Many Are Called, But Few Are Chosen

Ah yes, where are the young days of 2006, when everybody and his brother signed up to run the Chicago marathon this coming October? Where has everybody gone? Once the reality of training sets in, running a marathon all of a sudden seems like a very stupid thing to do. Even some die-hard SLG-ers seem to have trouble getting up the motivation to start doing the long runs. The Chicago marathon is less than 3 months away guys, and most of us seem to be very far from "Mid-Season Form".
So what's a coach to do? Last Saturday, July 22nd, exactly 3 months before the big day, I decided SLG needed a little jumpstart. The new headquarters were finally finished so it was time for a BBQ and a pep talk by the one man who spends sleepless nights these days thinking of when he can get his long runs in : Philippe Schaillee, or the shrink from Chicago, who has home court advantage this year. And mind you, the man was more than talk. After boozing and schmoozing till 2.30 a.m on Saturday night, he got 5 SLG'ers up and running at 10 a.m. It was a sight for sore eyes, having Stefan, Gil, Mike (the SLG-er), Philippe and myself at the SLG fountain. Various people ran various distances ranging from 8 to 16 miles and hopefully this was the start of some long training runs together.
After all, there is the New York City half to run on August 27th, which for the first time will not limit itself to a couple of loops in the park. The course actually winds through the streets of Manhattan. The race was promoted quite a bit and it is a collaboration between the New York Road Runners Club and Nike. The amount of entrants was limited to 10000 and apparently the race was sold out in 1 day! SLG will make a decent appearance with Mike, Gil, Stefan and myself running and we have a special appearance by a Belgian SLG-er that day. Yes, Yes, the SLG-er with the best legs(esthetically speaking) Dora Illy will be in town and will be running with us. If that doesn't jump-start the training for Chicago, nothing will.
So what has happened to you all?
I know Clem ran his 82nd(?) marathon in Thailand on Sunday July 16th and I know he is very gung ho for Chicago. Patrick, who is coming with Clem to Chicago, is also training, I am sure of that.
I already mentioned what Dora is up to and yes, the best SLG legs will also be in Chicago.
Mark Hennenfent will not be attending but at least he has a good excuse, he will be a father for the second time right around that time. What whas he thinking 9 months
ago!! Anyway, we will allow it this time.
Stefan Ewald has been doing his miles every week and as I mentioned before, he was part of our first longish run last Sunday. He failed miserably in his role as pace coach and zoomed off with Philippe and and Gill, leaving Mike and myself in the dust. Stefan had the idea to run both Chicago and New York 2 weeks later. We would run Chicago in some blistering pace and then we would do New York as a sort of "Victory lap", where people on the street would be stopping us for autographs all the time and of course, we would gladly oblige. I have heard that in the meantime his wife Anne has talked some sense into him so that he may forego New York this year.
Philippe Schaillee has his new title of "Chicago Shrink" to enjoy so please contact him if you need a one-on-0ne motivational session.
Mike Smyth(the SLG-er) ran a 16 miler on Sunday, so no questions asked.
Gil Perrone has been a bit up and down in his running after a spectacular winter and spring season but he is such an easy runner that he will get right back in shape.
Erik Sevenants is training in new Jersey and will definitely be in Chicago.
I heard from David Garcia just the other day and it seems like the David and Grant part of the Minnesota team are starting to do their long runs so that is good to hear. What about Larry and Steve? How are you guys doing?
David also promised to work on the logo soon so that we can start thinking about the "merchandise" for Chicago.
Thomas De Geest, who had been planning on making his first ever marathon appearance in Chicago, is suffering from runner's knee and he has decided that he will have to postpone his inaugural (is that a word?)26.2 mile run.
And then there is "Covergirl". Otherwise know as Liesbet Deleersnijder who ran her first marathon in New York in 2004. She promptly appeared prominently on the cover of the Marathon issue of NYRR magazine. She moved to London last year but quickly saw the error of her ways and she and Yven are moving back to New York next month. I know she is signed up for Chicago but I have no idea whether she has trained at all. Then again, she had a pretty laid back way about training 2 years ago, so why change a winning strategy.
As for myself, I got "runner's butt" in March and kept on running through early May when it became apparent that I was not doing myself any favors by ignoring my injury. I rested for 6 weeks and my first 4 miler after the lay off was terrible. Not only was I out of running shape, my butt and hamstring were just as painful as before. Since then I have been going to accupuncture religiously and that seem to have helped . I have started to run regularly and have done a couple of longish runs. I will have to scale back my "all out training" (to fend all of you
Catch-me-if-you-canners off) but I am guardedly optimistic that I will be able to attend as runner/coach instead of as party/coordinator coach. But no matter what happens, I will be in Chicago.
Back to being on the cover of things before I wrap this up. On April 30th, Stefan, Mark, Gil, Erik and myself ran the New Jersey half marathon. When we got our certificates a couple of months ago, there was a postcard as an ad for the 2007 New Jersey marathon and half marathon, featuring, YES YOU GUESSED IT!!!, SLG with Stefan leading the way. If that is not a sign that SLG is a premier running group, what is? So what are you waiting for everybody??? PUT ON YOUR RUNNING SHOES AND GO GET READY FOR THE CHICAGO MARATHON!!!! Lief
p.s. What about the biographies? Clem has set the way. It would be fun to hear from you all, even if it is just a few lines.