Chicago 2008 - Brutal

by Michael C. Joseph, MD
(Hillsborough, NC, USA)

I am a 64 year old MD with a 30-year long distance running history who has run 12 or 13 marathons (including Boston and Honolulu). My last was NYC in 1991 in what felt like a miserable 4:38 in full sweats (my best was 3:42 in 1980). I missed running Chicago in 2005 with my nephew because of work, but I ran the distance myself on that day on my home training course. I started training from April 2008, running 19-24 miles every other weekend then tapering for 4 weeks for a hopeful 4:30-4:45 time.

I found Chicago marathon brutal - with 35 minutes of standing/shuffling to the start, multiple merges until I could run in a straight line at almost 7 miles, thigh cramps at 8 miles, and then the heat (25 degrees hotter than I expected despite checking the weather every day for the preceding week). I stopped every mile after the half for stretches and fluids, and found an unexpected challenge when the the footing was slippery from the discarded gels and squashed cups in the last 8 miles. I finished in 6:10, 1 1/2 hours longer than I ever imagined spending on a marathon course, even at my age.

In summary, the positives were the superb race staff support, at least 4 blocks of fluid every mile, and the enthusiastic spectators. The BIG controllable negative was the size of the race...you just can't give 35,000 people a chance to give any race their best effort. I am sticking to half-marathons for the next year (starting this weekend) then trying to find another marathon with no more than 5,000 finishers since I enjoy the distance and still have goals.

Michael C. Joseph, MD

I'm often asked what shoes I personally recommend to help stay injury free while running (on the 100 day plan) so I'll add a little bit about it at the end of these Q and A's.

Good shoes are crucial if you want to stay injury free during your marathon journey. In general, the best is to find a shoe that fits your feet according to your foot type.

However, these three shoes will do an excellent job with their mild correction - and will work for most runners :

The most sold running shoes ever - and by every model seems to get better and better. About the same weight as the Kayano but the fit is a little bit different.

The 2150 is a great alternative for the faster work you'll be doing in the 100 day plan. It is one of the few shoes that "feels" like a lightweight one but at the same time has more than enough stabilty to prevent injuries with the marathon type length of some of the interval sessions.

A tips for international (non-US) runners : check out roadrunnerssports.com : Example : Asics Kayano (RoadRunnerssports) they ship worldwide and it can really save you some money on your shoes.