Zach Runs Chicago

Rita Jeptoo, eye-catchingly dressed in brightly-colored Nike running gear, with flashy pink fingernails that sparkle when she talks with her hands (which she does often), is surprisingly soft-spoken and reserved at first. Despite being the defending champion of both the Chicago and Boston marathons, she gazes around shyly as she offers a delicate handshake to each of us. She's instantly one of the most likeable people I've ever met. Rita Jeptoo discussing her training at Nike Running Bucktown Gathering around her with a small group of running bloggers (including Erica , Emily and Jen ) in Nike Running Bucktown to ask her questions I can't help feeling like we were boxing her in, each of us slowly inching closer and closer to hear her almost-whispered responses over the din of runners preparing for a Monday night run. But as the circle slowly closes around her she actually seems to grow more comfortable, unleashing several lengthy stream-of-consciousness responses to q...

Several years ago my wife participated in the Hustle Up the Hancock stair climb. At the time we lived in a highrise in River North and she trained by walking up and down the stairwell in our 33-story building. I trained with her a few times and quickly found out that stair climbing is wayyyy harder than it looks. Later, while participating in the Men's Health Urbanathlon I got another chance to tackle stair climbing. This time in Soldier Field. It was no easier. So, looking at the description for the upcoming Storm the Stadium (Chicago's longest and only open-air stair climb) at U.S. Cellular Field, I'm imagining that there are going to be plenty of people on event day showing up for an event that is a lot harder than they're expecting. I'd love to be one of those people. Unfortunately, I'm going to be out of Chicago that weekend so I'm not going to be able to. However, I do have a discount code for $10 off registration if you register before Au...

Runners delaying the inevitable Saturday morning before the Chinatown 5K If you were running on Saturday morning, you may have noticed that it rained a little bit. That's a bit of an understatement. It rained like Darren Aronofsky was in charge of the weather . Luckily, I didn't see Russell Crowe walking around with crazy eyes anywhere. But I did see a lot of runners who did not seem to give an eff about inclement weather - they signed up for a race and by god they were going to run it (hey, I was one of those people too). When I got to Chinatown around 7:30 on Saturday morning, I thought I might find a sparsely attended (and possibly cancelled 5K), but what I found instead was a hidden village of dedicated runners hidden under every bit of shelter throughout Chinatown Square like little runner Easter eggs. The race announcer made some pretty good jokes about the weather and about the race not being cancelled and, with around 10 minutes to go before start time,...