Date posted: 11-18-03

Editors: You are encouraged to use this story in your publication. Please credit the author and DeKalb News Service as shown. And, please send two tearsheets to: Jim Killam, Department of Communication, Watson Hall, Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, IL 60115.

1,600 words

A Life in Running Shoes

By Christina Halsey
DeKalb News Service

SYCAMORE -- The moon casts a dim light over the ground. Brown leaves rustle across the streets and sidewalks. It's 5:30 a.m. Margi Gilmour, wearing a reflector across her belt and a tiny flashlight in her waistband, is running the streets of Sycamore.

She starts from her house on the northeast side of town to downtown State Street, down Somonauk Street, down Peace Road Trail, and soon she'll head back home. The leaves crunch under her feet with each step. The cold, crisp autumn air creates a fog in front of her mouth with every breath.

She slows her pace, afraid of an obstacle. She shines her light over it to realize the darkness is playing tricks on her eyes. It's only a pile of leaves. A few cars pass by with their headlights on. Sometimes she passes a person walking their dog.

Margi's thin, 5-foot 3-inch frame is a familiar site around Sycamore; she starts every morning with a jog before work. "People say how they always see me," she said. "But they don't know me."

Some know she's deputy director of the DeKalb County Probation office. She's worked there the past 14 years. A few others know she graduated from NIU in 1979 with a double major in special education and criminal justice.

But they all this: Everywhere Margi goes, she runs. If she is on vacation in Mexico or New Orleans, she runs. If she is on a business trip in Springfield, she runs.

"Margi runs in all weather even if she's sick," said Vicki Smith, a co-worker. "If she doesn't run, she's in a bad mood and we all have to deal with her. She'll set the tone of the office for the day."

Margi also keeps a daily journal. Every day she writes how many miles she ran, her time, a brief description of the weather and how she feels. She averages 1,200 miles a year when she's not training for a marathon.

"It's cool because I could tell you what the weather was like in 1983 on any particular day," she says, laughing.

The journal also provides a highlight reel of Margi's life, from her viewpoint as a runner.

January 1980

Margi decides to quit smoking. She joins the YMCA and takes coed fitness classes. Since she enjoys running on the track around the YMCA, she decides to take a running class. Before this, the farthest she'd ever run was three miles.

Her first race is the Sycamore Pumpkin Race, which is a 10K or 6.2 miles. Then she spends three years doing short races before training for her first marathon, in Lake County. She finishes last. She spends the next six months training for the Chicago Marathon.

"It's funny how I first started this to quit smoking," Margi says today. "I sucked at aerobics and sports but running I could do. It's an emotional thing for me now. It helps me get through the day."

October 1983

Margi, along with about 12,000 other runners, lines up at the starting line in Grant Park for the Chicago Marathon. Despite the cold and cloudy day, Margi's heart is racing and her feet can't stop moving. A bunch of her friends join the other 250,000 people who have come to watch the runners. As Margi runs, some of her friends ride their bikes along the route with her. A couple of times, she sees her friends coming out of taverns to cheer her on along the way. As she crosses the finish line, she realizes she has cut her time by a full hour.

October 1988

Margi's husband, Bruce Washington, has come to watch her run in the Chicago Marathon. She's given him a camera to take pictures of the runners. As Margi crosses the finish line, she looks for Bruce but can't see him. Then, out of the corner of her eye she spots him under a tree with a portable television, watching the Bears game. Later, when she develops the film, she has lots of pictures of police directing traffic and one picture of a famous runner.

Margi met Bruce while they attended NIU in the 1970s. He was an NIU basketball player. She worked for NIU's food service in Douglas Hall, which had to keep the line open late for the players.

"I always noticed him goofing off," Margi says. "He always said he was the big man on campus."

November 1990

Margi goes to New York City for the first time. She gathers with 25,000 other runners on the Verrazano Bridge. It's an extremely hot, Indian summer day. She's only a few hours from running the New York City Marathon. World-famous runners are also getting ready to run. As the shuttle buses continue to bring more runners onto the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, others begin to feel the anticipation.

"While I was waiting I saw the usual hundreds of PortaPotties," Margi said. "But what I remember distinctively was there was also a trough, about half a football field long, for the guys to urinate in. It was pretty gross."

The marathon goes over five bridges into Staten Island, Queens, Manhattan, Brooklyn and the Bronx. Margi loves passing through all the different neighborhoods and experience the diverse cultures.

"New York was just awesome," Margi said. "As we ran through all the boroughs and bridges, thousands of spectators cheered us on and little kids would high-five us. We ended the marathon in Central Park. It was so cool because I didn't realize how big Central Park was."
Margi finishes with an official time of five hours, 31 minutes and 32 seconds.

July 2003

Margi is running the Bix Race in Bettendorf, Iowa. This is the 16th time she has run this, her favorite race. It's a tough course - very hilly and the first mile is a straight uphill. There are about 25,000 other runners for this big event, which is connected to a Quad Cities jazz festival.

The temperature's really hot, even for July. Along the course, there are tons of bands, huge parties and people drinking. At the end, there's a giant parking lot where the race supplies free beer and food.

Lots of runners dress in costumes. Several guys are dressed up like Elvis and sing his songs while they run. Military men, wearing their uniforms, run while waving the American flag. A group of people from a nearby chiropractor school runs together, linked in a long line to represent a spine.

Still going

Today Margi has ran the Chicago Marathon seven times, New York once, the Pumpkin Race at least 15 times, the Bix Race 16 times and many other races and half-marathons. Her most common distances are 5Ks and 10Ks. Her best time for a marathon, 26.2 miles, was four hours and 10 minutes in the Chicago Marathon in 1984.

Sometimes Margi and Bruce - who's about six feet tall and weighs 250 pounds - will ride his scooter along her running path and stash water the night before she runs. This way she will have plenty of fluids while running. They hide water behind trees, in bushes and in other secret places.

Also, Bruce will drive her out to the middle of nowhere and drop her off so she can run home. On windy days, he's driven her to places like Virgil, about 15 miles from Sycamore, so she can run back.

Margi starts every day with a run at 5:30 a.m. She averages 32 miles a week, including 10 miles on Saturdays. In the winter she cuts back to about 20 to 25 miles a week. She also lifts weights four times a week after work.

Deanna Cada, another co-worker, has watched Margi run in many races and marathons. The first marathon she watched Margi race was only supposed to be a half-marathon. However, when they arrived it was filled up. Margi signed up for the full marathon but only planned to run half of it. Deanna was waiting at the 22 mile marker watching the buses pick up people along the way and was waiting for Gilmour to get off the bus. Finally she saw Margi, but she wasn't coming off the bus. She'd pushed herself to finish the marathon.

When Deanna watched Margi run the Chicago Marathon in 1999, Deanna was eight months pregnant. When she saw Margi coming, she ran with her for 100 yards. The whole time, Margi was screaming how awesome she was while Deanna yelled the same thing back.

"It's fun to watch her as I sit on the sidelines drinking a beer," Deanna said.

Everyone around Margi knows how serious she is about running. For instance, she throws out her shoes after every 500 miles. She always buys two pairs of running shoes at a time. After about six months, she can tell it's time for new shoes. She can see the worn-down heel and inside sole. After she's run 300 to 400 miles, she starts to feel the strain in her legs from the old shoes.

"She runs because she loves it," Deanna said. "She'll complain about not being able to run if she's sick or injured. It's great how she does it out of pure pleasure."

People can spend a lifetime without ever experiencing a passion like Margi possesses for running. However, Margi knows not to take her passion and ability to run for granted.

"I can't imagine not running," Margi said. "It's a part of my life. It's amazing seeing some of these races where people in their 70s and 80s are running. They're awesome role models. I've been blessed with a gift to be able to run."

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