The Chicago Marathon

I did it! 26.2 long miles....The weekend was all about enjoying the experience and spending time with friends. oh yeah, and getting through 26.2 miles of Chicago streets. I've been rather anxious about the race, I worry about time limits and being swept onto the sidewalk...of not having a finish line to cross. Elina offered to run with me since my previous plan didn't work out. She assured me she wasn't worried about a finish time, but that she would push me to try and make my goal. I saw so many friends, and knew so many people running it is hard to remember everyone!

Friday Bonnie picked me up and we drove into Chicago, we got checked into the hotel and then off to the Expo! 

This is probably the largest Expo I've ever been to, so much to see! Packet pickup was very smooth and well organized. Bonnie and I wandered around checking out all of the booths for a bit. Oofos and Nike were my favorite booths! We even got to see Deena Kastor!

Then we were off to a painting party! We explored the Red line and Purple line on the L, we made one bad choice and ended up on the train for about 30 minutes longer than we should have been. We met Nikki and Paula for a painting party, Nikki owns the Bottles and Bottega in Evanston, IL - she hosted a painting party for anyone interested from a running group I'm in - we got there with plenty of time to relax and then paint our fun running girl picture! 

We finished up our painting and ventured on the L again. Paula had just gotten in from Toronto, so she headed to her AirBnb and we headed back to the hotel where we met up with Elina and Sonya. Bonnie had signed up for the 5k the next morning, which meant it was time to go to bed.

Saturday morning was EARLY! Bonnie and I fought the wind to walk to the L and head uptown to Daley plaza for the 5k. Rain and wind don't stop runners, so she headed off and I walked to the finish line. The heat was turned up in Chicago on Saturday so soon after Bonnie finished we walked back to the hotel. 

We grabbed Sonya and met Paula for breakfast at Yolk. It was worth the wait! 



















Off to the expo again, to pick up more packets and meet Elina, who was just finishing up a job at one of the expo booths. Sonya ran to meet some friends and the rest of us planned out how to carb-load for dinner. Elina, Bonnie, Paula and I met out friends Mark and Ryan for dinner. The advertised "Pasta Bar" left a lot to be desired as we got there just as they were opening and they had already run out of pasta by the time we started eating. Dinner was a great distraction from the next morning, and we were able to relax and enjoyed ourselves. After dinner, we headed upstairs to relax and get everything ready for the big day.

The Chicago Marathon is huge. 47,000 runners means it's going to take a long time to get everyone over the starting line. The Elites start racing at 7am, and if I calculate correctly, Galen Rupp finished about 14 minutes after I crossed the starting line. Paula, Elina, and I decided we were sticking together. Bonnie was gunning for a PR so off she went. 

Even though we were in Corral L, and started nearly at 9am, the crowds were a lot of fun and very supportive. The first couple of miles we were weaving through the city streets, a fairly common route for a Chicago race, our pace was good. As the day went on, the temperature rose and about mile 9 my knee decided to stop cooperating, so I had to modify my plan. We were still having fun. I saw Valerie and met Ila during our adventure. Lots of water and Gatorade. Sticky, slippery roads while getting through the water stops. We explored all parts of Chicago, we saw Lincoln Park, Wrigleyville, Boys Town, Chinatown, White Sox Stadium and back to Millennium Park.

With 7 or so miles to go, we started to see more people on the sides of the road. Some were resting, stretching, and others were being attended to by medical help.  We came across an older gentleman who was listing strongly to the right. He had a women on his left, but obviously needed more help. Elina jumped right in and offered to get him to the next medical station. She's such a doll that she ended up getting him all the way to the finish line!

Paula and I kept in front of them, just by a couple of minutes, we talked and the Team In Training Coaches visited us a couple of times to make sure we were doing okay. Once we saw the right turn on Roosevelt, we knew we had made it. We climbed the hill and headed to the finish line. Unfortunately we were diverted away from the real finish line and were directed to finish on the sidewalk. It was quite the anticlimactic finish as we weren't greeted by cheering fans or other runners, just more sidewalk and fences. We still got our medals, so we waited for Elina. We celebrated with a photo and a hug, then sent Paula on her way back to her hotel.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 Elina and I walked back to our hotel, where Bonnie was resting. No sitting still for us though, we had dinner plans! Elina hustled around to make the train back to her suburb and Bonnie and I got ready for dinner to celebrate Jennifer's birthday.

Uber was our only option, as I don't think we could have walked the 5 blocks to the L, we made it to the restaurant and had a lovely dinner with friends. It was great to hear about Jennifer's first marathon and to spend time relaxing with other participants. And yep, we were all wearing our medals.

Monday morning meant time to return to the real world. We gathered our belongings and checked out. We tried to buy finisher jackets, but we went to the wrong Fleet Feet, so Bonnie dropped me at the train station and we both headed home.

I ran this race in honor of my dad, I run with Team in Training to raise money and find a cure for different blood cancers. Dad was diagnosed almost 4 years ago, I love that I can raise money for a great cause and run races. Thanks for all the support this year, next year we are off to Alaska!