So now we were on to Chicago.
Traffic was pretty rough getting into the city so we had to go straight to the Expo to pick up our packets. Expo was pretty typical with lots of clothes to buy and lots of freebies for us to grab. After that we were both pretty hungry and decided on the Hard Rock cafe which is always a fun place to go. It was getting later in the evening so we decided we'd tour downtown more tomorrow and head to our hotel for the night.
Quick note.....unfortunately Hotels.com is now on our %^#t list for messing up the hotel reservations and then leaving us both on hold for a total of over an hour with no resolution on the place we were supposed to stay. And this was after 10pm. Thank you to Courtyard Marriott for being so helpful and having fantastic staff and getting us a room!
In the morning we were up at 4:15 to get ready to grab the Blue line downtown to the race start. Let me tell ya, Chicago is a VERY different crowd that early in the morning :-P
What all of us on the train didn't know is that there was construction going on that caused us to get off quite a few stops before our destination and take a shuttle bus. That took a little more time that we expected so we got down to the start with only a few minutes to get ready to go and find our Corral.
We were in Corral 8 of I think 21. 18,000 total registered runners for the event which makes it the largest event either of us had ever done. Corrals were divided by estimated finishing time. It worked out really well as we didn't have to shuffle or duck and weave through slower runners to get into a groove. We were off and running from the start.
Since it was a Rock and Roll event (the inaugural Chicago one actually), there was a band playing along each mile of the route. That was definitely entertaining. As usually it took about 2 miles before my legs felt like they were in their running mode but then I was feeling pretty good. I knew we were running a little faster than I was going to be comfortable but since it was a flat course, I figured I could get away with it and hopefully come out with a new PR.
Somewhere around mile 5 I could tell my engine was running a bit hot and "the wall" was somewhere around here but I just put my mind in a happy place and stayed on Mark's shoulder. He ran with me the whole way and kept me at a good pace. He even took a few pictures during the run. This one is from somewhere around mile 8. Looks are deceiving, I'm much more tired than that smile :-P
This was just after the turn around where we headed back along a bike path along Lake Michigan for the last 4-5 miles. It was a really nice run, a little crowded but not the worst we've had to do.
We hit mile 12 and then tried to burn the remaining gas in the tank. Picked up the pace a bit, put my head down and ran. Mark stayed just ahead to my side so I did what I could to keep up and not burn out. We crossed the line officially in 1:57:58. 5 minutes and 36 seconds faster than my old PR set earlier this year. :D :D
We spent the rest of the day downtown checking out the sites and caching our way around. But, first stop.....coffee coolers!!
It was a great afternoon getting to see the sites but wished we could have stayed longer. The train ride back was about as successful as the way into town once we finally managed to find the station.
We had to head home that night and stopped quite a few places along the way to stretch the legs and backs. All in all a fun trip and a great event to be a part of. Did I mention the cool medals? :)
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