Meet Me in Chicago

Published by Lisa Uhl on October 1, 2014

13 days until I’m on the start line of my first marathon- The Bank of America Chicago Marathon. When I started this journey 4 months ago, I expected to run a lot and sleep a lot. I didn’t expect to think so much, but many miles on the bike paths and neighborhoods of Des Moines gave me plenty of time with my thoughts.

Not that I haven’t experienced this before; I’m used to logging miles during track training too, but for some reason the marathon training cycle made me particularly introspective. Probably partly because it is a new opportunity, but I think mostly because the lead-up was not what I imagined and expected it to be. After the London Olympics, I figured I would spend another year on the track, make a World Championships team, and go into my first marathon with my eyes set on the American debut record. Well, that definitely didn’t pan out.

2013 started off well in the winter during indoor track but by the spring, I found myself inconsistent and fatigued. After a disappointing track season and fighting through up-and-down training for about a year, my coach and I decided it was best for me to take a break from hard training this spring. This gave me time to think about what I really wanted from my running career. What made me excited about training and competing again after feeling like I had been banging my head against the wall for a year? I kept coming back to the marathon- the spirit of it, the community surrounding it, and my naivety to it. I knew I couldn’t expect to be breaking records in 4 months, but I realized I had to start somewhere with something that had exciting potential. That’s when I made the decision to do the marathon.