The very first day I met my girlfriend Madison, she told me she had signed up to run the Chicago Marathon. Munching on tater tots at Pharmacy Burger in Nashville on our first date back in February, I had no idea what this would entail. Later I found out it entailed months of training, a twenty-mile bike ride carrying support snacks and water (apparently I rode too far ahead to be helpful on a few occasions), and witnessing how fatigue can toy with emotions during a run. I didn’t know enough about marathons then to realize Madison was crazy, so just ate my tater tots and said, “Wow! That’s cool!.”
For months, Madi trained with progressively longer and more arduous runs. Some evenings after work, she would run for four or five hours on a treadmill just to get the time in. I’ve never run a marathon before, so all this preparation seemed more than daunting, and more akin to torture than enjoyment, but I admired her tenacity. Call me a sap, but it warmed my heart when she asked me to come cheer her on in Chicago.
Madi’s parents, Tony and Marci, met us at baggage claim at Midway Airport in Chicago. October in Tennessee is warmer than October in Chicago, in case you were wondering. We stood with tensed muscles as the chilly Chicago wind whipped through the breezeway while we waited on our Uber to arrive and take us to their hotel. I would stay with Madi’s cousin Ryan since the hotels were booked before Madi even knew me.
Inside the convention center. iPhone 13 Pro Max.
Our competitor with her race bib. A marathon is 26.2 miles, in case you didn’t know. iPhone 13 Pro Max.
Objective number one was picking up Madi’s race packet from the convention center amidst a sea of other runners and spectators. The Chicago Marathon is a World Marathon, so people from all over the world got yelled at by the convention center crossing guards in equal measure.
That night, we met up with Ryan and his girlfriend Maggie, as well as Madi’s brother and sister-in-law, whom I hadn’t met yet. We had a lovely time eating burgers and fried pickles at a restaurant across from Lincoln Park, by Lake Michigan. Then I left with Ryan and headed to his townhouse for some shut-eye (after watching the Notre Dame game. He’s a big fan). I slept in a guest bed on the third floor in a room soon to be occupied by a new roommate, complete with a loosely assembled desk, which I managed to wreck loudly at 4:30 the next morning in my efforts to get ready and meet Madi before the start of the race.
Madi and her dad near the start line. iPhone 13 Pro Max.
Madi and me the morning of. Photo courtesy of Madi’s mom.
I caught the el-train full of runners down to the hotel and met Madi and her parents for breakfast, then walked a nervous Madi to the start line in Grant Park. She wore an old flannel shirt of her brother’s to protect against the Chicago chill until she had to toss it at the start. The scale of what she was about to attempt began to set in both for her and for us. There were cops and helicopters and spectators and DJs with speakers. We had to say goodbye to her before she even got to the start line, a sad fact of life after the Boston Marathon bombing.
Then, we waited.
Once the race started, Tony, Marci, and I spent the rest of the morning and afternoon running from spot to spot where we knew we could see her to hold up signs and cheer her on and make her laugh. I was terrible at spotting her in big crowds of runners, and missed her on two occasions early on in the race. It got easier as the race went on. I walked my own half-marathon that day trying to keep up with Madison. Seriously. I walked fourteen miles.
A sea of runners. iPhone 13 Pro Max.
Halfway through. iPhone 13 Pro Max.
Madi had told me during her training that fatigue and low blood sugar would do crazy things to a runner’s emotions, but I hadn’t seen it first hand until that day. Madi had read that guys in Chinatown — around mile 21 — would dress up in dragon costumes and dance along the course, but as she approached she saw some of the dancers shedding their costumes, which started the waterworks. The pain she was in by mile 21 didn’t help. She did end up seeing some other dragons, closer to where her parents and I were standing, but then seeing us made her cry. She nearly made us all cry when, with quivering lip, she approached the barricade to get a few snacks. Seeing her cry made her mom tear up. Seeing her mom tear up made her dad tear up. Seeing her dad tear up made me tear up. I was in shock as the tearful chain reaction gained momentum. I had never seen her cry before.
“You better go,” her dad wisely said, knowing she shouldn’t break her stride for long. “You can do it. Pain is temporary! Achievement is for a lifetime!” he called after her as she ran off again.
We caught her a few more times before the finish line. I ran ahead of Tony and Marci to catch her a few extra times (and I do mean “ran” — in boots). When she hobbled into the finish paddock (ominously called the “family reunification point”), I scoured Grant Park and found her, texting her parents directions through the convoluted paddock. Madi was tired, but she finished. A well-earned medal hung clanking around her neck, nestled under a space blanket they gave to each finisher.
At the finish. iPhone 13 Pro Max.
I’m proud of her. Madison did what not many people have done, fighting through the training, the pain, and the emotions to get there. She’s tough. Tougher than me.
Sadly, I didn’t get to spend much time with her after the race. I had to catch my flight back to Nashville, so after just 36 hours in Chicago I was in the air again. They say parting is such sweet sorrow, and that’s especially true of your girlfriend after completing major lifetime achievement.
That entire trip was a trip of firsts. I had never been to Chicago before, and it’s a lovely city, one I’d like to go back and visit when I have more time. I had never ridden an el-train before (it’s a great way to see the city). I had never witnessed a marathon before.
The Chicago skyline. iPhone 13 Pro Max.
And in April, Madi and I are running the Nashville Half-Marathon together. She talked me into it (and yes, it was of my own free will as Madi would like everyone to know). At least now I know what I’m getting myself into. Besides, there’s a medal and space blanket in it for me when I finish.