The (overdue) Thank You

No tricks, just treats in the way of long overdue gratitude....
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Dear Chicago,
Thank you for hosting a great marathon. I now know why so many attempt their first marathons in your fair city. Not only is it a spectacular city with beautiful architecture, but the public art is something else -- The Bean was by far, handsdown, my favorite. I marveled at it every day, and raved about it to my friends. And the food! Don't even get me started.

The spectators, especially, deserve a giant gold star for their support. I had heard these spectators were world-class and they didn't let me down. The weather was not the friendliest, yet there they were spectators in spades, hooting and hollering for everyone at just about every point on the course. I cannot stress how much they helped distract me from negative thoughts, and their cheers helped carry me to the big finish.

Thanks for the golden memories. Maybe we'll meet again someday.

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Dear Chicago Marathon finishers, and my fans,
Thank you for following my progress. I hit some good lows during the program, but your advice always picked me up. I hit some good highs too, and thankfully, those were more often the case.

I tracked the blogs of my fellow Chicago Hopefuls-now-Finishers that became an important and integrated aspect of my training. My undying gratitude to Bob who had the foresight to chair Chicago-bound 2006 in blogland, and welcome me into the family. I have not met most of these souls (soles?), but I feel like I've known you for years. You educated me, allowed me to peek into your training programs, showed me how you fit life into your running life until the two were indistinguishable and just co-existed. It became my life too.

But not just the Chicago-bound were the only ones that propeled me to my successful finish at the 2006 Chicago Marathon. A shout out to my family, my friends, and other runners who blog or don't, though an acknowledgment must be made to Arcaner and Sonia for being frequent commentators. I salute those that had the courage to begin the training, wanted to run it, but due to unforeseen circumstances, were not able to triumph with us. But I share this achievement with them because they were still awesome supporters throughout the journey. And a special thank you to Emily who put this now-unridiculous idea to run a marathon in my head in the first place.

In the end, I can't say it better than Runnergirl did in a recent post when she said "You have more of an impact than you could possibly realize." It applies to everyone who helped me get to the finish line on Oct. 22.

Forever grateful.
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Dear Yumke and Frankie,
Was it only a year ago that I flippantly said I was going to run a marathon? Was it only that long ago that I convinced you to come aboard the crazy train to run for hours? I think I might have said "It's nice to have goals" as a reason to run a marathon. Because I never considered myself a runner when I set that goal. But I am now fully convinced that I've morphed, joined the club.

The three of us, as far as I can remember, never ran once together over the course of this past year. There were intentions declared early on once we made a pact to do this, but I think it's funny we had our first run together, a simple two-miler, the day before the marathon.

We each had our own training style. Frankie was totally into the group running. Yumke was totally solo. I was somewhere in the middle, like a jelly sandwich I guess.

I don't possess the natural ability to run like either of you, but the possibility that I was going to let either of you down scared me a lot. "Fear is a great motivator", is a saying that used to be taped to the side of Yumke's computer during our time at the school paper. The fear of failure was indeed a motivator to get up at 6AM on the hottest days of the summer to get that long run in; the fear of failure would convince me to skip the beer after work and get another 5 miles logged; the fear of failure kept me honest in this space -- and I thank Yumke for making me accountable through a blog.

We didn't have to run this together to be great friends, we already are. But there's no doubt we've grown even closer.
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Dear CMan,
Thank you for putting up with my insanity for, not just the last 12 years, but especially for the 18-weeks I put myself into training mode.
Thank you for not complaining about feeling neglected on Sunday mornings when I'd go out for a couple of hours for a long run. Thank you for not complaining the other six days of the week when I'd invariably be either complaining there aren't enough hours in a day to fit in a somewhat shorter run, or whining about sore calves.
Thank you for having spaghetti with me.
Thank you for picking me up from the park when I ran too far from home and overestimated my ability.
Thank you for buying epsom salts, then drawing a bath.
Thank you for the stylin watch that I'll use for many runs to come.
Thank you for following me around Chicago as best you could. I can't explain how your efforts to find me at several points on Marathon Day was so key to the success.
Thank you for all these points, and others during our lifetime, that are too numerous to list.

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Dear Jelly,
Thank you for never giving up even when that seemed like the easiest route out. Your mind is stronger for this, and you've learned that you are capable of setting goals and reaching them if you work hard enough. Hopefully this applies to other aspects of your life.

Your body is proud of you for losing nearly all the weight you had gained since university. You look great, and your mother thinks so too. But, your body especially thanks you, if only because this weight loss is crucial to your diabetes management.

For all the stress I've put on the body this training period, I'm sorry. You logged 409.33 training miles before you took your position at the starting line. That's some 83 hours of running. You would take 5:20:26 more to go the distance on Oct. 22. That's quite an accomplisment, don't let anyone tell you otherwise. The sore quads and hips, achy toes, and tense calves, week in and week out. Worth it? Hell ya. Consider this a warning..... there is more to come as long as you let me.