The Chicago Marathon

I was not one of the 44,000 runners in this year's Chicago Marathon that took place yesterday in Chicago. I was traveling to and from Chicago with most of them though. In line, waiting for my flight, the conversation was about running - training runs, what to eat, breaking in new shoes, running 1/2 marathons, how to best recover, how to find a hotel close to the start of the race, how to get back to the hotel after the race, and how in your first marathon you really don't notice the first 13 miles because you're just so excited. So this conversation is taking place all around me and I felt like I was in an movie with the camera circling the conversation and going around and around and around.

And then I said, I'm not going for the marathon, but I've got to just ask you all a question. I asked, "So you're not late for anything, and no one is chasing you, but you're still running?" There was a very, long, extenuated pause while they looked at me like I was from another planet. They quietly said, "uh huh", moved a little farther away, and continued their conversation using their "inside voices" so the other non-runners (maybe two other people?) wouldn't interrupt.

And this morning on the way back to DC - once again, all the runners. But this time they didn't look so excited! There was a mass of humanity trying to get through security at Midway. And yet the people you saw running for their flights were the ones running for appropriate reasons - - because they were late for something! .