{"id":4976,"date":"2017-10-11T12:39:50","date_gmt":"2017-10-11T17:39:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/w0ep.us\/TM\/?p=4976"},"modified":"2017-10-11T13:42:02","modified_gmt":"2017-10-11T18:42:02","slug":"the-chicago-marathon-was-a-blast","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/w0ep.us\/TM\/?p=4976","title":{"rendered":"The Chicago Marathon Was A Blast!!!"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Well, the title pretty much sums up the Chicago Marathon!\u00a0 This runner had entirely too much fun running that 26.2 miles.\u00a0 I’m guessing you’d like to hear a little bit more about the race so I’ll tell you a few highlights from along the course and *try* not to go off chasing rabbits.<\/p>\n

Race day morning my alarm went off at 3:15am.\u00a0 I had a train to catch at 5:00am for the hour ride into the Windy City.\u00a0 I had laid out my clothes the night before so when the alarm went off, I pulled on my running clothes, put a Tailwind cap over my bed head, rubbed the mascara out from under my eyes and went out for some breakfast.<\/p>\n

My hosts, Sherry and Linda, had been wonderful!!!\u00a0 Race day morning, Sherry was puttering around in the kitchen and had two waffles with yummy Nutella on them, fresh orange slices and a huge cup of coffee all ready for me.\u00a0 There’s no doubt that I was well fueled for my train trip to Chicago and the race ahead!<\/p>\n

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I made it to the train station with 10 minutes to spare.\u00a0 After finding a comfy seat, I realized I hadn’t had a pic taken of my #IRun4Aiden!\u00a0 That needed to be remedied so I snagged a complete stranger on the train to take my pic.<\/p>\n

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I fiddled around on FB and Twitter during the train ride.\u00a0 While I was on the train, my friend, Lorelei, messaged me and offered me the use of the flush toilet in her hotel room before the race!\u00a0 Now, if you’ve ever run a BIG race before, you will recognize this for the pot of gold at the end of a rainbow offer it was and of course I accepted her very generous offer!<\/p>\n

Once off the train, I zoomed over to the Hilton, where she was staying.\u00a0 We’d never met before IRL so this was a treat for both of us to finally meet!<\/p>\n

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After everybody was set, we toddled across Michigan Ave. into Grant Park towards the corrals.\u00a0 It was a beautiful day in Chicago!!!<\/p>\n

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Gradually our corral meandered up closer and closer to the start and the next thing I knew, we were off and running!\u00a0 YAY!!!<\/p>\n

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Now, I had shared with some online friends that I could probably run well at Chicago IF I kept my mouth shut.\u00a0 I have this thing, especially at BIG races where I meet new people along the course.\u00a0 I love making new friends at races!!!\u00a0 I told my friends I needed to be reminded to shut my mouth.\u00a0 LOL!!!<\/p>\n

Before the race, the Chicago Marathon made an opportunity for your friends so send in messages that would be shown on the big boards along the course.\u00a0 After the race we’d receive an email showing all the messages that had been sent for you.\u00a0 These are my messages:<\/p>\n

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Did you notice the one that says, “Shut up and run, Melinda!”\u00a0 I saw that and laughed myself silly!!!\u00a0 I’m also going to hit up Ray for that cupcake when we run the Phoenix Marathon in February.\u00a0 *You hear that Ray?\u00a0 I’m holding you to that cupcake!!!*<\/p>\n

I ran alongside a few different people in the first half of the race.\u00a0 The most memorable one was this nice man from Mexico.\u00a0 This was his first marathon and he was soooo excited!<\/p>\n

When we met at mile 3(?) he was running strong.\u00a0 We had chatted a bit and he knew this was my 15th marathon and he decided he wanted to run with me since I kind of knew what to do and how to pace for the race.\u00a0 I had told him to be patient and save something in the tank for the end.<\/p>\n

He was having a difficult time dialing back his pace.\u00a0 He wanted to run faster.\u00a0 Around mile 11 and 12, I noticed he was taking little walking breaks and then sprinting to catch up.\u00a0 By mile 13, he’d fallen back and I didn’t see him again.\u00a0 I’m sure he finished and I wish him well!!!\u00a0 Nice, nice man!<\/p>\n

After I lost him, I ran pretty much by myself.<\/p>\n

You hear that Lori?\u00a0 Your message worked!\u00a0 After the Half, I buttoned my lip and focused on the race!!!<\/p>\n

It was a warmish race day.\u00a0 I think it hit the mid 70’s.\u00a0 The humidity was low and I was in runner heaven!\u00a0 This was the nicest running weather I’d had in ages!!!<\/p>\n

Now, this will seem kind of silly to many of you but I’ll tell you anyway.\u00a0 I’ve always loved this pic from the Chicago Marathon and when I ran it back in 2014, I was so disappointed to have missed seeing this sign.\u00a0 I saw it this year!!!\u00a0 YAY, me!\u00a0 There were so many sights I noticed along the way that I had missed in 2014 that I was having the time of my life!<\/p>\n

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One of my favorite things along the course on that warm Sunday were the fire trucks blowing water spray over the course.\u00a0 That water was sooo cold it took my breath away for a second but it felt AMAZING!!!\u00a0 I loved those trucks!!!<\/p>\n

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The other thing that was a godsend were the kiddie swimming pools filled with ice water and sponges.\u00a0 Nothing beats being handed a freezing cold, dripping sponge and squeezing it over your head. #heaven<\/p>\n

I will admit to feeling a little blue when I reached the 20 mile marker.\u00a0 I only had 10k left!\u00a0 That’s all!?!\u00a0 The race went so fast and I was having so much fun~I wasn’t ready for it to end!!!<\/p>\n

At mile 23, I heard people yelling my name and hear the “Clanga, Clanga” of a Mississippi State University cowbell!\u00a0 Woo-Hoo!!!\u00a0 #HAILSTATE<\/p>\n

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Thanks Sherry and Kristin for coming to cheer along the course!!!<\/p>\n

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Almost too soon, there was the finish line.\u00a0 I was soooo excited!!!\u00a0 I raised my arms and yelled, “YAY!!!!!”<\/p>\n

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Just a few more feet and BOOM!\u00a0 I was done!\u00a0 I had run the Chicago Marathon for the second time.\u00a0 It was a blast the first time and it was a blast again!!!<\/p>\n

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#IRun4Aiden<\/p>\n

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  Well, the title pretty much sums up the Chicago Marathon!\u00a0 This runner had entirely too much fun running that 26.2 miles.\u00a0 I’m guessing you’d like to hear a little bit more about the race so I’ll tell you a few highlights from along the course and *try* not to go off chasing rabbits. Race […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[21,6,8,3,7],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/w0ep.us\/TM\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4976"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/w0ep.us\/TM\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/w0ep.us\/TM\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/w0ep.us\/TM\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/w0ep.us\/TM\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4976"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/w0ep.us\/TM\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4976\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4993,"href":"http:\/\/w0ep.us\/TM\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4976\/revisions\/4993"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/w0ep.us\/TM\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4976"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/w0ep.us\/TM\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4976"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/w0ep.us\/TM\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4976"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}