Illinois Marathon: More than the finish line for Guido, Jones, Hardimon and Schluter
By FRED KRONER
fred@sjodaily.com
Michele Guido was never That Girl.
There’s no chance her high school senior prophecy would have listed her as Most Likely To Run A Marathon by Age 40.
No, Guido was This Girl: “I was one of the girls trying to get out of P.E., not participate in P.E.” she said.
And yet, here she is, competing in the Christie Clinic Illinois Marathon once again.
Saturday was her fourth time running the half-marathon (13.1-mile distance) event in the 11th-annual race throughout Champaign and Urbana.
In all, there were 3,096 runners – men and women — entered in the half-marathon race. Guido was 196th overall.
Among the 1,668 female competitors, Guido was 45th. In her age group (40-44), she was fourth out of 139 runners.
The St. Joseph resident doesn’t need a first-place medal to track her success.
Her journey started nine years ago.
“I made a promise to my grandmother (Bea Crum) to get healthy,” Guido said.
The process was slow.
“One day, I decided to run around the block,” she said.
The decision was easier to make than to execute.
“It was a challenge,” she said. “I thought I might die.”
That was in April, 2010. She was determined to keep going.
The jaunt around the block soon expanded.
“I kept going further and further,” Guido said. “It took a lot of the summer to do 1 mile, then 2 miles.”
In August of 2010, she ran in the St. Joseph 5-kilometer race.
She hasn’t stopped. Guido has finished five full marathons (26.2-mile distance) and a dozen of the half-marathons.
Saturday’s half-marathon time of 1 hour, 36 minutes and 39 seconds was a lifetime best by 35 seconds.
She had a good idea that her training had her on pace for her top time.
“I started training the first week of February,” she said. “The last week of March, I used the Indianapolis Hot Chocolate Run as a test race to see where I was fitness-wise.
“I was the overall female winner.”
Guido will keep going, she said, “as long as my legs will carry me.”
Her influence has made an impact in her own family. Son Brennan, who is 20, won the 5-kilometer race in the previous two Illinois Marathons and placed fourth on Friday in a field of 900 runners.
“My mom and I started running around the same time,” Brennan Guido said. “Now we eat, breathe and sleep running.
“Running is what my life revolves around. Her start in running got me into distance running, and we have progressed.”
A junior at St. Mary of the Woods (in Terre Haute, Ind.), Brennan Guido is a member of the college’s cross-country team. Next spring, the school will have an official track team.
Michele Guido said her son played a role in her own performance on Saturday. He was not only there to support her as a cheerleader, but also to join her for a portion of the race.
He accompanied her for a few miles, starting around Mile 9.
“The biggest challenge for half-marathoners is between Mile 9-12,” Brennan Guido said. “Race Street (in Urbana) is very challenging.
“It’s a little uphill and is a lot of people’s breaking point.”
Her son emerged at a time Michele Guido was having some self-doubts.
“I was starting to wonder if my goal (of a personal-best time) was going to happen,” she said.
“To have him there, mentally kept me in the game.”
Michele Guido is involved in running even during times she is not on the course. She is the assistant coach for the St. Joseph Middle School cross-country team and the head coach for the Middle School track and field team.
Her warmup for the half-marathon came a day earlier.
She ran the 5-kilometer race on Friday and was the eighth overall female finisher (in 21:00) and was first in her age group.
As a teen-ager, Guido would not have predicted running would become such a prominent part of her life.
“I never would have dreamed I’d accomplish the things I’ve accomplished,” Guido said, “like seeing Chicago and New York City on my feet.”
She knows where the credit belongs.
“My grandma (who passed away in 2013) is definitely why I started this journey,” Michele Guido said.
***
In 2014, St. Joseph resident Alison Jones learned that she doesn’t know herself as well as she thought.
Jones ran the Illinois Marathon that year, her first time running 26.2 miles.
“I thought I’d do one and say I’d done it,” Jones said.
Wrong.
On Saturday, she ran her sixth full marathon and fourth at the Christie Clinic Illinois Marathon.
After the first year, she felt she had no choice.
“My time was only 10 minutes away from a Boston qualifying time,” she said, “so I made that my next goal.”
She achieved that goal and competed at Boston in 2018.
In all likelihood, Jones’ sixth marathon won’t be her final one either.
Her time was 3:30.03 which enabled her to finish 211th among the entire 1,087 marathoners as well as 39th in the women’s division and third in her age group (40-44).
Most importantly, it was below the 3:40 provisional time to get an invitation to Boston. She will find out this fall if that dream becomes reality for the second time.
The lifetime best mark she posted was a nice belated birthday for a person who celebrated her 41st last week.
“Luckily I’ve gotten to be quicker as I’ve gotten older,” she said, “but I know it won’t keep happening.
“As long as my schedule allows me to keep the training in, and if I keep qualifying (for Boston), I’ll keep going.”
She never felt alone on Saturday and not just because she was surrounded by hundreds of other runners.
“I had someone (cheering) every 3 or 4 miles,” she said. “That helps.
“My husband (Jason) has it down to a science. He can get to four different locations (during the race) and be at the finish line.”
Running has become an important part of her life.
“I like the way it makes me feel,” Jones said. “It’s my escape. It helps keep me fit and active, and I always feel so good.
“It is a stress-reliever for me. I use that time to clear my head and to pray.”
Though she tries to work in one marathon a year, Jones is finding that goal to be difficult.
“It’s harder as the kids get older to get the training in,” she said.
Race Day this year, however, wasn’t all about her.
Saturday was the 10th birthday for her son, Waylon.
Before that celebration could begin, there was a trip to Bloomington-Normal to watch a volleyball tournament in which her almost 13-year-old seventh-grade daughter, Helene, was playing.
Her oldest daughter is also involved with the middle school track and field program.
“It’s fun to watch and see her enjoy something I enjoy,” said Alison Jones, whose third child, Hensly, is 6 1/2 .
“I could not do what I do without the love and support from my family,” Alison Jones said.
Sometimes, there is a family participation day.
“My younger two kids run kids races in the summer when they are offered with the races I do,” Alison Jones added.
***
Prom weekends can turn into time-consuming ones for parents.
St. Joseph’s Lynn Hardimon can vouch first-hand for the commitment needed.
“I was at the school helping to decorate for 3 ½ hours (Friday),” Hardimon said.
On Saturday, she was one of the Post Prom workers until midnight at the high school.
And in between, she drove into Champaign early Saturday morning and ran the half-marathon, maintaining a pace of less than 9 minutes per mile for the 13.1-mile course.
“I just started running in the last 10 years,” Hardimon said.
It doesn’t take her long to recount her high school athletic endeavors at ABL and then as part of the first graduating class at Heritage in 1990.
“Zero,” she said. “I was never into any sport.”
She started moving in a different direction long before she took up running.
“I was an avid walker for about 20 years,” Hardimon said. “I started out as a speed-walker.”
Life helped send her in a different direction.
“After I had my second child, the weight wasn’t coming off as easily,” Hardimon said, “and I had a stressful job. A good stress-reliever was to run and I did a lot of prayer.”
That part continued on Saturday as she participated in her third half-marathon.
“I said a prayer at every mile point,” Hardimon said.
The benefits from running are ones she wants to continue receiving, “hopefully long-term,” she said.
However, her competitive distance days may be numbered.
“After today, I’m thinking this may be my last one (half-marathon),” Hardimon said. “Training is pretty intense. You have to plan your weekends around it.”
She has a strong camaraderie with a fitness group she is a part of, a group that meets three mornings a week at 5:30 a.m.
“They hold you accountable,” she said.
Hardimon also feels a camaraderie while running.
“It’s a unique group of people,” she said, referring to the other runners. “As you run along, they are encouraging.
“One of the things I like about the Illinois Marathon is that you have your name on your bib.
Bystanders will see that and shout out your name, ‘Go Lynn.’ That means a lot.”
Before she started competing in the Illinois Marathon, Hardimon played an active role during the weekend.
“I had volunteered previously,” she said. “I was an intersection guard.
“That was very inspirational.”
Hardimon’s time on Saturday was 1:57.42, which placed her 970th out of all the 3,096 half-marathoners. Among all female runners, she was 327th (out of 1,668) and in her age group (45-49) she was 14th out of 158 finishers.
***
Jessica Schluter can trace her running days back 17 years.
“I started with the Illini Heat Track Club when I was 7,” the St. Joseph resident said. “I’ve been running on and off since then.”
Running hasn’t been a fulltime venture because of prescribed breaks.
“When I was 15, I had knee surgery,” Schluter said.
She entered two races this weekend in the Christie Clinic Illinois Marathon.
Unlike in 2016 and 2018, when she followed up the first day 5-kilometer race with a half-marathon on the second day, she moved from the 5K to the 10K this year on consecutive days.
“Even though the race was shorter, this year it was harder,” Schluter said. “I’m fighting with a knee injury.
“I was glad to be done.”
She ran her career-best in the 5-kilometer distance (23:47) and turned in a time of 53:40 in the 10K, which placed her 211th out of the 1,984 overall finishers.
It was her second time ever running a 10K.
“I felt pretty accomplished afterwards, even though I had to go home and ice my knee,” she said.
Entering the weekend, Schluter feared that she might not be able to do both races.
“Prior to the 5K, I hadn’t run in four weeks,” she said. “After my last run, my knee hurt so bad.
“I enjoy racing, but I don’t do a lot of running outside of racing.”
It wasn’t like she did nothing to prepare for the event.
“I’ve been active, doing lifting, and had decent cardio conditioning,” she said, “and I work on my feet all day (as a manager at Riggs Beer Company, in Urbana).”
In both of her weekend races, she achieved her pre-race goals of breaking 25 minutes in the 5K and 55 minutes in the 10K.
Schluter plans to be a part of the 2020 Illinois Marathon.
“I will definitely do the 5K next year,” she said, “but we’ll have to see if I do any race longer than that.”
