Renegade mama at the Chicago marathon

Yesterday I met my friend Andie at mile 20, in the Pilsen neighborhood, of the Chicago marathon -- we had previously agreed that I'd run the last 6.2 with her, which any one who has ever run a marathon knows can be the toughest 6 miles of your life. It was brilliantly sunny and hot, well into the 70s. Great weather for picnicking or bike-riding, but notsomuch if you're running a race. Pilsen was electric -- the sidewalks were packed with cheering fans and people spilled out of businesses along 18th street dancing to DJs who set up sound systems up and down the street. God, I love Chicago. (Below, marathoners at the start, Dale Bowman/Chicago Sun-Times)

Andie was doing great. She ran well all summer and her training was really helping her out yesterday. We left Pilsen and hit Chinatown about 1 1/2 miles later. Again, very festive and fun, and boy was that sun beating down as we turned southward again. I'd never run past mile 22 and so this part of the course was new to me. And huh, I've never run along the Dan Ryan freeway before. Way too much sun and concrete. A lot of runners were taking walk breaks here, God bless them. Andie took a few short walk breaks here and there, but she was a trouper about not walking too long and getting her feet moving again. We eventually turned east after we got to Comiskey Field (Ok, I know it's not called that anymore, whatever, it's where the White Sox play) and wound past IIT and DeLaSalle High School's stadium, where my teenager used to play football when he was younger.Fortunately there was a bit of shade along the way. I was watching Andie pretty carefully and hoped I wasn't annoying her with too many "how are you doing" questions. She was hanging right in there, though I know she was tired. She is one tough lady.

Then we marched north on Michigan Avenue (well south of "the" part of Michigan Avenue people tend to think of) and a great band kept playing and singing "two more miles". The thumping music was so catchy and fun, perking up a lot of people. We got to Mile 25 and geez, even I had goosebumps, despite the heat. The crowds thickened here. The atmosphere was electric. I was so excited for Andie. And OK, for me too, just so fun to be a part of the race, even though I wasn't running it or anything. I can't wait to do Chicago again someday.

At the 800 meter mark, a guy grabbed me and said "where's your bib?" He startled me and I tried to explain I wasn't doing the race, but was just running my friend in and he ushered me very quickly off of the course. Andie and I hugged a quick good-bye and she went on to finish. The spot where I got thrown out unfortunately made it difficult to get to the finish line quickly since so much of the area was blocked off. :-(  Rats. Unfortunately, being just about 17 weeks pregnant also meant I had to go to the bathroom. I should have peed on that guy's shoes, haha. OK, just kidding.

I thought about writing the race director. I totally understand you can't have people "banditing" races -- I would never do that. It's wrong to show up at a race and not pay for the race, and yet use course resources. A story in the Tribune that I posted in this blog earlier in the week covered the extensive amount of cheating people have done at the Chicago marathon also makes it clear why the Chicago Marathon race officials have to be so militant.

But there's lots of running buddies like me who volunteer some time and a few miles to help friends get through the whole 26.2-mile race. I would even be willing to pay a small fee to help cover some of the course costs -- I just wanted to help my pal finish, not collect a medal I didn't earn at the end. I don't know. It just seems like I shouldn't have been treated like a criminal at the end.

Or maybe I'm being too sensitive. If I am, I blame hormones, LOL.