It was a beautiful weekend in Chicago for the Bank of America Chicago Marathon. This is a picture I took before spectating all day because I forgot my water and there was a stand handing out free prime… had to take the picture to send to Glenn because the boys would love that I’m just out here drinking prime. IYKYK.
Three and half years ago I emailed the Race Director Carey Pinkowski to see if they could utilize my services at the expo or at the race moderating interviews. He forwarded my email on to their expo team and three years later I’ve been moderating expo panels every year. It is a true honor and such a fun job that I’m really grateful for. These gigs do not fall into my lap, I am usually pitching myself and following up and following up and following up. Sometimes I hear no, sometimes I hear maybe and sometimes I hear yes. All three events I’m working this fall I pitched myself to and I’ve got one more I’m pushing hard for.
Chicago always felt right to me because it is closer to my hometown than any other major and Glenn’s family is from the Region and we’ve been to Chicago so much I just felt more at home here than any other race. I have only run Chicago one time – 10/10/10 but have spectated it many times over the years.
My colleague Shawn Sullivan who EMCEE’s the expo is incredible to work with and we already have some fun ideas to get more interactive with you all for next year!
A lot has changed over the years in the running scene and it continues to get more and more exciting with all the groups and how brands really go all out. But in all that if I’m being honest I’ve oftentimes felt a little lost and dare I say left out, like I don’t have a seat at the cool table at 40 years old. Boy oh boy does that feel lame typing it out.
This past weekend a company I had thought I formed a great relationship with completely dropped me for something shinier. I had to keep telling myself though you have a job here and you LOVE it and you don’t need more in this moment. It does hurt the ego and the feelings a bit though. It begs the question how much should we strive versus how much should we work on being content. I think there is space for both.
What I’ve leaned into over these last couple years is investing my energy and time into connecting with people who I know will show up and caring about relationships over the scene. I’m assuming there are feelings such as this in any niche space? It’s all good… but I wanted to share my true feelings at these big events because they oftentimes look like all glitz and glam!!
One of my favorite parts of this weekend is that I get to be the team Coach for the Every Mother Counts charity team… this team of 44 raised over $87K to support quality, respectful and equitable maternal care for Mother’s around the World. Now that’s what I’m talking about. We have a bunch of runners running the NYC Marathon in a few weeks which will be excited as well! (I will not be at that race in person though because I’ll be cheering on runners in Raleigh at the City of Oaks Marathon!
I also got to see two of the one on one athletes I coach – Jennifer and Megan and I’m so proud of both of them for working so hard and having strong races on Sunday!
At the expo this year I got to interview Deena Kastor, Galen Rupp and Steve Jones, Mike Ko along with moderate panels for sponsors of the expo including Biofreeze, Gaterade and Advocate Healthcare.
I always love getting to connect with Deena Kastor- a real one through and through and we had a wonderful interview on stage at the expo- you can listen to that on my podcast – I’ll Have Another with Lindsey Hein. I also had the really cool opportunity to interview Galen Rupp at the expo. This was a first for me and one that I’ve wanted for a long time but didn’t think was ever going to happen because he doesn’t do a lot of interviews. I had limited time with these interviews on stage and stretched the Galen one out as long as possible. (much to the audio people’s dismay… SORRY!) Here is my conversation with Galen if you want to check it out! The other one on one inteview I hosted was with the Legend Steve Jones. Steve won the 1984 Chicago Marathon in his first completed marathon and set a World Record that day as well. He went on to win Chicago again and also has won both the NYC and London Marathon. Will publish that episode soon!
A beautiful weekend indeed. If you came by and said hello- thank you so much! I love meeting listeners and couldn’t keep my podcast going without you. Truly. We gave away two amazing giveaway bags from supporters of the podcast including: Previnex, Lagoon, Athlete Bouquets, Erica Sara and Pen and Paces! Stay tuned because we are doing another giveaway with this crew on instagram coming soon and if you are at City of Oaks Marathon or the Richmond Marathon I’ll have a few goodie bags to give away at each of these events this fall!
Congratulations to all the runners who participated in the marathon yesterday. The marathon is so special because it takes you to a place where you maybe didn’t realize you could go.
Let me know how your race went in the comments! Are there still comments on blog posts?!
Be YOU!!!!
XO!
Lindsey
PS – Here are some codes from some of my favorite sponsors:
Lagoon – Code “Lindsey” for 15% off the best pillows I’ve ever used & Night Bites (hello magnesium and L-Theanine!)
Previnex – Code “Another” for 15% off my favorite Creatine Supplement and Joint Health!