Chicago Marathon Cheering

 Sometimes plans change, they evolve, they improve.  
I'd been planning to run the Chicago marathon for the past ten months, but I didn't.  Sometimes plans change.

I didn't spend the weekend in Chicago preparing to run 26.2 miles like I'd planned.  However, I knew that I still wanted to make the trip to support my friends and spend time with my family.  Best decision ever!

 
Chicago is an amazing city and I loved walking around as a shameless tourist with a camera taking pictures of my cute boys at every corner.  

We spent all morning at Millennium Park taking in all of the sites and enjoying our first day of real fall weather.

 

We decided to take in the marathon expo and meet up with our friends from Tulsa for the afternoon.  The expo was absolutely insane and filled with all sorts of c.r.a.z.y runner people.  I know that I wasted a good hour walking around and people watching with Lauren.  Very fun!

After the expo, we decided to find a good Chicago pub so that we could sit and talk in good company.
Chance also figured out the camera and learned to chhhheeeeeesseeeee ;)

I loved spending time talking with Lauren, Lynda, and Carisa.  I've trained for a marathon with each of these ladies and they probably know more about me than I'd really like them to.  What can I say, you kind of lose your filter and say whatever comes to mind when you run double digits at 6am.  This was the only part of the weekend that I was truly sad that I wasn't running in the morning with them.  

We spent the entire afternoon catching up and sharing old memories before we made a game plan for race day morning and decided on meeting spots for the marathon.
We ended the night on the mile at a great restaurant called Bar Toma. Delicious!

After dinner it was off to bed.  I could tell that Lauren was anxious and I really wanted to get everything settled and quiet so that Lauren could get a great night of sleep before the race.
That did not happen! I have to write these down so that we can remember them and laugh about them later.
1. Max and Bret had too much giggle juice at the pub and at dinner.  Lauren and I were very sober...
2. My cell phone went bananas at midnight with questions about how and when to care for Marti.
3. Chance decided that he would go to bed easily only to wake up screaming for no apparent reason at 2am.

Lucky for us...Lauren has already accepted us as family and she did not go crazy or even give us the stink eye for making her night before the marathon less than dreamy.

I had to repay her friendship, kindness, and tolerance by waking up at 530am with her to prepare for the marathon.
We had an amazing morning complete with girl talk, stretching, coffee, and making our way through the crowded city streets to the start line.
The start of the Chicago marathon was nothing but controlled chaos.  There were 45,000 runners and the start corrals were very strict about lining up according to your posted marathon times.  I had to bend the rules a little but I managed to get in the start corral with Lauren and I was able to run the first two miles of the race with her.  It was an amazing experience!

I split off at mile two because I had planned to meet Lauren for the last six of the race.  I met up with the boys and we took the "choo choo" (Chance's favorite part of Chicago) all over town to meet up with Lauren at different check points.  

It was a great way to explore the city and we all had a great time soaking in all of the positive energy.  

Lauren beat her time by over 25 minutes and I missed her at our meeting spot which means that I never ended up running the last six.  Oops! 

We decided to rush to mile 26 by train instead of foot and cheer on the finishers.  Chance loved giving all of the runner's high fives.


We met up at mile 27 with the crew and congratulated everyone on a great race.  We are so lucky to have such amazing healthy wonderful ladies in our lives.  I am so proud of all of you!

What a great race in a great city.
I have a strange feeling that we might be back.