WUGO | Greg Macek

running

  • 2025: Almost Too Much at Once

    2025: Almost Too Much at Once

    Featured image: a moment of peace and beauty at a Sleeping at Last concert in November.

    It’s challenging to think about this past year without thinking or writing about politics because it was impossible to avoid. I would be lying if I said consuming political content did not take up far too much time and energy. Truly, it felt as though everything was happening at once, all of the time. It was simultaneously extremely important, exhausting, and often simply taking up oxygen. Discerning when to look away was not a strong suit in 2025. 

    Yet while we watched the persistent attempts to upend the world, life continued, and 2025 still happened despite it all. I was promoted at work in January, which came with more responsibility. Many of us within the organization were working on a significant project that stretched our limits this year, particularly during the first six months. I hadn’t worked those kinds of extra hours in many years. I did not miss that stress of pushing up against timelines and staring at a screen, troubleshooting at 11PM on a Tuesday. 

    In the first few months of this year, I also ran a campaign for local office as a trustee in my town. I built out a website with my bio and lists of issues important to me, had yard signs printed, held meet-and-greets with the public, and more. While the campaign didn’t land me a trustee seat this time, I learned a lot about local politics and how important, messy, and fascinating it is. Perhaps I’ll write about it separately one day. The experience hasn’t scared me off from running for elected office again. I also made connections in my local community that I never had in the 17 years I lived in Villa Park, for which I am grateful. (The real campaign was the friends I made along the way.) 


    In anticipation of a potential election win, I wanted to be prepared with knowledge and skills that would be valuable in a trustee/local government position. In January, I took the plunge and went back to school for the Certificate in Organizational Leadership program at The Chicago School. Classes started in March, and I finished the program at the end of August. I am glad I decided to dive back into school, even if the adjustment to the weekly reading and writing assignment schedule was more challenging than I anticipated.  I applaud every person who has or will choose to go to school while holding down a full-time job, not to mention other life responsibilities like having a family.

    JPG copy of certificate diploma

    And of course, it wouldn’t be a year without me running and training for some races. Compared to 2024, this was a tame calendar with one 8K (March), two 10Ks (June, September), one 15K (November), two half marathons (April, June), and one full marathon (October). While I can’t point to any one thing, I was not mentally in the running game nearly as much as in prior years. Training felt harder. I didn’t feel as strong during races. I attributed it partially to *waves hands at everything* the world and the near-daily deluge of news that did not infuse me with encouragement. Other friends felt similarly unmotivated. Regardless, I mostly showed up week in and week out and made new friends in a supportive run club/group chat.

    Next year, the self-assigned torture fun continues. The same friend and I who convinced ourselves that running two marathons in a week are planning to do it again in 2026. Watch out, Chicago and Scotland, we’re coming for ya! 

    SM Running Club before The Chicago Marathon
    The Standard Meadery running crew/group chat moral support team

    It was nearly too much. Visual representation of the chaos.

    ActivityJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAug
    Work████████████████
    Campaign████████
    School████████████████
    Running████████████████

    2025 ended up being a year where I stretched myself, almost too thin, especially in the first few months. The chart above shows how many substantial targets, beyond work, I set for myself. Two of them, campaigning for a local election and taking classes as a working adult, were new and required a lot from me. I don’t think I was ever close to breaking down, but I was certainly very stressed during certain windows of time (see: a particular few days in mid-March).

    2026 Preview

    I refrained from writing publicly and speaking my mind freely on many topics as the social and political landscape continued to get murkier; the idea of jumping into those waters seemed unnecessary, but I don’t believe that is healthy for me. Constantly avoiding uncomfortable conversations and disagreements with friends or family isn’t a way to have a functioning society. So, if you see this and know we don’t align on an ideological spectrum, be forewarned: I may lovingly push back on what you say or post. My goal isn’t to pick fights, and I don’t want others to do that either, but my goal is to engage in more meaningful and authentic ways to understand each other and challenge my social circles instead of just quietly judging and snickering from behind a screen. I’m exhausted from speaking through memes or vague references to what we think or believe.

    This exercise may prove fruitless and futile, but I feel like I have to try.

    There is a long list of ideas and topics on my mind that I’ve wanted to write about here, but I have put them off for too long. My (evergreen) goal is to carve out time to do deeper thinking, which will mean balancing out my screen time and reducing my TikTok/Instagram/Facebook intake and replacing it with good books and longer-form writing and journalism. I often tell myself I want to be a “words-first” content consumer, but I frequently fail and doom-scroll because it’s easy. If we all believe that too much social media and screen time is bad for the youth and is messing them up, then we should change that behavior in ourselves first.

    I also have to get better at filtering out the distractions so I can focus on what I care about, like reading more books, becoming a better runner, journaling, and endlessly advocating to the world that everyone should love and take transit as much as I do. And sometimes, I’ll be reading books about transit and related issues, probably while riding the train. 

    This post is part year-end recap, part open accountability for myself and to any reader who knows me well enough to keep me honest to my goals and aspirations for 2026. 

  • WUGO Rewind: Top 5 Posts of 2015

    WUGO Rewind: Top 5 Posts of 2015

    It’s been another interesting year in the world of WUGO. The most viewed posts of this year seem to reflect a continually reflective space here at the blog desk. While I always look back and wish I had written more, I’m also glad I only shared what I thought was meaningful and interesting instead of posting less coherent and incomplete ideas.

    Without further ado, the top 5 viewed posts of this year:

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  • In It For the Long Haul

    In It For the Long Haul

    I rarely have felt fully prepared for a lot of the big milestones and challenges in my life. Whether it was the transition from school and stepping into “real” life when I graduated college, or giving a best man’s speech at a wedding, or completing a marathon, there was always a moment of pause and hesitancy right before that moment happened wondering how it will go. (I’m still feeling out this whole real life after school thing. I’m not sold on it just yet.)

    What I do know, however, is that I work my way through it all on a daily basis.

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  • What Time Reveals

    What Time Reveals

    There is truly no replacement for the wisdom and insights that come with getting older and life experiences we collect with time. My marathon training, much like last year, continues to provide lessons about exercise and life.

    Every weekend since early August, I have had a long run to complete. Since the beginning of this race’s training and the abbreviated schedule, they’ve all been at least 10 miles long. This past weekend’s should have been a 20 miler, but a number of factors kept me from finishing that distance (I did just shy of 18.) The main reasons for less than stellar outings, outside of heat, have been sleep and diet.

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  • A Bruised Ego

    A Bruised Ego

    (And heel. And ribs.)

    Since I decided to sign up for another marathon just over 3 weeks ago, I’ve been learning a lot about finding limits. I’m more than 25% through the training schedule, but issues are hindering my already accelerated schedule. I’m concerned I won’t have enough time to properly train and currently doubting if I should still run the race.

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  • Mental Barriers

    The winter months can bring with them more than their fair share of hibernation side effects. A bit more lethargy in our physical and even mental activity levels can settle in.( Can’t we just sleep through these cold months like bears do?) And as the warmer spring-like weather seeps into the Midwest, I can’t help but feel the effects of winter still slowing all my movements.

    I was motivated and challenged to sign up for a race this year, but for now I’m focusing on doing a half marathon scheduled in late May (the North Shore Classic on May 31, 2015). In preparation, I mapped out a training schedule which officially started on the 9th of March. These first few weeks aren’t bad. Weekday runs are all 3 miles and weekend long runs *only* get up to 6 miles this month. Tiny obstacles are trying to thwart me like slight twinges of asthma or unexpected snow after the first official day of spring. Frustrating as it all can be, I’m fighting something else entirely more cunning:

    My mind.

    It’s trying to tell me running is boring, that there’s something more entertaining to do, like watch The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt on Netflix (which is awesome by the way), or to go eat a double cheeseburger, or just lay on the couch as the world goes by. But when I overcome these elements one by one and I make it outside on a trail or onto a treadmill, my mind is still trying to convince me it’s bored silly and that I should stop and go be complacent instead. I even have a good podcast or two to entertain and encourage me to keep going. The physical act of running isn’t actually that terrible, though my dry spell through the winter isn’t helping, but it’s the head space that’s keeping me from literally wanting to go the distance.

    I’m hitting mental barriers. My body can do it, but my head is trying to say “You’re good right where you’re at.” My heart knows this isn’t true. I need to get out there and put one foot in front of the other. Part of me knows it can be done; the other part wants me to just be OK with where I’m at.

    The barriers are in the way in other parts of my life too, but that’s for another post. Excuse me while I go work through some ideas as I run.

     

  • Discovering Depth in Discipline: Marathon Insights

    Above: Photo gallery of Missoula and the state of Montana
    It took four months of training and Saturdays where I didn’t sleep in until noon and many other nights during the week skipping out on TV, laying on the couch, or hanging out with friends over a beer or other tasty beverage. It all led up to one Sunday morning in Montana and a 26.2 mile route ahead of me. The Missoula Marathon had finally arrived. But there was so much more than just those 5+ hours to share.

    I could write about the time in Montana before, during, and after the race. I could share about Troy, the guy at “The Hub” who told us about so many great things to do around  the area; about Doug, the guy who took us via boat and led our expedition across Flathead Lake over to Wild Horse Island and dropped knowledge and factoids like sick beats; and then there were the various events and friendly faces around Missoula that made our time there magical.

    It’s already been three weeks since the race and there’s still elements of the total experience that I’m unpacking in my mind. I can share what I’ve learned about running and myself so far:

    Training stretches you beyond your limits (almost) without you noticing. It’s hard to believe that before March of this year, the longest I had ever run was 5 miles and that by July I considered that a “short” mid-week run. The small incremental jumps in distance in each week trained my body to take on a little more, mostly in chunks it could handle.

    Training is MUCH better with others. I don’t know if I could have done this without others, especially for the weekly long runs. Even without many words, the encouragement of having a friend or two by your side does wonders for your ability to continue going.

    Big goals require a lot more change in your life than you plan for.  By far the biggest noticeable adjustment for me was not sleeping in on Saturdays. For anyone who knows me, Saturday morning is not a time you assume I’m awake or available for anything. Waking up as early as 5AM once to get my training run in took me way outside my comfort zone.

    The body and mind is capable of far more than we normally give it credit for.  Growing up and living with asthma, running long distances never seemed to be something attainable to me. In the last few years I seem to have mostly grown out of it, however, and it allowed me to complete a marathon.

    With this achievement under my belt, I look ahead to what else I can do. Perhaps it will be another marathon to push for a faster time, or to improve and increase my writing abilities, or to actually learn how to fix more stuff around the house. At the expense of sounding cheesy, “if you put your mind to it, you can accomplish anything.” (Marty McFly, Back to the Future).

    me at Missoula Marathon

  • 5 Weeks of Running In: Where have I gone so far?

    As readers may know, I decided to sign up for a marathon in Montana this July, which is actually 3 months from today. This weekend, I completed the 5th week of training with yesterday marking my very first double-digit run at 10 miles.  A couple weeks ago I also completed my 3rd Shamrock Shuffle 8K, besting last year’s time by a few seconds. It doesn’t seem like much, but I’ll take it.

    What measurable things have I accomplished so far?

    • 84 miles run (combined treadmill and outdoors)
    • 10582 calories burned

    Me so happy after the Shamrock Shuffle.

    Yesterday’s post 10-miler lunch went down with ease.

    I’m pretty sure all of 2013 I didn’t run 84 miles! And to think there’s still 3 months of training ahead. There will be many more burgers and other high-calorie meals in my future to not feel guilty about.

    What about the non-measurable stuff?

    In this short period thus far, I’ve already been seeing changes in routine that would never have occurred were it not for this marathon challenge. I’m waking up before 11AM on Saturdays, actually eating something  for breakfast, and often times already out on the road and paths getting my miles in.  There was even one Tuesday that I woke up early to do my scheduled run. The cold harsh wind hindered me from doing it outside, along with my lack of proper cold weather running gear, but I hit the office gym and got it done before work. I am not a morning person at all, so this was quite a feat.

    Time on the treadmill, trails, and roads certainly provides a space to think with little else to distract you, except that burning question of “Am I done yet?” No email or phone calls bother me out there and my mind is able to work out problems I can knock out later on. Honestly, the monotony is sort of therapeutic in that sense.

    While my eating habits aren’t improving just yet, I do find myself sleeping quite soundly and taking more naps as my body forces me to stop and allow it to rebuild and rest my muscles and joints. The stress of the longer runs is felt, but my hope is that it gets better as I gain strength and endurance.

    I also finished a book I was reading (“Perelandra” by C.S. Lewis) over the course of many months, but am making quicker progress on another one (“Outliers” by Malcolm Gladwell.) Maybe it’s the required focus of the schedule or the forced physical rest running has brought, but my mind feels sharper lately. Ideas are flowing in and out of work and I’m excited for what’s to come.

    More to come. Excuse me while I go buy new shoes and hit the paths again.