christian beforehand, so he wasn’t expecting us. We didn’t know what he was wearing, so we had a plan: Bob would go by the tracker, which seemed to be exact. I began videotaping, with Bob holding the Go Christian sign. We were randomly yelling, “Go Christian!” and “Christian, where are you?” Maybe he’d see us and respond. No luck. After 2 minutes, I stopped recording, almost certain that he should have passed us.
Later that day when he joined up with us at the lobby of Rob and Andy’s hotel, I saw what he was wearing, took a look at the video and spotted him 15 seconds in! He said he might have heard some faint chatter of “Go Christian” at some point!
We were following 3 other runners: 2 of his friends Christian and Kevin and a solid athlete I know from Clearwater named Keith. Both Kevin and Keith would be at radically different parts of the course at different times. We decided early on that we wouldn’t be looking for Kevin and Keith along the course, since they would be halfway across the city from Rob and Christian. We did follow them on the tracking app though and thought of them and saw that they were doing very well for their intended goals.
Andy said she noticed obvious differences in the runners at mile 3, 13 and 25: She said the runners were smiling on mile 3, engaged and serious at mile 13, and exhausted on mile 25.
One thing that was constant after the runners finish: They all emerge with their ponchos on, walking very slowly! It’s quite a beating on the body. Hopefully they’ll endure a little soreness, but no injuries.
Since Rob was speedy, we weren’t able to take the time to get to other locations along the route, unless we wanted to hurry and run from one point to another. I didn’t experience a huge crowd near the finish area, or at any time during the day. I felt as if I missed out on the full experience. We were only there for about two hours, didn’t stick around long and made our way back to Rob and Andy’s hotel. I wanted to maximize our time with them since we would all be flying home in different directions the next day.
I want to commend the significant others who had runners in the marathon: They make great sacrifices as their runners maintain an intense training schedule leading up to the race. It’s admirable for runners to balance a full time job and family while investing hours on a weekend morning to run 16-24 miles at a time leading up to the event. Weather and responsibilities are factored in. I met a young man at the airport on the way back to Tampa, accompanied by his wife and three young children. He said his goal was to finish the race and that training in the heat in Tampa is a challenge for him. I should have asked his name and looked up his time, because another pattern I’ve been noticing: Athletes who say: “My goal is to finish this race.”
Another thing I noticed: Many of the runners travel from out of town with significant others and combine sightseeing in the city BEFORE the race. This often includes a lot of walking. Meanwhile, I bet their thoughts are mainly on the race, but they want their spectators to enjoy the mini-vacation. Rob says the elite runners don’t do that. They often fly in alone for the purpose of the race and leave soon afterwards.
Rob’s next goal is to fine tune his time on a half marathon, so we might be cheering for him at the Gasparilla Half. I saved the signs. Go Rob!
Rob has a blog if you’d like to read about his training and race experience: http://rgriesemer3.blogspot.com/
LynnMGriesemer 