I signed up for the Chicago Marathon in 2007. I had a hunch that 2007 was going to be a good running year for me. I’d run my best marathon ever the previous fall in Chicago, and I kept my mileage up through the winter in order to be ready for Boston in April. I was optimistic that a return to Chicago would give me a good shot at a new P.R.
That optimism faded as race day approached. I felt fit and ready, but the weather forecast for Chicago was looking grim. And it got worse each day. It was really going to be hot. I was getting worried. I didn’t want to “waste” my possible P.R. run on a horribly hot day in Chicago. Appended to the National Weather Service’s scary-hot temperature forecast was a note also predicting “humidity will be unusually high.” I couldn’t imagine how high humidity would have to get before Midwesterners would call it unusually high! Worry went off-scale.
I converted my worry into action. On the Wednesday before the marathon I cancelled our flights and hotel. Next I checked the weekend forecast for Portland, Oregon (by happy coincidence, the Portland Marathon was being run the same day as Chicago). The forecast for Portland looked great! I booked a room.
My wife, Liz, and I drove to Portland Friday afternoon and went directly to the expo to register. Saturday was a relaxing day in the lovely city with my lovely wife. Sunday morning was a little warmer than forecast, but still about 30 degrees Fahrenheit cooler than Chicago was that morning. It was good weather to try for a P.R., but that’s another story.
