Chicago Marathon

We took a Lyft from the airport to the expo. Our Lyft driver talked a lot about the Bears and the Cubs of Chicago. We saw a sign with the Bears and Lloyd commented that the Bears are orange like the Broncos are orange.

When we got to the Marathon Expo, it was crazy. People were crowding each other and there were lines for everything. I wanted to get out of there as soon as possible. I grabbed my bib, shirt, and changed my starting corral. Then, we got out. It took us a while to figure out if Chicago had a good subway system. We found the subway and figured out that we could use it unlimitedly for 3 days for only $20.

The first landmark I spotted was, "Trump Tower". There was so much fog, that you could not see the top. This was when I noticed that the humidity was affecting me. I was sweating a lot. We took the subway to our airbnb. We were so excited about the location. It had a Trader Joes across the street and multiple Walgreens and restaurants. A man came out and told us all about the good restaurants. He had a dog off leash, that was very friendly. Chicago has a huge dog culture. Everyone walks their dogs down the street and the dogs greet each other. These people treat their dogs like their kids. Our airbnb host let us into the building and he also had a sweet and friendly dog. Our room was very small and was at a garden level, which we had never experienced. Overall, we really liked the room because it had a comfortable bed, a refrigerator, and nice shower. We didn't spend much time at the room, anyway. After getting settled, we went to pizza.

Lou Malnatis was just around the corner and the pizza was so different and delicious. They put the sausage and pepperoni in between lots and lots of cheese. On top, just sits the sauce and it is filled with chunky tomatoes. I also had a chocolate chip pizza for dessert.

After dinner, we headed out to the Shakespeare theater to see, "Taming of the Shrew". We got off at the wrong stop and had to wave down a lyft to take us 2 miles, so we would not be late. The Shakespeare theater is so intricate with design and is able to transform into different shapes to suit the performance. "Taming of the Shrew" had an all female cast and a definite Chicago vibe. The added a lot of Chicago politics and sports jokes into the script. The actual story was about women's right to vote and speak up. It was very powerful. We didn't arrive home until midnight after taking a bus in the cold rain.

I had the International Chicago 5k in the morning, and it was a struggle to get up. When I arrived at the start line, I did not see a single American. It was truly an international race. It ran largely along the water and was very beautiful, but very windy. I noticed that I could run fast at sea level, but the humidity was sucking a lot of salt out of my body, which was slowing me down a little. The humidity did wonders for my skin and hair, though. I didn't need to use lotion at all! After the 5k, it was a struggle to find a place to eat breakfast. The first place we tried to eat at had a 1 ½ hour wait. During our walk, we marveled at all of the amazing architecture.

We saw Millennium park with Cloud Gate and Crown fountain. It was unlike anything we had ever seen before. We saw that every building was unique with intricate designs.

We also saw how the bridges lift up to let the boats pass through. We ended up stopping at a donut place and ordering breakfast sandwiches. They were very good and it was the first time Lloyd ever had a gluten free donut.

We headed over to our Chicago river architecture tour and we had a very informative guide. He talked about the Chicago fire that destroyed all of the buildings and how they had to rebuild the city. We learned about The Trump tower, Al Capone, Merchandise Mart, and Sears Tower. There were buildings that were shaped like an S, lopsided, triangular, and H shaped. He talked about water tanks that keep the buildings from toppling over. It was neat to see Navy Pier from the river.

After our tour, we went to pizza again at the most popular pizza spot in Chicago, Giordanos. This pizza was even better than Lou Malnatis and the owner even came over and talked to us about marathons. The service was incredible and they even had windows to watch the cooks make the pizza. After pizza, we walked to the Magnificent Mile and saw the biggest American Girl store we had ever seen. It had restaurants, candy and ice cream shops, ear piercing, and displays to play with dolls. It was part of a 6 floor shopping mall. It was neat to see, but we did not buy a thing. When we walked outside, there was a big rain and it was cold. I wanted to cry from pain from the cold wind. We rushed back to our room and took a nap. We woke to warm humid weather, again. We went to sushi down the street, which was delicious. It was the best tuna sushi that I had ever tasted!

Lloyd really liked the look of the historic water tower.

On marathon morning, we woke at 5:45am and walked to the marathon with our German roommate. He spoke very broken English and very Broken Spanish. But, he kept us laughing. He was running the NYC marathon in November. I drank pickle juice and ate pickles before the marathon to replenish the salt in my body. The marathon start was kind of a mess. I had to wait in a line to get searched, then another line for the port o potty, and then another line for the starting corral. I ended up having to ask if I could cut in line because I was in the 1st wave and was about to miss my start. When I started, there was so many spectators cheering. This never stopped for the entirety of the marathon. I had many times where I wanted to quit. My body was hurting badly from the very flat pavement. My feet and hips were affected the most. My 2 favorite parts of the marathon were Chinatown and Mexico town. They had the most energy. My favorite sign was, "Do you have gels in your pocket or are you just really happy to see me?" When I arrived at the finish line, there was hardly anybody there. I found out later that security had to get strict due to finding a man with a large amount of weapons and a pressure cooker. I felt very thankful for an excellent law enforcement. I was completely exhausted after the marathon and we went right back to our room for a nap and shower.

I finished in 3:35:56

After a nap, we woke up and went to dinner at Peri Peri, where we got to sit on rocking seats.

We then went to a Pixies concert at the Chicago Theater, with our German roommate. The theater was gorgeous and we had a lot of fun. This concluded our trip and we slept very well that night.

My favorite thing about this city is the culture and architecture. I would love to come back someday and visit more museums, restaurants, and theaters. I loved my experience of the Chicago marathon and the energy from the spectators. After running 11 marathons, my favorite marathon is still New York City marathon. On the flight back home, an older man asked me, "Did you run?" I said, "Yes, Did you come to watch?" He said, "Is that supposed to be a fat joke?" He started laughing, but I was so embarrassed.

I am already registered for my 12th marathon in Duluth, MN, Grandma's marathon in June of 2018. I am very excited because the kids are going to come with us for this one and they will run their 1st out-of-state 5k. Here is what Grandma's Marathon looks like