Videos From The Chicago Marathon

In addition to photographing her entire experience at the Chicago Marathon, Katie also took a few videos of interesting sightings.

Mr. Bear - I wonder how hot HE was!

This one was taken up in Wrigleyville. Go figure.

And these are some very fast people (LONG before we got there...)

Interesting Characters at the Chicago Marathon

My friend Katie sure does know how to document an event! Not only did she capture Maddy and I every time we ran by, but she also captured every "character" she saw. How fun!

Super heroes - I wonder how they fared in the heat?

Man in a blue dress. Ha ha ha!

Clown #1. Some people dislike clowns. I have no problem with them.

Clown #2 (at least I think so, anyway)

Girls in tutu's and funny socks. Get in the spirit!

Joggler (he was just ahead of Maddy and I)

Uh oh - he dropped his balls (tee he he)

Soldier boy in his gear (um, Katie, where's the fireman I saw?)

Red boa girls - la tee dah!

Another fancy tutu - I bet I could be easily spotted in something like this!

Not quite sure about this guy...

Mr. Southwest Airlines, apparently...

You gotta love a big banana. 'Nuff said!

Chicago Marathon

My hostess Katie and I woke at 4:30 AM because we intended to leave between 5:30 and 5:45 for downtown Chicago. After my breakfast and shower, I proceeded to tape my blister-prone toes.

I use gorilla tape. It is simple and it works, no matter how much I sweat.

I really, really have to give props to my friend Katie. She was my hostess, chauffeur, pit crew AND photographer!

She wore this awesome shirt in my honor.

Katie ended up having to drop me off because the parking was already filling up. She had to go and park at Soldier Field while I headed to the Congress Hotel to finally meet Maddy. Lots of people apparently planned to meet in the lobby, so I ended up having to call her. Minutes later I finally met my awesome running partner!

Maddy and I have been blog friends for about 4 years now.

Next we walked a bit and finally got to meet up with Kevin! It was awesome to make all of the connections.

Is this a terrific trio or what?

Next Maddy and I headed to the starting area. 45,000 people signed up for the race, and even factoring out the no-shows left an extreme number of runners ahead of us. We couldn't even physically see the starting line until well after the gun (which we couldn't hear) went off.

It took us exactly 30 minutes to reach the starting mat.

The event alert level was green/low (good conditions - enjoy the event/be alert) when we started. I am sure it was about 60 degrees. From the first few minutes of running, I felt quite labored. But we had a marathon to run!

Katie's first spot to see us was at mile 2. There we are under the "V" of Verizon.

I think Katie took this photo because I now live in Mississippi. Ha!

A few miles later, the event level had switched to yellow/moderate (less than ideal conditions - slow down/be prepared for worsening conditions). Oh great.

I didn't detect Katie until we had passed. I think this is a funny shot.

I was really struggling. Maddy and I were trying to run using my 2:1 method and I just had NO speed behind me. It was tough. Early on I urged her to run ahead, but she would not.

Katie said that without Maddy's attire, she would have never found me out there.

The next thing I knew - probably before or around the halfway point - the event level changed to red/high (potentially dangerous conditions - slow down/observe course changes/follow event official instruction/consider stopping). Believe me - the latter crossed my mind, but I felt like I had moved heaven and earth to even train for this event, on top of making arrangements to get there considering Chasen has been in China... so I had to just forge ahead.

Believe me, it wasn't easy. It was hot and I was spent.

As we headed south and passed Chinatown, I knew we were coming up on IIT. No matter how bad I felt, I was happy to be running past my alma mater.

This is where I spent my college years.

Here we are dragging by the architecture building, S.R. Crown Hall.

As we ran past a nearby high school, the digital marquis read 94 degrees. Holy moly. It was brutal. We were well over an hour past where we initially thought we'd be, timewise. Oh well - one foot in front of the other.

Oh happy day! I knew, thanks to Maddy, I was going to make it.

At about a quarter mile to go we had to go up a bridge. Jeez oh man! We tried to sprint, but I had to conserve a bit of energy. When we made the final turn, I mustered up my last bit of energy and we stormed down to the finish line passing several people. Our official chip time was 6:52:23. Ouch. But, as I said, given the conditions I feel fortunate to have finished at all. Every medical tent we passed was full and I even saw people laid out on the grass along the course receiving IV's. Holy cow.

Big, huge thank you to Maddy! My medal is half her's!

It was so late in the day that I cancelled my post-marathon dinner out with college friends. It took Katie and I forever to talk back to her car considering my soreness and having to navigate the road blocks. But we finally made it. On the way back to her condo she stopped and bought me a huge bag of ice for my much-desired ice bath.

22 pounds - and I loved every bit of it.

After an ice bath and regular shower, I felt nearly good as new. Katie was fairly amazed. I said "It's the ice bath!" We went to a nearby restaurant to save time. I chose one that Chasen and I visited when we were there last November. I knew he'd be jealous. Ha!

Italian Beef and fries - how Chicago!

Katie dropped me off at the airport and I COULD NOT wait to get home to my sweet Isaac. He was asleep, of course, but I looked in on him and then gleefully got back into my own bed.

Here is my hard-earned medal and largest race number I've ever had.

And here is the shot that made it ALL worthwhile. What more could I ask for?

So, it was an awful race for me, but I am proud to have completed marathon #4. Now for some rest!

The Day Before The Chicago Marathon

I arrived in Chicago and was met at the airport by my wonderful friend from college, Thi. As we drove toward my alma mater, there were hints of the marathon all along the way.

There was also lots of traffic. Go figure!

My alma mater: Illinois Institute of Technology (this bridge was bright red back in the day).

Here is Thi. I will be her bridesmaid in July 2011.

Here is the architecture building. I spent about a zillion hours here.

At IIT we met up with my hostess Katie (also a college friend). After a quick walk down memory lane, we went to lunch in Greektown.

Mmm Giordano's! Man oh man - I miss this stuff.

After that Katie and I said goodbye to Thi and headed to the marathon expo. It was HUGE! I figured as much, but wow. After we got my race bib and stuff, we strolled upon none other than the Ultra-Marthon man himself!

Yes, that is Dean Karnazes. That makes two stars I have met within a month's time!

A fellow in front of us was wearing this shirt while listening to Dean.

We plopped down to investigate the goody bag.

I am always ready for exit 26.2 - trust me!

"10-10-10" was all over the place.

The coolest thing in the whole expo was a huge wall that had all participants' names in tiny lettering on it. It took forever to find my name, but I did!

The letters were only about a quarter inch tall... 45,000 names...

Now this is interesting. Even though the projected temps were in the 80's, the event status was "low." I highly disagreed with that, but I was not running the show!

After the expo we headed back to Katie's condo in suburban Oak Lawn. I unpacked and we proceeded to laugh and catch up. We talk via e-mail nearly daily, but we only see each other every few years. Then we headed out for a pre-race dinner. I had fettuccine with marinara and sausage. I was in bed by 9 PM for my 4:30 AM alarm.

Stay tuned for the big day!

TGIF (Thank Galloway It's Finished)

Oh happy day - tomorrow I leave for Chicago! I had yet another busy, hectic day, but I just tried to keep positive and focus on the fact that my very long journey (23 weeks, to be exact, 366 miles covered) to the Chicago Marathon was nearly complete.

All of this marathon talk is really wearing me out.

Isaac has Mother's Day Out today. Thank goodness, because the home inspection for our current home was at noon (when he'd usually be asleep here). So I headed out and handled some errands. We just hung out this afternoon and waited for 5 o'clock to get here so I could turn off my crock pot and then head out for my FINAL bit of training (an "easy walk").

It's roasting hot out here, but at least I have The Cat In The Hat with me.

Next was dinner. My guy just LOVES lasagna! I have a really good crock pot recipe that will feed an army of hungry toddlers.

Of course, the entire world still gets dirty after a plate of lasagna meets Isaac.

I got to very briefly Skype with Chasen today. He is now in Yantai, China. Tomorrow he will drive to Qingdao, and while I am flying home to Memphis he will be flying to Wenzhou. The next time we will be able to Skype will be Monday at best. :(

I am all packed up and ready to go. The weather is supposed to be rather warm. Yuck. Oh well - I've put in the time... now I just gotta do the crime!

Almost Ready

Phew - the fun and games are over. Today was very hectic. It started off well enough with Isaac and I going out for my final pre-Chicago longrun (30 minutes worth). When it was done I calculated my training totals: 363.30 miles. I have one "easy walk" to go tomorrow. Yay!

After that I needed to clean our filthy shower. I strapped Isaac in his rocker-seat and turned on Sesame Street. The next thing I knew, he was fast asleep because it took much longer than I thought it would. The good news is that I discovered our shower is actually white, not almond. Ha! The bad news is that he got off his lunch and nap schedule, thus I once again did not get to rest. Ick. Oh and guess what else - the buyers of our house want to do the home inspection tomorrow, which was to be my only chance for a leisurely nap while Isaac is at Mother's Day Out. Oh well - we gotta sell this house! I'll just have to do my Chicago packing and then get out for a few hours so they can have it inspected.

Chasen arrived in Shaghai, China without incident, although he did say that the 6-hour flight was awful. We got to Skype and he showed me his Chinese Coca Cola.

He was able to print, sign, scan and email the house papers from India before he left. Gotta love modern technology!

So this afternoon Isaac and I ran errands and tried to stay busy at home. It didn't quite work as, like I said, we had our most hectic/worst day yet. I blame the fact that I let him go to sleep way too early thus not allowing myself to have a break. Oh well - you live and you learn.

We did finally try on his Spiderman costume for Halloween. It is perfect!

He'll have nothing of the cap and "eyes" band. Oh well - this is cute enough.

My sweet boy - I just love those 16 teeth.

Late afternoon I started to prepare Shepherd's Pie for his dinner and weekend leftovers (tomorrow I will make crock pot lasagna for our dinner and his weekend leftovers). His amazing babysitter Natasha arrived and I headed off to 80's themed bunco. This mommy definitely needed a night out!

Like my 80's look? I purchased it all at the Goodwill for less than $20.

Oh I had fun! And now I have 24 more hours or thereabouts to get all ready and packed for Chicago, as well as get Isaac and our home ready for Natasha the sitter and me being away. Busy fun!