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Reflections on the Chicago Marathon

**Reliving the Dream**

While working as an Argonne Running Club volunteer at the Chicago
Marathon this year, a flood of memories came back to me. I worked right
at the finish line, handing out the silver blankets to the runners as
they completed the marathon. I even managed to be the first (I believe)
to offer one to the winner, Ondoro Osoro. However, that activity is not
the reason for this article.

As I watched the runners finish and saw their combined joy and pain, in
some cases, I noticed how many looked to the sidelines for their
supporters. Most of the finishers waved furiously at them and, if they
were able to get someone into the restricted finish area, they still had
enough energy left to run up to them and hug them! With this thought in
mind, I want to belatedly (18 years) thank all those individuals who
supported me when I ran my marathon in 1980. My wife and our three small
children were unbelievable with their support. I would never have
thought of running a marathon without the encouragement of members of
the Argonne Running Club, headed by Rich Lee. In fact, prior to joining
the club back in the 70s, running to me was something that you did on a
basketball court. Also, without the brisk training runs with John
Harkness, I probably would not have been able to get under the four-hour
mark. Carl Blomquist, whose office was next to mine, was my
post-daily-run lunch partner. Finally, without Joe Mavec, I would never
have officially run a marathon.

Back in 1980, I trained for Chicago, but came down with the flu the day
before the run. I watched the marathon on TV with tears in my eyes. When
I returned to work the next week, I quit running. Joe, however,
convinced me to ÒhelpÓ him run the 50-mile ultramarathon, which was
being held in Chicago a couple of weeks after the Chicago marathon. I
ran with him for 30 miles during that run and decided that I ought to
still try to officially run a marathon. In November of that year, I
finally accomplished my goal by completing the Hinsdale Marathon with
several other Club members.

I left Argonne in 1981 for another job. This job really didnÕt allow me
to put together a consistent training program, thus ending my brief
marathon ÒcareerÓ. However, in 1992, I returned to Argonne. With lunch
runs a possibility again, I hoped to train for one more marathon.
Unfortunately, my body said no, and thoughts of reliving the dream
faded. However, my oldest son, who was a little kid when I ran at
Hinsdale, had recently married. His wife, Renae, is a runner, and
decided to try to run a marathon. She trained without the strong support
team that I had. She entered this yearÕs Chicago Marathon, having run in
only one race previously, a five miler! This decision prompted me to
volunteer to help at the finish line so that I could get an up-close
look at her as she finished, which she did in good fashion.

When I realized that I probably could not run another marathon, I
thought that I would never again have that great marathon-completion
feeling. Wow, was I ever wrong! I was more excited seeing my
daughter-in-law finish, having understood what it takes to accomplish
such a feat, than I was when I ran my marathon. Hopefully, I was one of
those support people that helped her accomplish her goal. We regular
runners understand that 3-, 4-, and 5-hour marathon times are great
times when they are our goals, even when people who do not understand
what it takes ask, ÒAnd what is the record?Ó or ÒIn what place did you
finish?Ó In conclusion, I encourage all of you, particularly those of
you beyond your running ÒprimeÓ, to support anybody who wants to
accomplish a lofty running or similar goal. The rewards are fantastic!!

Art Frigo

Argonne Teams Tromp at Chicago \'98

Another Chicago marathon - ho hum. But no, wait, there is something
drastically different. This time Argonne actually has not one, but two
teams entered in this years

marathon!! But I am getting ahead of myself, first some history.

Last year I trained for the marathon with Laurie Culbert (the \"kid\")
and Richard Page. We carpooled to the marathon expo and also to the
race - very nice. Richard and I ran the race together and the \"seeded\"
kid scampered ahead of us to a new PR (and a Boston qualifying time) for
herself. This year the trio started out training together again.
However, Richard got injured, throwing all our plans up in the air.
Laurie and I continued to train together, and if our runs were 10 miles
or less, Richard would run with us to help pass the time. We even had
John Schlueter with us a few times \... the more the merrier.

In case you didn\'t know it, this was a terrible summer to train for a
marathon. It seemed like all of our long training runs fell on days that
were either hot, humid, or both. It didn\'t bother Laurie and Richard so
much, but it killed me. More than one run included multiple stops for me
to change wet socks - what a pain. On our 20 mile run on the Illinois
Prairie Path I thought I was going to have problems because my ears
plugged up and I got a severe headache. (Is this fun or what!!) When our
training was finished, I knew I had not done enough.

At one of the core group meetings for the Argonne Running Club, someone
brought up the idea of the club sponsoring a team in this yearÕs
marathon. The club approved paying the team entry fee and also paying a
portion of the individual entry fee for each member of the team. (I
abstained form the voting on this subject since I was going to run the
race.) We got seven courageous souls to respond to an article in the
Argonne News concerning joining a marathon team. They included: Laurie
Culbert (IPD-MED), Pat Dombrowski (ASD), Karl Grimm (RA), Vince Huber
(CHM), Tony Juscius (ESH), Joe Mavec (DOE), and Aziz Uras (RE). Since
there can be only five members (max) on a team, we had to field two
teams. I think we were called Research at It\'s Best I and II.

The morning of the race turned out gorgeous, although I thought it might
get somewhat warm towards the end of the race. What a wonderful
experience, being lost in a crowd of 20,000 other runners waiting for
the race to start. All the team members were \"doing their own thing\"
so I was standing in a crowd of strangers. You could tell the
first-timers from the old hands just by the look on peopleÕs faces. Bang
\... the race was off. Because of the large crowds, it took me two
minutes to get to the actual start line, and I think Aziz told me it
took him six minutes to reach the start. This timing differential was
not a problem this year because everyone had a \"timing chip\" attached
to their shoe. Your individual time did not start until you crossed the
starting \"rug\" - ah, what progress.

The actual race was actually pretty uneventful. I talked with many
individuals along the way, but none for very long. (I think I liked it
better last year, when Richard and I ran the entire race together.) As
usual the race snaked northward through Lincoln Park up to Belmont
Avenue and then swung southward down past Comiskey Park before heading
to a Grant Park finish. We passed through many neighborhoods including
Lincoln Park, Lakeview, Little Italy, Pilsen, and Chinatown, just to
name a few. As usual, there was the dancing dragon in Chinatown and, on
the north side, the gay cheerleaders were again putting on their annual
spectacle. However, the aromas in Pilsen, while flavorful at any other
time, unfortunately left me sort of queasy.

One of the things that really makes this race is the crowds. They are
the thickest on the north side but every region had its crowds. It
really helps a runner to see people cheering for us mid- and
back-packers. I bet all the hoopla surrounding this race really screws
up traffic - some people must be royally pissed.

At last the torture along the Dan Ryan is done and you emerge onto Lake
Shore Drive from 31^st^ Street and head north under McCormick Place to
the finish line. What a wonderful sight to see the balloon arch
signifying the end of the 26.2 mile course. And then it is over\... Now
is the time for me to do reality check and take stock of my body because
I had been ignoring it for the last few miles. After a cursory
head-to-toe evaluation everything seemed to be in half-decent shape, so
I went looking for the Argonne Running Club table.

What a wonderful sight it was to see familiar faces at the finish area.
Although I do not know many of their names (I really should) I knew some
faces. I recall seeing Corrie Patterson, Mark Kamiya, Walt McFall,
Gloria Bannon, and Art Frigo. In fact, I think Corrie told me that they
had something like 35 volunteers this year!! (That Corrie does a hell of
a job every year organizing the Club volunteers.) Although I have said
it before, but I think it bears repeating, this race could not take
place without the efforts of all the volunteers that help along the
course (at water stops) and at the finish - my hat is off to all you
guys. This year the club volunteers gave out bananas and lots of
encouragement. Some of the Argonne volunteers worked at several stations
in the finish area.

When the race is over, then it is time to socialize, lie about how good
you feel, and have a good beer \... ummm. (Sam Adams Octoberfest was on
tap at the finish line.) As far a I could tell, the team members I saw
in the finish area had finished without any major aches or pains. After
I finished I began noticing the \"look\" of other runners; I thought
some looked terrible. However, they probably thought the same about me.
I did not see all the team members in the finish area, but from the
Internet the next day, I learned that we all had at least finished. By
the way, the kid set another PR.

Laurie and I then headed home after searching for, and finding, my lost
wife (don\'t ask) and my lost car (don\'t ask again). On the way home
our thoughts already had turned to Columbus Drive next October 24^th^
and the start of another journey through the streets of the city of
broad shoulders - cannot wait.

Karl Grimm

NBL Directors Run,

The NBL DirectorÕs Run was held Wednesday Oct. 14 from Bldg. 350. The
weather was great and there was an excellent turnout, 17 walkers, 14
runners and many NBL volunteers.

Dr. Margaret E.M. Tolbert, Director of New Brunswick Laboratory, was the
official starter and also greeted participants at the finish line.
Former ARC member and retired DOE person, Marty Thomas, was the official
timer. Refreshments were outstanding thanks to Corrie Patterson and
Michael Soriano who had volunteered at the Chicago Marathon and managed
to secure enough leftover eats for the NBL refreshment table. Due to
road construction, the usual NBL 3.3-mile running route was rerouted at
the last minute which lengthened it to about 3.4 miles. Excellent times
were clocked by runner Geoff Bodwin, HEP, 18:28 and for the 2 mile walk
by Jim Regis, RE, 24:55. Thanks to all for making the NBL Run a success.

John Sickels, NBL

http://chemistry.anl.gov/ARC

This month the Argonne Running Club website has pictures from the New
Brunswick Laboratory Director\'s run (thanks to John Sickels), and some
newly discovered pictures from the infamous red dress run (from Cathy
Carbaugh). In particular there are \"good\" pictures of Karl Grimm, Rich
Lee and others. I need [more pictures]{.underline}! I have also added
the race listings from the Prairie State Runners Club. I could do with
more contributions to this area. Without Jack we wouldn\'t have much in
the way of race listings. In response to a request, I have also added an
archive of past newsletters (1997-1998 in MS Word 6 format).

Chuck Jonah

WeÕll miss you John

Long-time Argonne Running Club member John Harkness left the Laboratory
in October. John came to Argonne in 1977. Trained as a chemical
engineer, he joined the EES Division and, later, continued in the ES
Division.

John was one of a core group of employees who founded the Argonne
Running Club in the late 1970\'s and helped it to grow into a
significant force in the local running community in the 1980\'s. He was
a member of the Argonne team that won the district Corporate Cup
Championship in 1980, running the 10k and the mile, and he traveled with
that team to the National Corporate Cup Championship at Stanford
University. John was also a runner on the Argonne teams that won the
Chicago Distance Classic Corporate Team Championship in 1983, 1984, and
1986 and finished second in 1985 and third in 1981. In the mid 1980\'s,
John was a key member of the group that established the original (now
extinct) exercise facility on site at Argonne, and, over the years, he
made important contributions to the maintenance and upgrade of that
facility.

John began his running career as a student at Pomona College, where he
joined the track and cross-country teams in order to counterbalance his
academic load. He ran the 440, 880, mile, and 2 mile on the track and
cross-country races of 2\--5 miles. During his years at Argonne, John\'s
track-sharpened abilities showed: he turned in many sterling
performances, both in local races and in Club fun runs. Probably John
would rank his 2:59:11 in the Chicago Marathon at the age of 43 as one
of the efforts of which he is most proud.

John\'s \"leisure\" activities are not restricted to running. For
example, he designed his present home and incorporated many
energy-conservation features into it, including a unique ice-storage
system that takes advantage of the winter cold to supplement the air
conditioning in the summer. John has a keen interest in music, and
especially opera, and, if provoked, can regale a listener for hours
about the intricacies of Wagner\'s Ring Cycle. He is also an
accomplished skier, and he has a lengthy record of significant
mountain-climbing achievements. One that stands out is his 1985 climb of
Denali (Mt. McKinley)\-\--a multi-week north-to-south traverse of the
Alaska Range that ascended the historical route of first ascent and
descended the modern-day, standard route.

For those of us who have run with John for many years on an almost daily
basis, he has been a nearly ideal running partner. Many runners are
happy to go for a pleasant jaunt on a crisp fall day. But John was
always ready to run (if not always dressed on time) on the tough days.
Whether the workout was a session of intervals on the track with
temperature and humidity in the 90\'s or a slog through ankle-deep snow
with a wind-chill of -40, John could be counted upon to lead the charge.
Even when the workout was tame, his wide range of interests and talents
and his fondness for outrageous puns and shaggy-dog stories usually made
for an entertaining run.

One of the unique advantages of running with John is his phenomenal
recall of the length of every segment of road on the Argonne site. Using
this knowledge, John can work out a course of any desired length, on the
fly, down to the tenth of a kilometer. Because of this talent, it was
acknowledged by the group that ran with John that he would always set
the course. Occasionally, on one of these group runs, someone would try
to turn a training effort into a race. It is safe to say that John
seldom lost these impromptu races. If someone got too far ahead, he
would simply change the course from behind and the leader would have to
backtrack or be declared disqualified: an ability to control a race from
the back of the pack that Shorter and Rogers could only dream!

John will continue to reside in Naperville until at least the year 2000
and promises to return to Argonne to run on a fairly regular basis.
Sometime after the turn of the century, John will move to Jackson Hole
Wyoming, where he and his wife Carol are building a home in Teton
Village at the base of the Jackson Hole Ski Resort. When that happens,
it seems very likely that some of his running time will be displaced by
time on the ski slopes or the peaks of the Tetons.

Those of us who have known John over the years will greatly miss his
companionship and his contributions to running and physical fitness at
Argonne. We wish him the best in his future.

Geoff Bodwin

ARCÕs Turkey Trot

The next ARC run will be held Wednesday, November 11, at noon. The race
will begin at the APS Gallery and have a Thanksgiving theme. It will
feature a raffle for club members. There will be both a 5K run and a 2K
walk.

Quote

And, finally a tip for those of you who are putting together your
training schedule for next yearÕs marathon:

ÒLong distance running is unnatural. I think the average person overdoes
it. I donÕt think the body or the foot or anything was structured to run
100 miles a week.Ó

Dr. Richard Schuster, NYC podiatrist

Cool Down

The Argonne Running Club Newsletter is edited by John Schlueter. Please
send your stories, photos, tips, race reports, race entry forms,
comments, etc. to me. Mail: Bldg. 200, Rm. A185; Internet:
schlueter@anchx4.chm.anl.gov; Phone: 2-3588. ARC president: Paul Eident,
Bldg. 200, Rm. L175, 2-3579, eident@anlchm.chm.anl.gov. ARC webmaster:
Chuck Jonah, Bldg. 200, Rm. B157, 2-3471, jonah@anlchm.chm.anl.gov. For
membership information, contact Karl Grimm, Bldg. 208 Rm. A205A, 2-6721,
b23921@ra.anl.gov.