By Jennifer Eisenbart
Editor
The Burlington area had quite the presence Saturday in Chicago.
Eight different Burlington runners participated in the Chicago Marathon Sunday, with the top finish coming from Burlington High School teacher Matt Nie.
Nie, whose previous personal best had been roughly 3 hours, 23 minutes, bested that by a substantial amount. His time of 3:01:59 qualified him for the Boston Marathon.
“It wasn’t even on my radar as a possibility,” Nie said. “I honestly thought that my marathon days were over, but my wife was inspired to run another marathon before we turned 40.
“I learned long ago to take my wife’s advice.”
Nie said his only goal was to be at the starting line healthy – and to take in the atmosphere.
“This is one of the very few sports where you, as an amateur, can compete with the elites,” said Nie, who pointed out he ran with a handful of Kenyans trying to break the world record – and with disabled athletes who chose to take part.
“It ran the gambit,” Nie said. “I just wanted to be a part of that.”
Now Nie will focus on preparing to run in Boston, “To do what I didn’t originally think was possible.” He hopes to run the event in April 2016.
“The pressure’s on to stay healthy,” Nie said.
Nie said the energy Sunday was infectious. Children dressed up in superhero costumes high-fived the athletes, and seemingly every person running had a story.
One runner dribbled two basketballs the entire 26.2 miles, while he heard a woman’s story about running for her daughter with leukemia while waiting in the corral. The “EL” train went by overhead, Nie said, with the conductor honking the horn and passengers waving.
“It really shows humanity at its best,” he said.
Nie’s wife, Sally, meanwhile, had a simple goal – wanting to break four hours. In her previous two marathons, she’d gone 4:02, and 4:05. She almost gave up, but she and Matt both entered the lottery.
“I didn’t expect both of our names to get drawn,” she said. “It was pretty exciting.”
Sally said she’s not “a runner by trade.” But Sunday’s run of 3:51:53 was a personal best by about 10 minutes.
“It didn’t feel like work,” she said. “It was like the stars were aligned. The wall never came.”
Other runners participating in the event:
• Frank Korb, a Waterford Union High School teacher who lives in Burlington, finished in 4:13:15.
• Andrea Clapp finished in 4:15:55.
• Matt Masini finished in 4:33.09.
• Robyn Rosenthal finished in 5:35.11.
• Nikkole Quade finished in 5:51.50.
• Bryan Mann finished in 5:57.55.
More than 40,000 runners from 50 states and from more than 100 countries took part in Sunday’s event. The men’s winner was Eliud Kipchoge, and the woman’s winner Rita Jeptoo – both from Kenya.
Kipchoge’s time was 2:04:11, while Jeptoo finished in 2:24:35.
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