Oct 15/02
Hi All - Sorry but I didn't win! Maybe next year. I tried to keep pace with the leaders but I dropped back to 6211 th place!! There were 31,584 runners in all, my time was 3:40:07. I was aiming for 3:30 and was on pace until 30k when my legs rebelled and said slow it down. Oddly enough I was not breathing too hard.

I heard a sports psychologist talk at our marathon clinic the night before I left and she helped enormously. She told us to embrace the pain in our bodies rather than trying to fight it off. The pain means we were working hard which is a good thing. Well, I did that but I cannot seem to let go cause the pain is still there! She also helped me to remain calm and not be too nervous. Its not easy when you are in the middle of a crowd of 31,000 with another million people lining the streets and a half a dozen helicopters filmimg from overhead I could tell who ran as I walked around the city later because we were all limping!

I concentrated on enjoying the crowd along the way which made it a lot of
fun. I was high fiving spectators and having a good time which took my mind off how my body felt. I ran with a guy  from Tulsa whose name was Brian as well. We talked for about 18 miles or so which really helped. He had the same first and last name as Michael's assistant from Team inTraining. Strange or what?

There were numerous bands playing throughout the different neighbourhoods and even a Gospel choir singing outside of a church!

Had a great time and saw a lot of Chicago by bus, boat and of course by running.   The architecture of the large buildings is incredible and their waterfront and river system is really well planned out and very accessible, not to mention beautiful! Also visited the art gallery which was very impressive. As usual, too little time to do everything but I will be going back for sure.

On to Wave to Dave!  Come out and join us Sun Oct. 20th.  Click here for details.

Cheers!

Brian

PS -   look at this site periodically to see if my pictures are there. They took photos throughout the course. My bib # was 6882.         http://www.marathonfoto.com  

________________________________________________________

Written Oct. 10/02
The Marathon of Hope (as in - hope I make it!)

I have been training for this run going on 4 months now. My training has consisted of 5 workouts per week on average. Since early September I cut back on the running due to an injured foot and instead have used a stairclimber and elliptical trainer. This has allowed me to do 6 workputs per week and heal my foot along with other little nagging injuries while improving my fitness level. The stair climber is a killer! I would do about 200 flights of stairs per workout plus the elliptical for 20-30 minutes.

Previously, I had been training for about 18 months with mostly 8 km runs 4 or 5 times per week. The longest race I had ever been in was the10k which I enjoyed.

Throughout the winter I decided to start running further one day per week and eventually got to the point where I was running 20 km at once with one run of almost 30 km under my belt. Every author I read advised doing that one long run to build endurance, but I had  avoided it fairly successfully so far! Thanks to a friend who ran with me and pushed me to go to that next traffic light, the runs got longer and longer. Next thing I knew, I was running home from Pickering!

My fitness level had fallen off a bit into late May and early June until Michael Brennan from Team in Training signed me up for a marathon running clinic at the Running Room store in the Beaches where I live. For 16 weeks there were speakers every Thursday before we would go out for our run. I had a pretty good understanding to build on but these were real experts in various fields such as nutrition, chiropractic and running psychology. There are clinics for all distances- learners to marathoners, I highly recommend them.

Sunday was my day to meet up with some others at the store at 7:30 a.m. for our long run. I started building my long runs and in a few weeks 30 plus km runs were normal. I will not miss those runs in the 90 degree heat! I am now well aquainted with some of the park systems in the city as well as a few new friends!

On to Chicago. I am now in the taper phase where I run less and less for the last 3 weeks to let the legs recover. It is the 25th anniversary and there will be 37,499 others joining me! The course winds thru the city's neighborhoods where a million people will cheer us on. There will be some 20 musical bands on hand throughout.

It is the first marathon ever to have both the two fastest males and females taking part in the same race (and a Cartier financial planner!). First place is $100,000, I will try to keep up with the leaders for as long as I can and then find a subway! Many of the other top runners will be there as well. A training partner ran last year and tells me I will love it.

Did I mention the part where a marathon is 42.2 km long or 26 miles?? I will actually wear a timing chip on my shoe and a computer will record when I cross the start/finish as well as other points along the way as I run over special mats laid out over the course. I estimate that it will take me about 3:30 minutes to complete. Keep in mind that the winner will likely finish around 2:06!!! I will follow a pace rabbit which is a runner that will complete the run in a specified time. The farthest I have ever gone is 37km. The adrenaline and cooler weather should carry me through the extra distance-I hope. It may take me 10 minutes or so just to get to the start line due to the huge volume of runners once the race begins!

The idea was for me to run a marathon to motivate people to donate to the Leukemia Research Fund and it blossomed thanks to great ideas and planning from Dave, Emmy, Helen (travel plans and moral support!), Gary, Deb, Sandra ,Sara, Michael from TnT and Terry Stone from Clarington. April Stewart deserves the credit for the creation of this site and for providing invaluable moral support for Dave and Emmy.I could have told people I was walking around the block as it turned out! Ooops! You have all given out of the goodness of your hearts and have shown tremendous support for Dave. Truly great people. The money raised goes into research projects for Leukemia and blood diseases like Myelo Fibrosis. This effort will one day and indeed has already provided benefits to Dave and others.

I will also be thinking of everyone who has wished me well as I run the course. I cannot emphasize enough how this will help me when my feet are sore, legs stiff, joints aches and lungs are on fire! Thanks!!!

Brian Cormier

P.S   Check out www.chicagomarathon.com