A short history.

I was supposed to run the Chicago Marathon in 2023. I had a knee scope in May for a torn meniscus, so I deferred to 2024.

2023 was the year many records were broken, including the fastest overall marathon time. The conditions were perfect.

The conditions were not perfect in 2024, but the record for the fastest female marathon time was nabbed, so it was not horrible.

This was also my first marathon running as a guided runner. My guide and I, Ruth Alexander, had run the Xenia Half Marathon in April 2024 and had run together several times. Ruth had run as a blind runner guide before, so she had experience. She also had a lot of experience as a pacer.

Because of the size of the field, we decided that running with a tether would be best to ensure we do not get separated. The only times we took the tether off were during bathroom breaks.

Aside from the wheeled division, all para-athletes started in the same corral. We were stationed in a corral to the side near the start, close enough to see the elite field warming up before the race.

We were to be released once wave E went by. I have started in a few waves, especially in Columbus and the Flying Pig. Wave E in Chicago was nowhere near like those waves. Wave E in Columbus and the Flying Pig can be around 4:30 to 5-hour finishers. Wave E in Chicago was around 2:10. Those people were going fast!

I decided that waiting for the end of the wave would be in our best interest. Like I said, those people were going fast! That would give us some time to gain ground on wave F. In the end, those waves and several others caught up with us, but that was OK. It was all about the experience of running in Chicago.

And, oh, what an experience it was.

The crowd size was the most apparent difference between this and any other race we had done. Of the local marathons I have done, Columbus probably has the highest crowd support, with The Flying Pig having a decent number of people. Both Ohio marathons also have half marathons, which are run simultaneously. Once those of us running the complete separate from those running the half, crowd support can diminish significantly.

That was not the case in Chicago. From almost every step of the way, thousands of people were on both sides of the path, cheering us on, yelling for us, passing out free high-fives and what have you. There was only one little section of that course where there were NOT throngs of people screaming for us – I will get to the moment of “tragedy” at that point later.

Chicago contains a lot of diverse sections with a lot of diverse people. I remember the Hispanic, Italian, Chinese, American Indian, and Boys Town being particularly loud. The energy coming from those folks truly helped us move along.

Boys Town was particularly memorable to me; it was a section that quite a few told me to be on the lookout for. Even with my limited hearing, I could hear the cheers in the distance as we neared. Once we got there, I could see a stage where four guys were dressed as characters from Rocky Horror Picture Show – I remember getting a glimpse of the Doctor, the Monster, and Janet, but do not remember who character number four was.

When we entered Chinatown, Ruth pointed out a dragon and decorations surrounding the courtyard. Unfortunately, I did not see them because that also happened to be a part where we went around a corner into the sun AND the aid station. I was blinded by the light!

In the Native American section, I remember seeing at least one guy in full dress doing a native dance, for which we passed just a couple of feet from him as I tipped my hat to him. Great stuff.

At some points, the crowd support was so great and thick that the runners’ path shrank. Almost ran into a couple of spectators! Here’s some advice: If you are a marathon spectator standing in the street with a blind runner coming towards you, you might want to pull to the side.

Meanwhile, the support from other runners was spectacular. As I alluded to earlier, we are not fast runners. However, our start was among the fast runners. So we got passed, a lot. Very rarely did I feel like a speed bump. Quite a bit, passing runners offered encouragement. Made us feel pretty good!

But Ruth and I did have some issues ourselves.

Ruth was first, around mile 16 or so. She started getting some serious side stitches. We slowed down, which helped somewhat, but not perfectly. However, a glass of Pepsi or Coke around mile 21 helped her immensely.

About a mile after her side stitches began, I started having some minor stomach cramps. With her stitches and my cramps, we did walk a few times. By now, we were losing a couple of minutes per mile off our pace, going from around 10:30 on average to around 14. Ruth apologized several times, but I was pretty all right. I was cramping a bit.

A quick trip to a port-o-pot did nothing. Neither did extra hydration nor extra gels.

Remember me telling you about that quiet place on the course, the only part without a bunch of screaming people around?

It was there I farted. Loudly. I am pretty sure I saw some people jump. I am sure it propelled some people in front of us forward faster and behind us backwards. It was loud enough that I felt the need to apologize.

But it did help with my cramping!

We had some other issues. It got hot, very quickly. It also got very humid. It also got kind of windy. And the sun baked us alive.

So, the time was not quite where we wanted it. Both Ruth and I had discovered earlier that the Boston qualifying time for a blind runner of my age is pretty generous, at five hours. We did not make it by almost half an hour, but that was OK. We were there for the experience!

I loved running Chicago and would love to run that one again.