Tag Archives: marathon

Distance Running Cubs Fans Write “Love Letter” to Chicago on Foot

By Jen DeSalvo, WLS-AM 890

(CHICAGO) It may have taken the Chicago Cubs 108 years to win the title, but it only took Chicago residents Shan Riggs and Loli Arosemena less than seven hours moving time to honor the team with what could be considered an equally challenging feat.

On Saturday, March 25, Riggs and Arosemena took to the streets of Chicago to run the shape of the Chicago Cubs logo through a variety of north and west side neighborhoods.

Riggs, 38, has been participating in ultramarathon events for about a decade and has completed around 40 ultramarathons ranging in distances from 31 to 200 miles.

“I ran cross country and track in high school,” Riggs said. “Then 10 years ago, I tried an ultramarathon…I’ve been doing ridiculously long runs ever since.”

When Riggs and Arosemena found out in early March that the city they love and reside it would no longer be their home come April due to a business opportunity in Los Angeles, they decided to combine their passions of ultrarunning and the Chicago Cubs for an ultimate “love letter” to the city.

“We wanted to do one last big run as a celebration and ‘thank you’ to our friends and the city of Chicago,” Riggs said. “The Cubs have been a big part of our life here, so we thought it appropriate to use the logo as a template.”

GPS art is popular in the fitness world with the modern innovations of location tracking through electronic devices such as watches and smartphones. According to Wikipedia, GPS art (or GPS drawing) is a “method of drawing that uses Global Positioning System technology (GPS) to create large-scale artwork. It combines art, movement, and technology.”

 

Shan and Loli ran 41.2 miles in 6 hours, 12 minutes to create the Chicago Cubs GPS art.

 

With the help of a friend, Erol Cims, they put together a map which they used as a template for the six-hour, 12-minute long run which allowed the duo to “basically run through every neighborhood on the north side.”

The total distance of the run was just over 41 miles with a few stops on the route to grab photos of local tributes to the 2016 World Series Champion Chicago Cubs.

In July 2015, Riggs and Arosemena even traveled to Panama to run 166 miles in 50 hours to raise awareness and funds for charity.

“I like to push myself and see how far I can go,” Riggs said. “When things get really hard, you definitely find out what you are made of and it makes the everyday things much easier.”

 

 

 

 

Abel Kirui of Kenya wins Chicago Marathon

Chicago Marathon, 10/2016 (WLS-AM News)
Chicago Marathon, 10/2016 (WLS-AM News)

(CHICAGO) On a clear and cool morning, almost 40,000 participants from around the world set out on the Bank of American Chicago Marathon, one of the six World Marathon Majors, along with Boston, New York, London, Berlin and Tokyo,

Among the elite runners, Abel Kirui of Kenya was the winner, with a time of 2:11:23. Diego Estrada of Flagstaff. AZ, finished 8th with a time of 2:13:56.

Florience Kiplagat of Kenya, was the top woman finisher, with a time of 2:21:32.

Times notes above are unofficial. For marathon results and updates on the finishers click here.

@ 2016 WLS-AM News

“Buddy of mine did the Chicago triathlon in a suit and divvy bike…” and so much more

A commentary by Jen DeSalvo

The title of this post is the title of the Reddit thread started on Tuesday morning about a local man who entered and successfully completed the Chicago Sprint Triathlon while wearing a suit. It had made the rounds on social media over the past few days, but I saw the picture shortly after the original post. It was Rishan Mohideen, or as I know him, Fish.

Rishan Mohideen (Fish) courtesy of the Chicago Triathlon Facebook page.
Rishan Mohideen (Fish) courtesy of the Chicago Triathlon Facebook page.

In this article from Fleet Feet Chicago, a popular multisport retailer, they had been amazed by the performance.

To be honest, we’re not even sure how we stumbled upon this story and these amazing images but we did end up tracing it back to the r/Chicago subreddit. We don’t know many details but we’ll tell you what information we were able to pick from the comments and the images.

In addition to his choice of clothing, he gave himself quite the disadvantage over seasoned triathletes by using a three-speed, 40-pound Divvy bike. Though he didn’t have to dock it and re-pay every half hour as the typical method of renting a Divvy bicycle. The use of a Divvy bike was part of the entry fee to the Chicago Sprint Triathlon to encourage participation from those who don’t own a bike.

Hours after the blog post from Fleet Feet Chicago, Live Grit, another multisport retailer in Chicago had responded.

In the blog post, Live Grit explains:

Having a Divvy station just a block away from our store in the West Loop, we see a rush of these “professional commuters” every evening. A few weeks before the Chicago Triathlon we remarked at one particularly quick commuter and wondered if he was getting his evening workout in on his commute home.

fish tri divvy

Because of this, Rishan thought that any of these “professional commuters” could become “professional athletes,” and the idea to compete in a suit was hatched.

“The barriers to most endurance sports are not as big as they may seem,” Fish explained to me. “We (Live Grit) help people overcome these obstacles to reach their goals all while having fun.”

I met Fish in 2008, which was my first year as a participant in the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society’s Team in Training endurance program. The way it works is that the average Joe (or in this case, average Jen) sign up for five months of coaching to finish a marathon, triathlon or century cycle ride while raising funds to fight blood cancers.

For more that nine years, Fish has been a part of that organization raising money for cancer research with the LLS. This however wasn’t the first time that he has dressed up for an event.

In 2011, neither of us had really had much time put into training for the Chicago Marathon. We dressed up like cheerleaders (him, unintentionally), and did kicks and jumps along the course while accepting donuts from random spectators as sustenance.

Cheering along the course
Cheering along the course

Fish eats a donut

cheerleader jen

Then there was the time that I ran a 50k ultramarathon (31.1 miles), and Fish kept me company part of the time dressed as Scooby Doo on his skateboard.

fish jen scooby

fish scooby doo

fish scooby on skateboard

About his triathlon-in-a-suit experience, Fish said, “I did this to have fun and show that you can do anything, you don’t need fancy gear to have fun!”

Well, Fish, you have proven that you can have impassible amounts of fun while doing some pretty epic things.

fish finish tri in suit

On Your Mark…

By Jennifer Keiper, WLS-AM News

More than 40,000 runners are registered for this weekend’s Chicago Marathon. It steps off, in Grant Park, on Sunday morning. Also, more than one million people will watch the runners.

Security has been tightened at marathons, across the country, since the deadly 2013 Boston Marathon bombings. Chicago Bank of America Race Director Carey Pinkowski tells WLS-AM he can talk about *some* procedures…

“Obviously the procedures that we had in place in past years have worked really well. Uh, we’ll see those again this year: The screening to access Grant Park, uh, the clear gear-check bag, ticketed access to the finish-line,” said Pinkowski.

There will also be plenty of uniformed and plainclothes officers on the 26.2 mile route that winds through 29 neighborhoods.

In 2007 runners became sick because it was too hot. Marathon Medical Director, Dr. George Chaimpas, tells ABC7 that it’s expected to be warm on Sunday. “We have increased our event alert system to yellow, the purpose of that is so runners can understand what they might need to do to decrease their pace, change strategy,” said Dr. Chaimpas.

In addition to first responders, the race medical staff will have 2,100 volunteers along the route.

© 89 WLS-AM News