Since my wife passed away in July, there hasn’t been a lot of happiness in my life. It’s just been putting one foot in front of the other and taking everything day by day.

Then the Bank of America Chicago Marathon happened.

Denise and I had planned to run our “golden marathon” on Oct. 9. It would have been our ninth marathon together on the ninth. When she passed in the summer, I wasn’t sure if I’d ever want to use her race chair again.