Evanston RoundTable, Oct. 4, 2024
Looking for a way to brighten up and, in his words, “gamify” the tedium of training for a marathon, Evanstonian Jeffrey Jamison hit on a novel idea: run every street, avenue, road, drive, circle, terrace and boulevard throughout the city — all 135 miles.
He started his “Run Evanston” quest on New Year’s Day 2024, and completed his goal last Sunday during the annual Bike the Ridge event, which he says will help him prepare for his ninth marathon next Sunday in Milwaukee. “The scheduling worked out so it was my last long run before the marathon,” he said. It was also a way to mark his 55th birthday coming up Nov. 2, 30 years after running his first marathon, in Chicago.
“I wanted to see what the city looked like close up,” Jamison said of his local outings. The biggest surprises? He listed three: the diversity of housing, the number of churches and the multitude of parks, many of which “are tucked away” in quiet niches and corners of the city, such as Southwest Park, at Seward Street and Wesley Avenue.
He was also intrigued by the “hidden” industrial sections, such as Clesen Wholesale, a large commercial greenhouse on Mulford Street and Dewey Avenue.
Jamison, head of litigation for the U.S. division of BMO bank, used the Garmin Connect app, the website CityStrides.com and an old-fashioned paper map to plan his weekly routes.
He runs four to six times a week, and conceded that all those hours pounding the pavement take him away from his home, but he said his family — wife, Alissa, a corporate education consultant; and children, Harper, a freshman at Vassar College, and daughter, Tacy, a junior at Evanston Township High School — were “welcoming, even encouraging.”
Growing up in Mount Prospect, Jamison started jogging at an early age (“my mom had a running program for the Mount Prospect Park District”) but he didn’t get the marathon bug until he turned 25. His first was the Chicago Marathon in 1994 with a time of 3 hours and 54 minutes. His best marathon time was 3:36 in Rhode Island two years later.
He also competes in triathlons, which he trains for with bike rides and swimming in Lake Michigan or indoor pools when he’s not running.
As for his emotions completing his Run Evanston mission Sunday on Ridge Avenue, he said it was “a combination of relief and excitement – plus a little anxiety, because now I know next up is the marathon in Milwaukee.”
He’s hoping for a 4:30 time, a whole hour faster than his last marathon in Chicago in 2008. “That would be terrific. I’m excited to try.”