Working Class Runner

It turns out I will not be running the 2019 Chicago Marathon, because I will not be living in Chicago any more! After 4.5 years in Chicago, I am moving away in August to live with family in Las Vegas. A combination of brewing circumstances have now forced my hand.

I’ve been financially treading water, and my family in Las Vegas has always left the door open to come live with them at a low overhead. My sisters and parents each have a spare room I could live in. Plus, most importantly, a number of key family events in Vegas would have required me to fly in several times at cost over the next year, which made staying in Chicago financially unworkable.

With my apartment lease expiring at the end of August, with the new 2020 Illinois budget having raised various personal costs, with growing unrest in the city itself, and with no remaining serious personal ties to the city outside of my current day job… the time was right to cut the cord anyway.

Now is a good time to go and recharge a bit, while spending quality time with a family I haven’t seen more than twice a year over the last several years.

I don’t want to leave my job, and I am despite all the city’s difficulties sad to finally leave Chicago. But along with the time being right to go, there’s a lot of opportunity to the move.

– I mentioned the financial side, and the chance to spend a lot more time with family.
– Because the overhead is a lot lower, it’s not as big a deal to take a lesser salary at a new role if needed (plus Nevada has no income tax!), opening up my work options quite a bit.
– I would have had to fly in three times over the next year for holidays and upcoming family events. Now that I’d be right there, there’s no need to pay for airfare or take time off from work.
– While Vegas summers are brutal, the winters are of course super mild and great for running. Temps average around 50°F (10°C) and the weather is rarely anything other than sunny and clear. And of course, because it’s a desert, the air is super dry so humidity doesn’t ever complicate the conditions.
– Because of the mild winter conditions, training for Vancouver becomes a lot easier because I can run outdoors with no trouble pretty much every day (though now I just need to remember to use the sunscreen a lot more often).
– Flying to the PNW becomes cheaper and a lot less complicated from Las Vegas than from Chicago. I also have a lot more direct options than I did in Chicago. Vancouver in particular becomes a much easier flight to book.
– While Vegas has its crime and share of local unrest… I’d still be harassed much, much less than I am in Chicago every day, especially where my family lives along the more remote edge of town.
– Since I won’t live in a tiny studio apartment anymore, I actually will have kitchen counter space, which opens up my food prep options. Plus my family will have additional cooking supplies I don’t have. I’ll also have an in-unit washer and dryer to use for laundry, which makes doing that cheaper and a lot easier (currently I’m washing $10 in large loads every couple weeks).
– And, of course, since I’ll be near my family all the time, we’ll be able to do more stuff together more often.

Sure, there are tradeoffs.

– I’ll no longer walk to get everywhere, so my day to day natural physical activity will go down. Every run will require a conscious effort and time set aside. Even going for a simple walk to get some air won’t be as easy, as Vegas is not a particularly walkable city even aside from the heat.
– From mid-spring to fall, it’s unworkably hot outside (as I write this it’s 100°F (38°C), and that’s mild compared to typical 110°F (43°C) summer temps). Outdoor runs longer than a few miles and outside the early morning hours will be impossible. I’ll have treadmills available, but any run longer than a few miles will be very tough to do from March to October.
– Having to drive everywhere, I’ll spend far more money on auto fuel. Auto insurance will be a lot more expensive. While I won’t pay much for rent and utilities, I’ll pay a lot more to get around.
– Going to the store to get food will be more of a chore because I have to drive. Plus, since I’m sharing space with family and they of course have their own food, food storage space will be limited. I can’t buy a ton of meat and produce and expect to store it. I have to plan ahead more for food. They will have food available, sure, but our diets are different.

In any case, this is a move I can make now but might not be able to make later. Also, if I were to stay in Chicago and suffer any setbacks during the next year, it would be a lot harder to overcome. Plus, of course, I mentioned all the travel I’d have to do this next year to Vegas, and it makes far more sense to just be in Vegas full time instead. This is along with everything else about breaking a cycle and putting myself in a better position for the years to come.

But, because of that, it changes my racing plans for the rest of the year. It makes no sense to train for a marathon amidst such a big transition. I was looking training-wise to step back for a little while and train for shorter distances… and this now presents a good extended opportunity to do that before training for Vancouver 2020.

As for now, I hit the brakes on training for Chicago, right as I was starting. Not necessarily a bad thing!