For the past 18 years, runners in the annual Bank of America Chicago Marathon may have been seen by Riverside resident Joshua Blomgren if they found themselves in need of medical attention.
Blomgren, a sports medicine physician working for Midwest Orthopaedics at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, has volunteered with the marathon since 2007, when he was completing residency training.
“I really connected with being able to take care of these people. Sometimes, you have to have hard conversations with people that it’s not a good idea, medically, for them to continue running. There’s lots of different aspects of medicine that come out in it in terms of taking care of people,” Blomgren told the Landmark before this year’s race last Sunday. “It’s one of my favorite days of the year as a sports medicine doctor because it’s such a neat event. It’s exceptionally run from an operations standpoint, from the race itself, but, medically, since I’ve been involved in 2007, I’ve seen it grow and develop.”
Since the 2010 race, Blomgren has captained or coordinated one of several medical aid stations each year along the 26.2-mile course, giving his time to make sure runners receive a high level of medical care, whether they just need to rehydrate or if something more serious is threatening their ability to continue the race.
“One of the strongest aspects of the Chicago Marathon is the crew of core people that have been volunteering year over year medically,” he said. “People want to keep showing up because of how well it’s run.”
George Chiampas, the marathon’s chief medical and safety officer, had a hand in putting Blomgren on the path of becoming a recurring volunteer.
“Josh was a resident at the same program where I was doing a sports medicine fellowship, and, for those reasons, we were able to bring in some residents and give them an interest in marathon medicine, event medicine,” he said. “Josh was, without question, a leader, one who was incredibly a great clinician … He’s been incredibly committed.”
Over the years, Blomgren said he’s witnessed a number of serious health events that have pushed him and his team to their limits.
“My third or fourth year of being in charge of a medical team, unfortunately, a runner had a cardiac arrest very near our station. Myself and the team that was involved, we successfully resuscitated him, and that probably stands out as one of the true highlights. It was truly a medical emergency, and it had a good outcome,” he said. “There’s always a number of people that stand out in terms of, they come in. We take care of them, tune them up. Sometimes, you have a conversation, like, ‘Do you want to try and keep running?’ They really dig deep and find the fortitude, and we send them on their way.”
Sometimes, Blomgren said, he’ll record the bib numbers of runners his team treats and look up their finishing times after the race to see how they did.
Outside of the act of medicine, Blomgren said he’s had to develop his ability to deliver bad news as he’s continued to volunteer for the marathon.
“All these people have dedicated hours and hours of time, training and prepping and getting ready, and Chicago has probably one of the highest proportions of charity runners,” he said. “Sometimes, you have to have a hard conversation where, maybe, it’s not their day, and it’s not good for them to continue. You have to medically declare that they shouldn’t run. Those are always hard conversations to have when people have put so much time and energy and effort into it.”
For the past decade or so, Blomgren said he’s been stationed around the 20-mile mark. Many runners, he said, only train to run around 20 miles ahead of race day, so his station often sees people who are entering “uncharted territory” for their ability to finish out the last six miles.
Through all the challenges, Blomgren said the moments of human connection are what have truly kept him returning year after year.
“You get to meet some interesting people and hear some interesting stories. While we’re taking care of people and trying to make a decision on whether or not they can go back out on the course, you get to know these people by name. Sometimes, they’re running for a charity, so you can have a conversation about what their story is,” he said, but his favorite part is “the gratitude. Whether it’s a situation where you patch somebody up and push them on their way to keep running, or in those situations where you have to remove people, people are typically very thankful for us being there. It’s always nice for people to express their gratitude for the work that we’re doing out there for them.”