Former UI star distance runner has 'special connection' with marathon

Brittaney Simpson, a physical-therapy assistant with Christie Clinic, keeps time in the Plank Challenge station Thursday, April 25, 2019, at the Christie Clinic Illinois Marathon Health & Fitness Expo at the Activities and Recreation Center on the University of Illinois campus in Champaign.Craig Virgin ran 100 miles a week around Champaign and Urbana when he was a star distance runner at the University of Illinois, so he knows a bit about what marathoners will be going through Saturday when they traverse both towns during the Christie Clinic Illinois Marathon.

Plenty, though, will be different for marathon runners than it was in Virgin's days. Some of what he knew as cornfields will now be…