Chicago Marathon Part 1 (pre-race)

I arrived in Chicago bright and early Friday morning, not by choice, but because the flights that left St. Louis at more reasonable times were all full by the time I booked my ticket. I immediately headed to the Hilton to drop off my stuff and hook up with Lee and Isis of @Running Couple.  We hung out for a bit and then headed to Jamba Juice to meet @TinyJenna and Tall Boy.  We all grabbed a yummy smoothie and then we were off to the expo.

We breezed through the registration line of the expo and got our packets in record time. Then we grabbed out shirts and started walking around the expo.  Eventually Lee and Isis headed to the Athlete’s Honey Milk booth to help out while Jenna, Tall Boy and I kept exploring the various booths.  I think this is the first time in my 30 years on this planet that I’ve walked around a huge room full of stuff available to buy without spending a dollar. I’ve got to be honest here, I was pretty disappointed in the expo and if I wasn’t enjoying hanging out with Jenna I would have scooted out of there pretty quickly. Seems like I’m in the minority thought, most of my friends thought it was a good expo. Wonder if this means I’m finally to the point of being over expos???

Friday evening we headed to the Pre-CM10 tweetup. There we met a ton of awesome twitter peeps…some that I’d been chatting with for over a year and some that were new to me.  After dinner, a few drinks and lots of laughs I was ready to call it a night.

I had originally planned to head back to the expo on Saturday, but after being less than impressed with it, I changed my mind and skipped that.  Instead I had a nice relaxing morning drinking coffee while laying in bed. Eventually I wondered down to the hotel lobby to meet up with @RunnrGrl, @BeMadThen (and her dad, Ben), @RunnerGrrl96 and her hubby Jason.  To say that we laughed our asses off would be an understatement.  I was borderline concerned that we were going to get ourselves kick out of the hotel! It was seriously the best coffee date ever. 

As our coffee date was winding down, Lee & Isis were on their way back from the expo. Mel, Jason, Isis, Lee and I left the hotel to find some lunch. I can’t remember the name of the place we ended up at, but it was just ok. The company was much better than the food J After lunch we split up and headed back to our respective hotels for some relaxation.

Instead of naps, we ended up having a mini-party in our room. RunnrGrl and Lisa ended up joining us. We all cuddled, laughed, cuddled some more, and then laughed a whole lot more. I’ve never had so much fun laying around in my jammies with 2 other ladies in my bed and a married couple in the bed next to me, haha!

Lee, Isis, and I went out for a nice early dinner Saturday night. I had a nice Caprice salad and a very light linguine in a red sauce – my idea of a perfect pre-race meal.  We got back to the hotel and got everything ready for race day. We all laid our clothes and called it an early night.

I was able to fall asleep very easily, but woke up about midnight and spent the rest of the night tossing and turning. I finally drifted back to sleep and then the 5am alarm went off. Normally a 5am wake up call the morning of a race means chaos will ensue, not this time. Since the Hilton was right at the start/finish lines we didn’t need to leave our room until 7. Lee, Isis and I all took our time eating breakfast, drinking coffee, showering, and getting ready. I don’t think I’ve ever been so relaxed the morning of a big race!

Next up....the Race