Chicago Marathon = Marathon #20, State #9, 2 Abbott World Major Marathon for me, AND the 2nd largest marathon in the US!
This marathon has been a long time coming! I won the lottery to run the race in 2020 and then the race was canceled due to COVID. I had 4 major races canceled in 2020!! Really put a damper on my plans. My plans were to do only "running" races in 2020 and focus on my running speed and then get back to TRIs in 2021. Well, dang COVID screwed all those plans up. But you know what.... God is still in control! I may of had to wait a full year to run this marathon, but it was his time.. not my time. I was able to go with 6 other local friends and what an AMAZING trip we had over the weekend!
The locals heading to Chicago!
Let me just start by saying CHICAGO DID NOT DISAPPOINT! What an AMAZING city! From the architecture on the buildings, the river and lake Michigan! Just WOW!
Penny and I started the weekend with a red eye flight on Friday morning at 6am. Ronnie & Be followed us at 8am. Shannon & Dan next around lunch and Nestor didn't fly in till Saturday. Ronnie, Be, Penny and I were able to all go to expo together on Friday afternoon. I'm so glad we did. With the COVID screening the lines were LONG! You had two options.. either show proof of vaccination or proof of negative test before they would allow you inside the expo to pick up your bib. Everyone was given a wrist band once they were checked that we had to wear the rest of the time to be able to get in to the race on Sunday. The line literally weaved around the building for days! But I'm so glad we went Friday because Saturday they said the line also weaved down 3 city blocks before it weaved around the building to get inside. 😩 However, I really appreciate the marathon organization taking the time to check and for putting on a really awesome race. There was security everywhere! Even cops with drug dogs waking the lines. I never felt unsafe.
By the time we finally got our bibs, Penny and I had to rush to change clothes to make our river boat architecture tour at 5:45pm. We did a lot of speed walking that afternoon! LOL The river boat was amazing! and the city view from the river is just beautiful!. Here are a few pics:
When we were done with the boat tour we then had to rush another mile to a restaurant to meet a friend of mine that was in town for business for dinner. We meet at Hugo's Frog Bar on rush street. Don't let the name fool you! It's not like a wild bar. It's actually a white table cloth nice restaurant and the food was amazing! They have really good Gibson's steaks. and check out our dessert! This was the biggest piece of carrot cake I've ever seen!
Friday afternoon was jammed packed. We made it to our room in time to crash before a full day of sight seeing on Saturday. We started the day by going down to the John Hancock building and going up to the top to the 360 bar. You can literally see for days! I think you can see 4 states not to mention the huge Lake Michigan. The elevator said it took 40 seconds to get us to the 94 floor to the 360 bar! It was pretty cool looking down at all those huge buildings. There was a fog that morning so the view way out was not clear...but it was still amazing!
After we left there, we meandered down to The Drake, This is a very nice hotel where several famous people have stayed!
The elevator even had a couch in it!
Magnificent mile, Lots and lots of shops! We wanted to get something from Tiffanys...but decided we better not... 😜 the line was wrapped around the block at the Nike store! They had the official marathon merchandise... we skipped it also... we didn't have time to stand in line all day. We had ordered our marathon jacket online already. 😍 The buildings along our walk was just amazing!
These buildings are like a world of their own... you can live, shop, eat, park, bowl, etc. all in the building! It has everything! They are called corn cobs... ha They literally remind you of a corn cob the way they are built.
I just love these buildings!
We did have deep dish pizza for lunch and it was so good!
to Millennium park, where we saw the bean! I wasn't sure how I'd feel about the bean.. but it was really cool! And a very weird statue that changes faces of random visitors and spits water.... 😅
The BEAN!
to Grant Park, this is where the Buckingham fountain is at and it's HUGE! Plus this is where the race started and ended.
Navy Pier, OMG ... Lake Michigan is beautiful! Looks like the ocean it's so blue! I'm glad we didn't skip this even though we had to walk another mile to see it!
World Famous Billy Goat Tavern (Saturday night live... Cheeseburger...Cheeseburger... Cheeseburger) and many other places. It was a fun filled day!
We finally arrived back at our hotel ready for supper and bed! I was wore out from walking all day and my right shin was killing me! I honestly didn't know how I was going to run 26.2 miles the next day at that moment in time! We ran into Dan, Shannon and Nestor back at the hotel and grabbed a picture. We were all pretty tired from our sight seeing...
Sunday morning .. race day came EARLY! I was so tired.. didn't sleep much at all. Tossed and turned all night worried about my shin and running 26.2 miles feeling so tired..... The things we runners do at races that are in big cities with lots to see! In hindsight... I'd highly suggest getting to race site just to go to expo and rest before race day and staying an extra day or two afterwards to walk around and see the sights! I should have learned this by now... but apparently I haven't... 😎
Anyway, Penny and I got dressed and made it down to the lobby to meet Be and Ronnie to walk over to our corrals. Everyone was all spaced out. I think Dan was in like Corral B (he's super fast), Shannon was in like E, Nestor was either in C or D, Penny and I were both together in H, and then Ronnie and Be were in like J & K. They had the corrals pretty locked down and we all had different security gates to go through. I was glad Penny and I were together. It helped pass the time by faster waiting to start by having someone to talk to.
Inside our corral you couldn't even see the start line.... look at all them people! There were 26,000 at the race!
Tired.. puffy eyes.... oh well.. got to embrace it all and ENJOY!
Penny snapped this pic before we went in...
We started the race in "yellow"... Moderate conditions.... But half way into the race the sign changed to RED... 😢
Right as we started the race it was still overcast and it drizzled a few drops of rain. It really felt great. and guess what??? Once I started jogging my shin didn't hurt! I was like .. WOW! Which I know walking is different than running. One time I walked a 20K with a friend and my whole body hurt for days.. worse than after running a 20K!! It's just different on your body. So I was praising God that my shin was not hurting. We were running and it felt great. I kept getting faster and Penny would say to me... "I'm backing off... we are getting to fast"... I was glad she was there to do that so I wouldn't continue to get faster and blow it all out in the first half! I tend to do that.... I get all excited and just want to go! Now if I could figure out how to maintain that momentum the whole race... man I could make some good times... 😁 Penny took tons of pictures along the course and even facetimed with our friends! She can multi task well. I have to focus on my feet and make sure I don't trip, etc. 😀
It was cool to see this! Such inspiration!!
The second half of the race was not as pretty as the first half! IT GOT HOT!! Not exactly south Mississippi hot, but when you are running, your body heats up like 10-15 degrees so running when it's 77 degrees is NOT FUN! People started cramping, etc. I saw several people struggling and I just kept praying and thinking of scriptures. I tend to sweat a pretty good bit! I've always wanted to get my sweat rate tested because I've had issues with cramps myself, but never have done it. By mile 22-23, I started cramping. I tried to get Penny to leave me, but she wouldn't! She said we started together and we would finish together. God love her! 💓🙏
So we did finish TOGETHER!
I really don't know how we did a sub 5 hour marathon! We stopped and walked at EVERY water stop and they were between 1-2 miles apart. Neither of us took our own water bottle and due to the heat we made sure to stop and drink at all stops! I stopped and took 2 bathroom breaks and we walked off and on those last miles and still finished in 4:59! AND I praised God that I finished. many runners did not finish. I told Penny I would love to go back and run the race when it's their normal cold race like 30-40 degrees and when I'm fully rested because the crowds are literally Electrifying! It's the most AMAZING marathon I've ran besides New York Marathon. It's so different running a major marathon vs a small town marathon! The crowds literally line the complete 26.2 miles of the course cheering!
Most didn't have the race they planned for due to the weather. Even the elites struggled. Sarah Hall went in wanting to break the American record, but reset expectations before she even started due to weather .. and ended up finishing third. So I'm not going to beat myself up over my time at all. They say weather is a big factor in Chicago because everything is concrete.. no grass really to absorb heat. The concrete just keeps heating up and it feels like you are running in a sauna. I sure felt that many times in between the buildings where the wind was not getting through.
My fav sign along the course ... and they gave out sponges at several stops... notice them all over the ground... they were so nice and cold! Loved them!
We soon found our friends who had finished also..
We didn't get to see Ronnie or Nestor at the finish. They were still both out on the course. Ronnie was taking his time and Nestor had developed cramps! We thought Nestor's knee was bothering him since he had not finished because he had been having knee issues while training. We had NO idea he had cramps! I don't think I've ever known him to have cramps. They did get a good picture of him on the course all dressed up..
We left the race site before we saw Ronnie and Nestor because us girls had booked us a massage! We had to hurry to get a shower and walk over to the Palmer House Hotel. Oh it was another beautiful hotel! and YES we walked. It's good to keep moving after a marathon ...
The massage was just for relaxation... no deep tissue... don't need that after a marathon... just a nice rub down on sore muscles and it was FABULOUS! 💓
After our massages we met back up with the guys and all had deep dish pizza for supper.. Actually it was the first meal for me that day! I was too hot after the race to eat! So I barely snacked on a few salty chips and mainly drank water. I was starving and this place my brother, Brian had recommended was FABULOUS! and we also WALKED there! We got in lots of easy walking after the race. I really enjoyed spending time with Dan & Shannon at the race. It's the first race we've been around them all weekend. I knew Dan just from the trace and seeing him at several races, but I had never really gotten to sit and talk with him & Shannon. Dan has a really cool story! You should get to know him. He came here to the US at 33 with no job, could not speak English, etc. He's an amazing young man! Oh and He's run Boston a couple of times! And I loved getting to know his wife Shannon better!! She actually went to South Jones! She was just younger than me. It's a small world!
Of course I always love spending time with Ronnie & Be! They are my favorite running couple! They had deep roots in their faith and they are such inspirations!
and what can I say about Nestor except I love him! he's a character!
And PENNY.. My PPRF friend! Love doing adventures with you! 💓
Penny had said she wouldn't mind staying up late on Sunday after the race and seeing whatever sites we might of missed, but after we ate we decided we were too tired and just wanted our beds! Heck 4am was going to come early on Monday for our red eye flight home! So we were in bed by 8pm.
Headed home Monday. SOOOOOOOOOOO TIIIIIIIIIIIRRRRRRRRRREEEEEEEDDDDDDDDDD
I highly suggest if you want to run a marathon... sign up for the lottery to Chicago or maybe your fast enough to time qualify.... the race will NOT disappoint! it's AMAZING! I feel so blessed to of had this opportunity.
Sweet Shannon texted me and Penny last night telling us she enjoyed the race and spending time with us. She also told me that I was 197 in my age group. I laughed. To me that's not very good ... ha.... but she reminded me that is within the top 200 of my age group in a MAJOR marathon that had 26,000 people. 😀 Guess it's good to be older.. ha I owe my Lord and Savior all the glory! 🙏🙏😍😍 and a HUGE thanks to my friend PENNY! Love you! 💗💗 Can't wait until our next adventure!
HAPPY RUNNING PEEPS!
D
