DOWNTOWN — Joe Antonini was thinking of a Greek legend when, 38 years ago, he signed up for the first Chicago Marathon.
As a child in Italy, Antonini had heard of Phidippides, a man who is credited with running the first marathon in 490 B.C. Phidippides is said to have run between the battlefield, Sparta and Athens in an attempt to recruit troops to save Athens.
Thanks to Phidippides, the Athenians beat back the Persians, and the runner was once again tasked with heading to Athens so he could tell the city of their victory and warn them of another potential attack. Phidippides ran the 26 miles to Athens, warned them — and died of exhaustion.
Antonini heard the tale of Phidippides in the "old country" and decided he, too, would one day run a marathon. But it took several years — and a move across the ocean, from Italy to Chicago — before he decided that he'd be the Phidippides of the first Chicago Marathon (sans the sad ending).
Now, nearly four decades later, Antonini is 75 years old and one of only seven men who have run and finished the Chicago Marathon every year since its inception. Antonini's best time was 3 hours and 35 minutes in 1983 or '84 (he was "a little younger then," as he puts it).
He's signed up for this year, too.
"I love to run it once a year," Antonini said, laughing.
In other words, Antonini doesn't go to other marathons. It's just the Chicago Marathon, year after year, for him. He threatens that every year will be the last.
"Everything feels great" when you're running, he said. After a beat, he added: "In the beginning." After that, his knees and hips begin to hurt. "But then I keep coming back."
His friends and family think he's "crazy" for continuing to run, Antonini said. "Don't you understand how old are you?" they ask.
But Antonini, who occasionally runs 10 miles for the fun of it, said he's "lucky" that he's been able to run in and finish each marathon. He's had good health — he also refs soccer games around the state — and likes that the race starts only 2 miles from his home in Little Italy on the Near West Side (despite that, he drives to it — running there would be no problem, he said, but coming back after the marathon might be an issue).
His words of advice for older people who want to run the marathon:
"Think twice before you do it," he said, "but then do it."
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