CHICAGO | At the beginning of this year, April Gatlin decided that not only was she going to make a New Year's resolution, she was actually going to stick to it.

"I told myself that I was going to run two marathons this year," Gatlin said. "No matter what."

So the Valparaiso resident picked the Chicago Marathon because of its proximity and then selected the Nike Women's Marathon in San Francisco. The only problem is that Gatlin didn't consult a calendar when she made her choices.

"I picked the two marathons not knowing that they were on back-to-back weekends," Gatlin said.

Despite the scheduling snafu, Gatlin decided to stick with her original plan and is in the midst of the most grueling week of running in her life. On Sunday, Gatlin finished the Chicago Marathon in 5 hours, 8 minutes, 1 second. Later this week, she will fly to San Francisco, but she doesn't plan on doing much before then.

"I'm maybe going to run a total of five miles this week," Gatlin said. "I'm going to eat a lot of protein, pasta and drink a lot of chocolate milk."

Gatlin consulted several Web sites as well as several doctors to study the ramifications of her multi-marathon trek.

"They all say that I'm crazy," Gatlin said. "But hey, you're only young once."

Sunday's race represented the first marathon that Gatlin has finished.

In 2007, she made it to the 17-mile marker of the Chicago Marathon before the race was canceled because of severe heat.

Perfect weather: While 34-degree temperatures might not be ideal for early October, the brisk temperatures were just what the runners at the Chicago Marathon had in mind after the warm weather of the last two years.

"The weather was outstanding, just perfect running weather today," Calumet Striders committee chairman Dan Sturgell said. "I was able to keep my gloves off the whole time."

By the time many of the 34,792 participants crossed the finish line, temperatures were about 44 degrees.

Back again: Last year, former Merrillville basketball player and current Valparaiso police detective Mike DeHaven participated in his first marathon. This year he wanted to improve his time as well as encourage his wife, Alicia, to run.

DeHaven shaved more than 12 minutes off his time this year, finishing in 3:42.08 after running the 2008 Chicago Marathon in 3:54.51. Alicia, also a Merrillville grad, finished her first marathon in 4:39.37.

"Watching my husband do it last year, it made me wish that I had done it," Alicia said. "I really enjoyed the training. It wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be."

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