Picked Last In Gym - The Misadventures of Chuck: November 2017

It was the best of times; it was the worst of times. That's the best way that I can describe the Chicago Marathon. It's hard to believe that it's been almost a month now since I made the trip to Chi-Town, and completed my third marathon. It's also hard to believe that I spent the entire summer preparing for that trip, and that race. But just like my feet on occasion, time flies.

For the lead up to the Chicago Marathon, I took a different approach. When training for Pittsburgh I'll join the Steel City Road Runners group runs on the weekends, and even run with friends during the week. But, for this go round I decided to do as much of my training on my own as I could. I felt that I needed to know one thing: could I do this on my own? After 603.77 miles of training I had my answer. I could (and did), but I'd also rather not.

One thing that makes the group runs special is that there is always someone there to pick you up and keep you going. Someone is always there to check on you and make sure you are OK. Someone is always there to help you laugh and smile and to keep you distracted so yo don't get into your own head. I truly enjoy that aspect of the group run. However, I also don't mind when my short runs during the week are a little quieter. In fact on more than one occasion this summer I chose not to even bring my music with me and just enjoyed my surroundings. But for some of those long weekend runs, I really could have used the companionship even with the music. It seems I just kept telling myself I wanted to see what I had in the tank, and I wanted to see what I could achieve.

For most of my long runs I did what I considered to be the Neville/Cory/Moon Tour. I started at my house on Neville Island, ran though Coraopolis and up Montour Road into Moon Township. I eventually headed back into Cory and home. On one run I even stopped at my friend's (Bryan and Amy) place for a refill on my water. Seeing the look on Amy's face knowing that I just ran from my house to hers was worth it alone. The one take away from always doing this route is that I had to tackle a lot of hills. Man do I hate hills. I loathe them. But, I know I have to run them. After a while, it seemed to get a little easier. Now I just whine about them because it's fun, and I'm still a big baby.

When I look back at my summer training, I lucked out. I don't recall running on the treadmill much. I think I only ran on the treadmill one time because of the rain. Most of the summer was pretty sunny and exceptionally hot, and I was able to spend the majority of my training outside. Every day seemed just as beautiful as the next. I really do love running with music, but keeping it off for most of my short runs this summer truly did give me a better appreciation for the wonders of nature.

No matter where I was at in my training, my friends had always continued to check in and see how I was doing. I relished those texts or instant messages. We may not have been running together, but we were still together in spirit. Knowing that always helped me to push myself just a little bit harder. Another friend of mine, Kirsten Vietmeier, was also running Chicago. I would check in with her on occasion as well to see how her training was going and how she was doing. As much as it seemed like I was doing this on my own, I really wasn't. My friends were "there" as was Kirsten. It makes all the world of difference having that kind of support. But soon enough, training was over and it was now time to head to Chicago.

The drive to Chicago wasn't too bad. It was pretty much a straight shot across the interstate. Kirsten and I jammed out to a lot of great 90s and early 2000s era of Hip hop, Rock, and R & B. You can never go wrong with some old school Nelly! Kirsten kept saying "this takes me back to middle school," more or less reminding me that I was old time and again (thanks for that.) It did help pass the time, though. The only scare we had was when Kirsten thought she left her cell phone in the bathroom of a rest stop with us not knowing how she would get it back or if someone would even turn it in. As it turned out, my car trapped her phone in the compartment of the passenger side door. I'm not sure how neither of us saw it the first 5 times we looked in that same spot. At least we had a small misadventure for a brief 10 minutes.

Leaving earlier in the morning and arriving early evening, we got checked into the hotel (and grabbed those delicious Double Tree Chocolate Chip Cookies) and then made our way to the expo to get our bibs. I always thought Pittsburgh's marathon expo was big, but when I walked into the convention center in Chicago I was a bit surprised. Their's was ginormous! There were so many vendors and just as many people. I was in awe. I knew Chicago was a big deal, but now I could see it with my own eyes and really understand just how big of a deal it truly was. After we got our bibs, we headed out to get some grub, and then headed back to the hotel to relax.

Saturday wasn't that much more exciting. Kirsten and I just wanted to stay off of our feet as much as possible but found ourselves doing a 2 mile shake out run, hitting up the expo for about an hour, and then visiting the Nike store. We had dinner at the hotel and got our "flat me" ready to go for Sunday morning. Like I said, nothing too exciting for the weekend. We didn't want to walk around a whole lot because we knew Sunday was going to be a big day. Our sole focus was the run in the morning. By the evening, after nice pasta dinner at the hotel restaurant, I felt I was pretty tired and figured I'd actually be able to sleep. Wrong! That was not happening! As soon as my head hit the pillow, my heart started pounding and the excitement set in (or the adrenaline. Take your pick.) I knew I was in for a long night. I think I may have gotten four hours or sleep if I was lucky. But when it was time to get up, I felt like I was well rested and ready to go.

Our hotel was only about seven tenths of a mile away from the start but in true Chuck fashion, I got us lost on the way there. I thought I knew the way, but I should have known better. I'm a typical male and didn't need directions. When I finally asked for them, we probably walked a good half mile out of the way. We still made it to the starting corrals on time so I didn't get us that lost! I could not believe how many people were there. Sure Pittsburgh has a great turn out and the participation blows me away every year but there in Chicago, it seemed like half the world was ready to run! Kirsten and I then took a quick pre-race selfie and parted ways with a plan to meet at the finish. It was was go time.

I felt pretty good when I hit the starting line timing mat. The temperature was still nice and cool and we were in plenty of shade. Except for a quick side trip to the port-a-potty, the first three miles were going very well for me. There was so many people out in Chicago to cheer everyone on! So many that I couldn't even hear my music, but honestly I didn't mind. I love crowd support. Pittsburgh does it very well, and it was nice to see that Chicago did, too. After about 7 or 8 miles, I still felt great. The temps were still a little cooler, but I could tell it was start to warm up, and rapidly. My pace didn't change at all so I just kept doing what I was doing and kept the smile on my face. I really felt like the day was going in my favor.

10 miles in and the crowd did not change. There was still a ton of people lined up on the course. Chicago really did come out in droves, cheering like crazy. Right around that time I spotted someone wearing a Steelers jersey so I screamed at them happily and made sure to high five my fellow Steelers fans! As I did so I almost rolled my ankle in a small pot hole I didn't see, but I was OK. The day was mine and I was feeling very strong! That feeling would not last, and a lot sooner than I had thought.

When I hit the half way point, I really started to feel fatigue setting in. It was definitely a whole lot hotter and I was sweating a lot, maybe way more than I probably should have been. There were more than enough fluid stations on the course (one at every mile) so I took advantage of that as much as I could. It was really nice to see that not only were they offering cups of water, but they also had volunteers holding water jugs to help fill up runner's water bottles. Well done Chicago. Well done. I found myself dumping as much water down my back as I did down my throat. I didn't want to dump any on my head because I didn't want the pink hair spray to start running down into my eyes. But, with the temperature rising and not a cloud in sight, I hit my wall earlier than expected, and my mind started to get the better of me.

It's funny, I'll run in the summer around home in 90 degree weather and not bat an eye or think anything of it. But, for some reason this felt so much worse that day. As much as I was trying to feed off of the crowd's energy, I was still questioning myself as to why I was putting my body through such torture.

"Why am I doing this a third time? Are you nuts? Yeah I think after Pittsburgh next year, I'm done. I don't even want to finish today. I just want to stop running. But I have to finish. Yeah this was a stupid idea. Not as dumb as trying to run 50 miles though. Pretty sure I'm never doing that again. OK just get to the finish and that's it for marathons. You ran a couple, so you're good."

I walked all of mile 18, as well as mile 20 and 22, but once I got to mile 23 I knew I only had a little over three to go so it was time to finish. I had to fight through everything. My arms were covered in salt. I could feel my left calf starting to tighten and getting ready to cramp up. I just wanted to get done and if I was going to finish, I was going to run. I didn't care how fast or slow I was going. I just wanted to make sure I ran the rest of the course and finished strong.

The closer I got to the end, the more emotional I felt myself becoming, and even more overwhelmed. There were still thousands of people cheering on runners even this late in the race. It was something to see. It made me happy and kept me distracted from telling myself to get bent and to never do this again. Right around mile marker 25 or 25.5 (not exactly sure where since at that point I had tunnel vision,) there was an M.C. telling people to cheer and hug the person next to them because they had done it. I hugged that dude just because I could. He got a kick out of it and then told everyone we were boys and I knew how to get the job done. That made me laugh a little. But then, it got quiet. The crowd ended at mile Marker 26. The rest of the course was closed off to spectators. Well this sorta sucked. I was so used to seeing people all the way up to the finish in Pittsburgh, so what the heck was this madness? What was I going to do for the last .2 miles with no one there to cheer me to the end? If you didn't think .2 miles was long before, it certainly seemed to last forever right then! You can't leave me alone in my own head Chicago! Son of a......

"Great, now how the heck was I going to find Kirsten? This is going to be impossible. She wasn't going to be able to find me or find out where I was. I can't leave her by herself. I can't be left by myself! I'm going to cry. Yep, I'm also going to puke. I can't breathe. What...the...ever....heck???? Darn you Chicago! Oh wait...there's the finish line chute! Where's my Terrible Towel? Where the heck is my towel???? I gotta twirl it across the finish, even if Chicago spanked the Steelers a few weeks ago! These people have to know where I'm from!"

It was at that point I smiled a little more. With a twirl of my pink Terrible Towel I hit the finish mat, I grabbed my free beer, and I just kinda bent over in a sigh of relief. I did it! I finished marathon number 3. My God was it freaking hot. I just wanted to lay down and die (figuratively.) I then heard my name being called out and it was Kirsten. I was so glad she found me because I was truly worried I wouldn't find her in that mess of a crowd. She asked me how I was doing and I told her not good because I couldn't breathe. But, it wasn't because of running. I just started to get a little emotional and that feeling of being overwhelmed had not passed so I just needed to sit and calm down a bit. I needed to drink that beer, too.

Despite all the soreness in my legs and feeling a bit over heated, I felt pretty proud of what I did. My time was the slowest of my three marathons, but it was nothing to be ashamed of and I knew that. I ran and finished the Chicago Marathon. Kirsten ran and finished the Chicago Marathon. It was time to celebrate (and we did!) While out at dinner that night Kirsten asked me if I would do it again. Even though my kept trying to convince me otherwise earlier in the day, I looked right at her and said, "you darn well know I will."

Like I said at the beginning, it was the best of times and it was the worst of times (5 hours and 7 minutes.) What running the Chicago Marathon was, however, was a damn good time.

Until we meet again folks, keep on running.

Sinceriously,

Chuck Hull
The Running Jedi

#lovetherun #runpgh #runchi #26miles26dedications #teamlemieux

For a fifth year, I decided to raise money for the Mario Lemieux Foundation for the Pittsburgh Marathon 2018. This coming race will be another fun one! If I hit $3500 raised, I will run all 26.2 mile in this glorious suit.

To Donate, bookmark, click, and share this link:

https://www.crowdrise.com/mariolemieuxpitt2018/fundraiser/chuckhull

And thank you again, from the bottom of my heart.

PS - Enjoy a few more pics from Chicago!