2011 CHICAGO MARATHON

 Today, a Sunday, I actually hauled my lazy ass out of bed before 8 am, left my hovel and went to watch the 34^th Annual Chicago Marathon – otherwise known as the Bank of America Chicago Marathon.

What – you thought I was going to tell you I participated?  Mi?!  Wid mi big belly?  Run inna dis ya hot weadda’?!  Is how long unnu know me? *kiss teet*  To rass….

[TRANSLATION FOR MY NON-PATOIS FRIENDS:  Me?  Run in a major marathon with my grotesquely enlarged stomach?  In these hot and steamy temperatures?  Don’t you know me and my diva ways and my refusal to perspire and ruin my foundation?!  I thought you’d have had enough time to know about my idiosyncrasies by now! *hissing sound*  Damn….]

The Chicago Marathon, along with the marathons of Boston, New York, London and Berlin, is considered one of the five World Marathon Majors.  This yearly event initially began in 1977 as the Mayor Daley Marathon and has grown since then from a mere 4,200 participants in its initial run, to its current limited participation of 45 thousand runners.  Participants of the marathon came from over 100 countries, for most of whom it was their first visit to the Windy City. 

The competition – with individual prize money of over $100 thousand for the top winners – generates $170 million towards the local economy on the race weekend, with  charities that participate in or are affiliated with the marathon raising up to $11 million and more for their institutions. 

The marathon, a 26-plus mile course that winds through the city of Chicago, goes through some 26 city neighborhoods such as Lincoln Park, Lakeview, China Town, Old Town, and Pilsen. 

(Pilsen?  Why does that name sound familiar?) 

Because that’s the neighborhood that I live in.  Yup, the marathon course runs no more than four blocks from my hovel.  It was time for me to stop bitching about having nothing to do, so I got out of bed and walked up the road to see what the hoopla was all about. 

I arrived at mile-marker 19 located on 18^th Street between Ashland Avenue and Blue Island a little after 9 am, an hour-and-a-half after the start of the race by Grant Park in Downtown Chicago.  The first lead runners were just coming by and the sparse crowd of spectators and I clapped and cheered them on.  Then, after 10 to 15 minute delays, there would be groups of five or so runners turning the corner.  These were the serious marathon runners – all lean and sinewy, not an ounce of fat in sight.  As time went on the delays grew shorter and shorter, and the groups of runners grew larger and larger until suddenly the street was teeming with runners.  All shapes and sizes.  Young and old.  Physically able and handicapped.  Running on two legs or on prosthetics.  As a group, as part of a club, or just solo.  Running for charities, running to raise funds for special causes. 

By this time the crowd has swelled, the neighborhood stores had cranked up the music, and the on-lookers were a’ hooting and a’ hollering. 

Some participants were running for personal bests.  Some were running for personal gains.  Others ran for a cause – whether it be for cancer, in memory of a deceased loved one, a personal triumph over illness, etc. 

One thing I noticed (besides the young, succulent and juicy 20-something corn-fed farm boys running with no shirt on) was the transition of the athletes physique as the race progressed.  The serious contenders in the beginning were all lanky, wiry and lean; the spurts of runners that followed were a little chunkier and fleshier looking.  Then the majority of the runners after that were all fit and came in all sizes and shapes but were mainly of average build.  I just thought it was an interesting flow that coincided with the progression of the race.

I left after nearly two hours – I mean, there is only so much you can do watching people run by you – and returned home with a positive feeling of community and participation.  I mean – isn’t this one of the reasons I live in a big city? 

Next on my agenda – should I or shouldn’t I participate in the Occupy Wall Street protest in Chicago……