Chicago Marathon Weekend: Saturday

Saturday was so hot! I (kind of) slept in, ate a huge breakfast at the hotel buffet (still fat-loading), and went for an easy 1-miler at 9:00 just to shake my leg-antsyness off. I'm glad that I did, because it ended up being a LOT hotter than I thought it was, so it kind of mentally prepared me for what I thought I would face on Sunday. Unfortunately, since we waited so long to book our hotel we were all the way out in Rosemont (by the O'Hare airport). So every time we wanted to go into Chicago it was an hour on the blueline. It wasn't THAT bad, but it did eat up a lot of our day.

We went to the expo, which was a lot of fun. They of course had every kind of energy bar known to man that they were handing out. I didn't actually eat anything there because I was being really good about not eating anything I didn't know about. I did however, try the Gatorade Endurance formula that they were going to have on the course, just to see if I would like it. YUCK! GROSS! No Gatorade on the course for me, just water.

When you got into the expo they had a huge video drive through of the course which was really cool. I was getting very excited.

I also found two new companies whose sportswear I loved! One was One More Mile . They had a bunch of funny shirts that said things like "Will Run for Beer", and "This IS my Race Pace", and "Chicago. Been there. Run That." Running Divas also had a lot of cute stuff including "marathongs" which I just thought was funny.

After the Expo, we already had to head out for our early dinner with Team CdLS at Lou Malnati's .

It was so fun to meet the team. They were all very very nice. Beth, the team captain, gave me a big hug when I got there. We had a very nice dinner and everyone introduced themselves. Even though we were a very small charity team (I think there ended up being 21 of us?) we were very very close to our $50,000 goal, and they think that more donations will be coming in. It was also nice to be on a team where everyone was really really passionate about the cause. If I end up doing Chicago next year I would definitely consider running for Team CdLS again!

After dinner I was exhausted. We headed back to Rosemont (with a little pit stop in the middle...come on, I drank like EIGHT glasses of water at dinner). Then I had a ton of pent up energy. My parents came back to our room to make signs and I was running around like a little kid showing them everything I got at the expo. I was SO PUMPED UP.

I did finally get to sleep though.

Sooooooo Excited!

Hurrah! I WILL be running the Chicago Marathon! I got accepted onto Team CdLS and will be raising money for Cornelia de Lange Syndrome. I have heard from a lot of people that running for a charity actually enhances the whole marathon experience, so I am looking forward to it.

It will be a lot of work though, so I have to start thinking creatively (you would think this would be easy for a graphic designer, but not so much!)

I also have the best friends in the world. When I told my friend Anne (one of the members of Team Emily)she asked when it was and then said "we'll have to go up and cheer you on". Susie was disappointed when she found out the date because she has a wedding to go to. And Bill was like "we'll have to call your sister so she can figure out a route for us to see you" (she lives in Chicago).

I am so excited! And I can't believe training already starts on the 7th!

Oh yes, and I can't believe the Hyde Park Blast is already next weekend! I almost forgot to sign up!

NB: Could this post have more exclamation points? I am lame.

Waited Too Long

GRRRRRR!
So I think I jumped on the bandwagon way too late. I honestly feel like I JUST got back and had time to think about running for a charity for the Chicago Marathon. I think ALL of them are CLOSED OUT! I have one email in to the one charity that is remaining that doesn't have big red letters on their website saying their team is filled. But I am not holding any high hopes.

I mean, I even asked myself 'do I REALLY want to do this again?..do I really want to put my body through this more than once a year? Maybe just a 10k in the fall and then a marathon in the spring.' But the more I thought about it, the more I had to answer with a resounding YES. I really really want to do this.

And I really really want to run a BIG marathon. But I have a bunch of other things in my life to worry about right now, whereas, I don't know how easy it will be to get to some of these other cities in October or November. Chicago would have been a good option. STRESS.
Otherwise, I would not be such a brat about where the marathon would be. I guess I should seek out other options. Maybe DC. Who knows. All I know is that I can't wait forever, and apparantly charities fill their spots up super fast too. :)