The United States may be dominating the medal standings in the 2016 Olympics thus far, but this weekend Chicago tech will be cheering for Lebanon — at least in the women’s marathon event.
Every weekday, rain or shine, while the majority of Chicago’s tech employees get ready to hop on the train or bus to work, Lebanese Olympic marathon runner Chirine Njeim has been strapping on her backpack to run to Livongo’s Chicago office in Streeterville. She takes the long way, nine miles along the lakefront trail from her apartment, in order to increase her mileage. At the peak of her preparations for the 2016 Rio Olympics, she was running over 100 miles every week.
Most days she takes a shorter route home, except for Tuesdays and Thursdays, which are speed workout days. On Saturdays she goes long, over 20 miles, with Sundays firmly established as a resting day.
“To me, it’s just finding a routine — trying to find something that works with your schedule,” she said about the challenges of juggling startup life with such a rigorous workout regime. “If at lunch I have 30 minutes or 40 minutes, I usually take that and go run. But most of the time I wake up early and do it.”
Njeim only took up running in 2011 as a way to pass the time while waiting for her work authorization to come through after immigrating to the United States. Starting off with five mile runs exploring Chicago’s neighborhoods, Njeim soon started increasing her mileage and signed up to run the 2012 Chicago Marathon with her husband. She finished the race in three hours and seven minutes, placing in the top 40 in the women’s 25-29 category.
Upon discovering her gift for running, Njeim started training with a group from the Chicago Area Runners Association and soon finished her first marathon under three hours. Recently, she started working with University of Chicago Laboratory Schools cross country coach Walter James and broke the 2:45:00 Olympic qualifying time at the 2016 Houston Marathon in January, coming in 20th place at 2:44:14.
In Rio, where she will be competing for her native Lebanon, she is hoping to break 2:40:00 (the Olympic women’s record is 2:23:07), but her main goal is to beat her own personal record.
“I’m happy to be here, but trying to beat that time would be just another extra thing to add on,” she said. “I think I’m ready for it. I ran my last half marathon three weeks ago now and everything went smooth and felt comfortable, so I don’t see why I couldn’t do it.”
Though distance running is a newfound passion, Rio 2016 will be Njeim’s fourth Olympic games. Njeim also competed in the 2002, 2006 and 2010 winter Olympics in the slalom, giant slalom and super-G alpine skiing events.
Executive assistant to Livongo CEO and Founder Glen Tullman, Njeim was the company’s very first employee.
“We didn’t even have an office space,” she said. “When Glen asked me to start working there, at first I asked: ‘Is this a joke?’ I was sitting in an office that wasn’t even built. There was cement everywhere, and there was one desk with a printer and my computer and a few folders.”
Today, Livongo — which raised $44.5 million in April this year — employs 45 people in Chicago. The company also has an office in Mountain View, California.
Njeim said the Livongo team has been incredibly supportive of her training. This weekend, Tullman and board member Lee Shapiro are in Rio to cheer her on, along with a handful of other team members whose trips Tullman sponsored. For the team members back home, Njeim has been emailing back pictures of herself sporting Livongo swag next to famous Rio landmarks.
After arriving in Rio on August 4, Njeim has been tapering for the past week or so, spending time with friends and family, doing light workouts, staying hydrated and mentally preparing for the race. A few days ago she got to inspect the marathon course for the first time.
“The course looks really, really nice,” she said. “It’s really pretty, and it’s going to be great for spectators, which is kind of fun. There are no major hills or anything complicated about it, so just running along the beach is going to be great.”
Though Rio can be hot, humid and windy around this time of year, Njeim said this year’s muggy Chicago summer has been a good preparation.
“And I love running in the heat, which is crazy, and I don’t know why,” she said.
The women's marathon event takes place on Sunday August 14 at 7:30 a.m. CT.
Update: Njeim finished in 109th place, with a final time of 2:51:08.
Images via Chirine Njeim.
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