Published by the Chicago Tribune on October 9, 2013

Veteran marathoners have given Matt Tegenkamp two pieces of advice as he prepares for his debut at the distance.

One is to be patient.

The other is to pick a race pace and stick to it.

The patience part may be a bit tricky, given what the Wisconsin grad has said about the pace he plans for Sunday's Bank of America Chicago Marathon.

"I'm thinking about 4:55 or 4:57 a mile for the first 18 miles," Tegenkamp said in a telephone interview this week from his home in Portland, Ore.