![]() ![]() She assumed that it meant hanging up her favorite blue Nike Frees and retiring from the road. Running had become such a vital part of her life that, at first, Amber was apprehensive about getting pregnant. Using a daily mileage regimen somewhere just shy of obsessive, she cruised through her first seven marathons, collecting a PR of 3:25 in Columbus, Ohio. After college, while working as an elementary school teacher in the Chicago suburb of Cicero, Amber made the jump to 26.2 miles. The longer and more challenging the run, the more meaningful. It would be years before someone caught her, but no matter how often or how fast she covered that distance, it never quite provided the deeper challenge Amber craved.Īs a member of the cross country team at Indiana Wesleyan in Marion, Ind., Amber went on long training runs on the serene farmlands west of campus, and they began to take on a meditative quality. ![]() Courtesy Miller FamilyĪmber discovered running in middle school in Wichita, Kan., where she finished her first cross country meet so far ahead of the field that in the final stretch she spun around to look for other runners, convinced she had made a wrong turn. Maybe.Īmber holds her son, Caleb, then 2, while pregnant with June and training before the Chicago Marathon. Because once she committed to something, especially something related to running, childbirth was maybe the only thing that could keep Amber from completing it. Amber, 27, was mildly disappointed, but on some level the date was a relief to both her and her husband, Joe, who live in Westchester, about 20 minutes west of downtown Chicago. When she adjusted her due date based on her first delivery, little June was likely to arrive Oct. Two days after she sent in her $145 entrance fee for the race, Amber found out she was pregnant with her second child. The theme for the 2011 race: Let's Run Together.Īmber Miller didn't intend to run Chicago either. Looking for a flat course in a fun city that would allow him to run for a cause, Will eventually landed on the website for the Chicago Marathon. With his goal to run Boston postponed by a year, Will, always the pragmatist, simply sat down at his home computer a few days later and started scanning message boards and running magazines for potential qualifying races in the fall of 2011. He then spent the rest of the day laughing and chasing Jack around a nearby coastal aquarium so that his wife, Jenny, pregnant with their daughter, Caroline, could rest on viewing benches in the air conditioning. The botched finish at Outer Banks left Will overcome with disappointment and regret for almost a full 10 minutes after the race. Will tried to fight through it, but his pace plummeted over the final 5 miles and he crossed at 3:17:26 - just above the qualifying time for Boston. Just a few strides in, he felt it: the telltale drying-concrete sensation of his hamstrings beginning to tighten. Then he stood back up, shook out his legs and darted off toward the finish, knowing full well that time was no longer on his side. ![]() Will growled a few choice words into the street. With no time to react, Will plowed him over, sending them both sprawling to the ground in a heap. Courtesy Caviness FamilyĪt an aid station near the 21-mile mark, however, the runner Will was drafting behind pulled up unexpectedly after catching the tip of his foot on the pavement. Will runs with his toddler son, Jack, whose birth put his dad on the path to running marathons. Heading into the Outer Banks race, Will was so confident in his newfound running ability that his older brother, Sean, a fellow firefighter, had already looked into Boston hotel rooms and Red Sox tickets for the entire family. A year after that first lap, Will had completed several 5Ks and 10Ks and two half-marathons, and his friends had become accustomed to seeing his black buzz cut, his wraparound shades and that distinct, impossibly square jaw of his, pushing Jack in a jogging stroller down the endless country roads that frame the old tobacco fields on the outskirts of Greensboro. It began with short jogs in dizzying circles around the property line of Fire Station 5, in order to stay within earshot of the alarm. In November of 2010, Will Caviness, 34, a firefighter from Greensboro, N.C., was cruising through his first marathon, slicing through the salty, warm air of the Outer Banks at a 6:50 per mile pace when, just 5 miles from qualifying for his first Boston Marathon, disaster struck.Ī multisport standout athlete in high school and college, Will took to running in 2009, two years after the birth of his son, Jack, at a time when, like most new dads, he felt the need to increase his stamina. The collision between life and death at the Chicago Marathon was set in motion by a single scuffed shoe. ![]()
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