Hot town, summer in the city is right on!

The Lovin’ Spoonful hit the nail on the head.  It’s got to be one of the hottest, but most exciting times for running in Chicago.  The 2008 Beijing Summer Olympic Games kicks off this Friday and one of my favorites to watch with a Chicago connection is Wheeling native, Jorge Torres.  He will represent the U.S. in the men’s 10,000m race on August 17. If you’re not familiar with him you can check out his bio on the USATF web site. 

Also, this week marks the 11th anniversary of one of the our most popular (and certainly entertaining!) summer road races, Elvis is Alive 5K which is this Thursday, August 7 starting at 6:30 p.m.  Note:  they have a new race start in Grant Park across from the Columbia Yacht Club (near Randolph and Lake Shore Drive).  Another race, a granddaddy among local events, is Sunday’s Chicago Distance Classic Half Marathon presented by Bank of America and for anyone who needs to squeeze in a long training run for their fall marathon schedule, online registration is open until Thursday and you can register at the Expo on Friday or Saturday. Doing a long distance race like this or one of the others coming up this summer and fall sure helps on many levels:  instant camaraderie, water stations, marked miles, cheering along the sidelines and finish and usually some good schwag—all to help keep you motivated throughout your miles.

Ah, there’s so much to cover!   But let me introduce myself.  I’ve been running and racing in the Chicagoland area for over 20 years (sans a few while taking a detour in sunny San Diego but that’s a story for another time).  I run mostly on the lakefront and while I don’t race as much as I used to, I was able to crank out sub-40 minute 10Ks, have a few CARA awards on my shelf and my half marathon PR is 1:31.  I follow the running scene closely as Editor of RunMidwest and simply a fan of the local scene.  I don’t have kids, but I put a lot of labor into a book called The Chicago Running Guide (Human Kinetics, 2000) which I have to admit, I didn’t make enough to retire on, but my motivation was to give a gift back to the running community because there are so many fantastic running venues in addition to our lakefront path. 

I want to keep you informed and entertained.  Expect to find news, tidbits, fun facts, training advice and race coverage here and please feel free to pop me an email (brenda@runmidwest.com) with any ideas or news you’d like to share for the local running scene as that’s what The Examiner.com is all about---sharing knowledge and cool stuff about our sport and our city.  Chicago is one of the world’s best urban running environments and I hope you’ll check back regularly. 

Wishing you the best in your training and racing---in the summer, in the city!