Think of that famous New Yorker magazine cover depicting the view west from Manhattan, which is shown in great detail, with New Jersey a bit in the background and then a great nothingness stretching behind it to a tiny speck at the horizon labeled California.
We tend to think that way about races, marathons in particular.
There's New York, of course, since it's so close and so many people from the area run it, and Boston, since we're technically part of New England and it's the most storied 26-miler in the country.
But after that, it's all "other" when we think of marathons around the rest of the country.
It's not that way here in Chicago, where this morning the 33rd edition of the Bank of America Chicago Marathon will be run.
At 45,000 entrants, it's close to New York in size. And for people in the Midwest, it's just as big an entry on a running bucket list as New York is for those of us back east.
It's also a huge draw for elite athletes due to its pancake flat course and generally favorable weather.
Indeed, it's the only domestic race in the recent past that has witnessed world and American records, and regularly turns out impressive quantities of Boston and Olympic Trials qualifying performances.
Those fast times may be hard to come by this year, as an early dose of Indian Summer has descended on the Windy City. On a run along Lakeshore Drive yesterday morning, it was warm and a bit humid, albeit breezy, even at 7 a.m., half an hour before today's start time.
That's somewhat unfortunate, as Chicago has assembled perhaps its deepest and most competitive field in the past several years, with defending champ and 2008 Olympic gold medalist Sammy Wanjiru facing the winners of this year's Boston and London marathons.
The women's field isn't quite as strong. But the focus there may be on Joan Samuelson, celebrating the 25th anniversary of her Chicago run that ended in a winning 2:21:21 clocking that stood as the American record for 18 years.
Samuelson, who made history by winning the first Olympic women's marathon in 1984, has only publicly expressed a desire to break three hours. But there have been rumors that her ultimate desire is to run 2:46 and qualify for the 2012 Olympic Trials at the age of 53.
There is a small contingent of local runners who made the trip here to run. Hopefully, slogging through the record heat of the past summer will stand them in good stead as they traverse the toasty pavement of Chicago.
Jim Gerweck is Editor-at-Large at Running Times magazine.
ON THE RUN
Sunday
The 13th Annual Susannah's Run, 5K, 9 a.m., Tod's Point, Greenwich
Next Sunday
GREAT TRAIN RACE, 6.816 mi., 8:25 a.m., New Canaan
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