Halfway home: Three from Triad in Boston after running in Chicago Marathon

The Windy City was windy at times. And warm, with temperatures climbing into the 70s.

But the Triad's Matt Grannis and Jeremy Bush of Winston-Salem, who ran together, and Nathan Beamguard of Hamptonville not only finished with strong times at the Chicago Marathon, they've reached Boston tonight and will compete the historic 125th edition of the Boston Marathon on Monday.

Grannis and Bush ran together and finished in two hours, 58 minutes and 39 seconds. Beamguard crossed the line in 3:04:21.

All three spoke with me via video tonight, and you can see and hear the full discussion with them in the video above. The highlights:

How the Chicago Marathon went

Bush: "Chicago went pretty well, went according to plan. We had some weather issues with some high temperatures, higher than you would want obviously for a marathon. We started out under Code Yellow conditions, and during the race it went to Code Red conditions. ... We felt pretty good for the most part until the end, and the heat kinda caught up to us. But we were able to grind it out and pull it out and get what we wanted to get."

Grannis: "Tough last four miles, I would say."

Beamguard: "Overall it went pretty well. It was really warm at the start. Low 70s and about 75 percent humidity. Despite that, I was in good shape and wanted to try to run a PR. So I started out fast in the first half. I get halfway, I saw I was a few seconds behind, I knew there was no way I was running a negative split. I backed off after that. The next few miles went pretty well, then it was tough at the end.

How they're refueling and recovering

Bush: "We had taken fluids at almost every station during the race due to the temperatures. We were drinking as much water as possible as we walked back. They had some chocolate milk, things like that, to recover. ... Once we got back to the hotel, we didn't have a lot of time to do much of anything. But when we got to the airport, we were both able to grab some food, something to tide us over. I took a recovery drink, some Tailwind, this afternoon before I got on the plane. I've been adding a lot of electrolytes to my water throughout the day."

Grannis: "I did work in a protein chocolate milk shake at the airport. Just trying to get an even flow of calories."

Beamguard: "I had food laying around when I got back to the room. I had half a muffin and some Frosted Flakes and milk and drank things they handed me after the marathon. Grabbed a couple more snacks at the airport, and then I had a proper dinner. ... I do have one of the massage guns with me; used that before I headed to Boston. That seems to have helped a lot."

Expectations for Monday

Beamguard: "I really don't have any. I just don't know how it's going to go. I don't think I'm going to be too sore, so I should be able to run, not have to walk, at least for a while. But I don't know how long that's going to last. It's going to be warm again, high 60s and 75 percent humidity. And there's not much shade."

How fun is this?!

Bush: "Both cities have just been great as far as the crowd support. Everywhere we've gone, whether it be going out to eat or whatever, people see our shirts and say, 'Are you guys running the marathon? Good luck tomorrow.' Even walking back to our hotel today, random people on the street – weren't runners, weren't there to see the marathon – were shouting their congratulations. On the planes, everybody's telling you congratulations. They always ask that question: 'Now how far is a marathon?'"

Grannis: "I had the bonus of having Shalane Flanagan on my flight this afternoon. I snapped a quick picture with her and got to talk to her; she was super-nice. That was a cool treat."