Well…we did it. We finished the marathon (26.2 miles) in 5:37. That is 5 hours and 37 minutes for all of you laymen.
My mom, sister and I met up at O’Hare airport in Chicago for the big race! We got to our hotel which was in an AWESOME location along the magnificent mile. We stopped at the famous bean in Millennium Park and took some pictures and then made our way to the Expo. It was an agoraphobics nightmare and was crazy packed…ummm hello… 45 THOUSAND runners ran this race…not to mention all of the cheerleaders they brought with them! But, the energy was awesome and it definitely gets you pumped about the race! Luckily Erin (David’s sis) was there with her crew and we were able to meet up with them! We got our numbers and packets and were ready to go for the big day!
That night, we went to the CUTEST part of Chicago called Lincoln Park. Erin and her friends rented the CUTEST apartment for the weekend which was fully furnished and absolutely fab. It was an old house that was chopped up into apartments. It was very cool to be able to go out and see a different part of town where all the locals live. We bought food and had a nice home cooked carbo filled meal!
Sunday morning came VERY early. Erin’s friend who was also running the race, wanted to get there by 6 am. My hotel was about a mile from the meeting spot, so I had to run/walk there to meet them up. It was FREEZING!!! It was in the lower THIRTIES that morning! We were freezing…we tried to stand as close as we could together and let the awkward factor go on the wayside. Finally the race got started at 7:30 and it took about 15 minutes to start! We made our way and started out slow. Erin’s knee was injured about 2 weeks ago so our plan was just to take it slow and finish the freaking thing!!
The sites were amazing! I absolutely love this race and it was the only reason I ever decided to do one again. The neighborhoods are amazing. Boystown or (gaytown) was my favorite. Gay guys in drag or cheerleader outfits or army outfits twirling fake rifles were a common site. It was amazing! We loved it. We also had t-shirts made with our names on them and had shout-outs everywhere we went! It helped so much!
Due to the pain factor, I took 2 eight hour Tylenols before I left…then about an hour into the race I took another one and then maybe 2 hours later one more. Erin was like..umm how many did you take? I was like ….ummm 4. She was like…OMG. Okay…don’t take anymore. I then began to FREAK out. I was like…should I be vomiting this up right now?? Is my stomach going to start bleeding?? When we’d go through shaded areas I was like…is it cold right here because my face is freezing! Maybe I’m dying! AHHH !! I thought for sure I OD’d on Tylenol. Erin stayed strong and tried to calm me down!
We lucked out and saw our friends and family along the way. My mom and sister had some issues at the start and missed us by a couple of minutes, but luckily they were in touch with Erin’s friends who told us they had just seen us at mile 12. We got to see them and the awesome sign my sister had made for me around mile 16 or something and then again at mile 25. It was great having athletic supporters! ;-)
Our knees killed…our hips killed…our feet killed. But we did it. There was the steepest incline imaginable at mile 26 and I wanted to walk it so badly. But, Erin said NO and grabbed my hand to pull me up the hill. I remember some guy yelled…good team work! You can do it! And we did. We finished it. We will most likely NEVER do it again….but we can say we did it and I’m glad I was able to run it with Erin!
My mom, sister and I met up at O’Hare airport in Chicago for the big race! We got to our hotel which was in an AWESOME location along the magnificent mile. We stopped at the famous bean in Millennium Park and took some pictures and then made our way to the Expo. It was an agoraphobics nightmare and was crazy packed…ummm hello… 45 THOUSAND runners ran this race…not to mention all of the cheerleaders they brought with them! But, the energy was awesome and it definitely gets you pumped about the race! Luckily Erin (David’s sis) was there with her crew and we were able to meet up with them! We got our numbers and packets and were ready to go for the big day!
That night, we went to the CUTEST part of Chicago called Lincoln Park. Erin and her friends rented the CUTEST apartment for the weekend which was fully furnished and absolutely fab. It was an old house that was chopped up into apartments. It was very cool to be able to go out and see a different part of town where all the locals live. We bought food and had a nice home cooked carbo filled meal!
Sunday morning came VERY early. Erin’s friend who was also running the race, wanted to get there by 6 am. My hotel was about a mile from the meeting spot, so I had to run/walk there to meet them up. It was FREEZING!!! It was in the lower THIRTIES that morning! We were freezing…we tried to stand as close as we could together and let the awkward factor go on the wayside. Finally the race got started at 7:30 and it took about 15 minutes to start! We made our way and started out slow. Erin’s knee was injured about 2 weeks ago so our plan was just to take it slow and finish the freaking thing!!
The sites were amazing! I absolutely love this race and it was the only reason I ever decided to do one again. The neighborhoods are amazing. Boystown or (gaytown) was my favorite. Gay guys in drag or cheerleader outfits or army outfits twirling fake rifles were a common site. It was amazing! We loved it. We also had t-shirts made with our names on them and had shout-outs everywhere we went! It helped so much!
Due to the pain factor, I took 2 eight hour Tylenols before I left…then about an hour into the race I took another one and then maybe 2 hours later one more. Erin was like..umm how many did you take? I was like ….ummm 4. She was like…OMG. Okay…don’t take anymore. I then began to FREAK out. I was like…should I be vomiting this up right now?? Is my stomach going to start bleeding?? When we’d go through shaded areas I was like…is it cold right here because my face is freezing! Maybe I’m dying! AHHH !! I thought for sure I OD’d on Tylenol. Erin stayed strong and tried to calm me down!
We lucked out and saw our friends and family along the way. My mom and sister had some issues at the start and missed us by a couple of minutes, but luckily they were in touch with Erin’s friends who told us they had just seen us at mile 12. We got to see them and the awesome sign my sister had made for me around mile 16 or something and then again at mile 25. It was great having athletic supporters! ;-)
Our knees killed…our hips killed…our feet killed. But we did it. There was the steepest incline imaginable at mile 26 and I wanted to walk it so badly. But, Erin said NO and grabbed my hand to pull me up the hill. I remember some guy yelled…good team work! You can do it! And we did. We finished it. We will most likely NEVER do it again….but we can say we did it and I’m glad I was able to run it with Erin!
