Chicao, Part Duex

I woke up at 4:45 am on Sunday, about 30 minutes before my alarm. #Fail I got up and starting drinking my #prelongrun six ounces of strong coffee. I finished all the #prerace essential tasks and Boyfriend and I were off to the races... #literally. After security--oh so much security--and another bathroom stop, I was in my corral (#CorralC) with about half an hour until the gun sounded. I remember anxious runners budging their way to the front of the corral before I stumbled upon a nice lady, willing to pass the time through conversation with me. I was so thankful for her company.

(Dear Mystery Runner Woman, 

I hope you ran your #BostonQualifier. I enjoyed meeting and chatting with you. I hope Texas isn't still basking in the summer-like temperatures. If so, send warmth. #Winterishere in Washington, D.C.

Best, S)

At promptly 7:30 am, I was off with 40,000 plus runner friends. And I ran and ran and ran those 26.2 miles (I have yet to recap) until I crossed the finish line in #GrantPark. The walk to the 27th Mile Post-Race Party felt like another couple miles. I remember how hard I had to concentrate on putting one front in front of the other for a l-o-n-g period of s-l-o-w-l-y passing time. Boyfriend eventually found me and we walked to meet my parents, who were tired from running their #spectatormarathon. We grabbed food at Epic Burger for calories. And Dairy Queen for more calories. The burger was eh. I still wasn't totally feeling food. I must have recovered quickly though because the ice cream tasted better than anything I had ever consumed.

That is, until I stepped in the doors of Girl and the Goat. (Before I was ready for dinner, I showered (#gome) and spent a few minutes with my brother and his friend at The Aberdeen Tap to end the dry period. My parents dined at Girl and the Goat on their #30thAnniversaryTrip to Chicago a few years back. They, especially Pops, have hyped up the restaurant ever since. We ate and ate and ate until dessert, when we ate some more. #WasNotLetDown The cocktails. The meal. The wine. The dessert. The coffee. The experience is all more than my meager words can describe. Add #GirlandtheGoat to your #bucketlist and, to make this dream a reality, be sure to make your reservations at least 90 days in advance. #NotJoking

I would like to say I crashed after this meal--both from exhaustion and the food coma, but I found sleeping difficult to come by. My body was writhing in pain. I "woke up" ready to be home. We made a few plans for our remaining day: North Avenue Beach, Magnificent Mile, and Portillo's. I felt as though concluding with a #Chicagohotdog complimented the trip perfectly.While I loved the views from North Avenue Beach and under normal circumstances could have shopped the Magnificent Mile all day, my body was too spent to find real pleasure in moving and viewing. #WishIWouldHaveKnown

All in all an excellent trip, I must say. #Takemeback, OK?

A Chicago Trip Hashtagged

The calendar indicates November 2014 is one-third behind us. #TimeFlies In the first third of October, I found myself (and several #importantpeople) in Chicago, Illinois. To avoid the depressing discussion about how the #marathonhigh has been replaced with a purposeless low, I'll recap Chicago. #BetterLateThanNever

After checking in and dropping our bags at the lovely, not so conveniently located South Loop Hotel, we walked to Eleven City Diner for a lunch/dinner combination meal. And from there, we were off to enjoy the #TheArtInstituteofChicago for free. #ThanksMarathonEntryFee As we moved from Impressionism to Blue Period Picasso, Boyfriend impressed me with his art history interest and knowledge per usual. I made him browse the Magritte: The Mystery of the Ordinary Life, 1926-1938 exhibition with me as it was being featured. If you have more knowledge of art than myself, you would have been prepared for the weirdness and suggested a more pleasurable exhibit. I honestly couldn't walk through fast enough.

I'll fondly remember the art institute for the warmth provided. The temperatures outsider were more chilly than I arrived prepared for. #WindyCity We braved the cold at Millennium Park, #ournextstop. The Cloud Gate (#TheBean) was real crowded--#bigsurprise; we managed a #photoshoot anyway.

 

Still full for from our linner, we grabbed popcorn at Garrett Popcorn for dessert and called it a night at the wild hour of 7:30 pm. Garret's was offering a seasonal pumpkin spice caramel crisp recipe. #PopcornHeaven The night ended rejoicing in the #CentralTimeZone; I watched the entire first half of a #TNF game with my eyes open.

On Friday I was in for the surprise of my life. #MoreOnThatLater Boyfriend and I began the day with breakfast at Yolk. We walked over to the #NavyPier and then the #ChicagoRiverwalk afterwards to kill time before our Chicago Architecture Boat Tour. The boat tour came highly recommended and did not disappoint. I could have floated on the Chicago River all day had it not been freezing and shaded by fancily architect-ed buildings. We combination bused and strolled our way to #LincolnPark for an afternoon coffee at Elaine's Coffee Call. #CoffeeHeaven And this is where the day really picked up, our next stop: #LincolnParkZoo. When we finished perusing the petting zoo #intendedforchildren, we found #mybrother wandering around the zoo. #WTF He came to Chicago for the #bigrace via bus from Atlanta, Georgia. After the shock wore off, I was able to speak (and thank him profusely) again. #NotOneForSurprises We continued to browse the zoo, where my brother served as an excellent tour guide, having walked the premises in search of us.

We walked towards downtown to find my parents, who were also in Chicago. #PlannedInAdvance The rest of the afternoon was spent lounging before dinner. We "treated" my parents to their first ever Uber experience. #WorstRideEver #WeSurvived In need of drinks and food, we dove right in at Nando Milano Trattoria. The Italian--perfect for the #continuationofcarbloading--meal was divine.

The night ended after dinner. I headed straight to bed for the most important night of sleep before #raceday. I woke up late on Saturday morning for my #finalrun before the #marathon. I did an easy four-mile out-and-back run over to the #ChicagoLakefrontTrail, right past #SoldierField. #CityRun With the conclusion of run and shower, Boyfriend and I made our way to the #MarathonExpo, where I proceeded to race through as fast as I could to avoid a further settling in of nerves. The expo was exhilarating and overwhelming and loud but organized and therefore efficient. The mandatory pictures were taken... and we moved on to Little Goat Diner for bagels and later relaxed in a random park in the #WestSide before meeting #friendsandfamily at Haymarket Pub & Brewery for drinks.

We left the group for an early dinner at Giordano's. #DeepDish And that was the day before The Day.

I tried not to drag this Chicago recap out too much and #failedmiserably. I’ll be squeezing the final two days into one post later on this evening. #AtLeastThereArePictures

A Tough End to an A+ Weekend

Because my recent excursion to Chicago was based all around the marathon, it was very different from my usual go, go, go vacation. I'll need time before I can regurgitate the play-by-play, as it just wasn't what I'm used to. An ideal getaway involves eating and walking my way through a city, and while I got to do a fair bit of that, I relied a lot more on public transportation than I'm used to (i.e., to keep the legs fresh) and thought much more about what I ate than I do in even my daily life. I also opted not to do a ton of research before heading to out to avoid setting my self up for disappointment. Though I've been to Chicago, I know I missed much on this trip. You can rest those worries though, I was again able to eat plenty and enjoy much (in a not so efficient manner); the trip was organized day-by-day. But lest I sound depressed, this trip--for the marathon--was incredible; I had a stellar race with so much support to thank for being both there and there in spirit.

I intend to share my lessons learned from my first marathon in an upcoming post, for those interested. For me, the biggest "regret" is not running my first marathon locally. Washington, D.C. actually hosts one of the larger marathons and it would have been super nice to not have had the stress of travel added to the all-consuming marathon. But Chicago was so, so, so good to me with its perfect temperature, pancake flat course, and crowd support, I can hardly regret the outcome.

As someone who likes to travel, but also likes to forecast (i.e., control) my future, the return trip was one reason running the Marine Corps Marathon would have been more convenient. I built in plenty of time for things to go wrong heading to Chicago by choosing to arrive on Thursday, however, I thought nothing about what it might be like for things to go awry on the return trip when I was exhausted and sore.

At 1:30 pm CT on Columbus Day, I learned my 4:10 pm flight was cancelled. This was a curse I placed on myself after waking up to a gloomy Chicago and immediately wanting to teleport home. I had not slept more than two hours the night before thanks to the writhing pain throughout my body. Marathoners, is this par for the course? After arriving at O'Hare International Airport shortly after 2:00 pm, Boyfriend found Customer Service to discuss our situation. We'd been rebooked on a 9:08 am flight out on Tuesday, a WHOLE DAY LATER. I absolutely could not miss work on Tuesday, a rarity. I had already bailed on an important meeting Friday and felt terrible about the thought of missing another one. We'd had our fun. That's where my head was at. And oh yeah, I was exhausted and sore.

We were given standby tickets for a 3:10 pm flight. There was hope. After rushing through some fancy security line (e.g., no shoe removal, no liquid removal--I complain not), we found gate B11, where we saw we were two of many looking to standby. The flight left without us, obviously. Then we played this game of bouncing from Terminal B to C for flights to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport or Washington Dulles International Airport every hour following. And since my left knee disintegrated entirely throughout the course of 26.2 miles, this was super fun. At 6:30 pm we were on a delayed flight to Dulles, which is not nearly as convenient as Reagan, but more so than Baltimore Washington International Airport. With economy seat assignments, we boarded.

That's me on the "Cleared Standby" list on the top left, wahoo!

Then we sat on the runway. And sat and sat. And I'm being real dramatic because I had to go to the bathroom and in order to do that we had to be in the air at some 10,000 feet with the seat belt sign off. There were no announcements made as to why were were sitting, waiting, wishing. I was also exhausted (i.e., impatient) and sore. I don't think I've mentioned that. At 7:48 pm, we were suddenly taking off... on a rough flight. I don't think I would have noticed had I not stood almost the entire duration of the flight. I got up to relieve my bladder as soon as I was able. And I guess the crew started serving beverages simultaneously. My seat, being far up in the cabin, was blocked while all 38 rows were served. I did kindly asked to squeeze through to no avail.

In a normal situation, it's best to move while flying. Perhaps this is not the case the day following a marathon, then walking one inside the airport? My legs swelled so much they got stuck in my normally comfortably fitting boots. I was sitting on the floor of the plane trying to pull them off to relieve the pressure and I could not budge them. This was a terrifying scene, if you're curious.

Though our captain flew us home quickly, we landed at 10:14 pm ET having picked up an hour. And we were on our running way to the 10:35 bus shortly after. But if you've never flown to Dulles, it's likely you've never experienced the worst "people mover" ever. This contraption is from the dark ages and progresses slower than Grandma. I was prancing around as if I had superpowers to will the mover faster because, as mentioned, we had a bus to catch.

We caught the bus, thankfully. And then caught an Uber because Metro was being it's usual inconvenient, holiday self. I was in bed around 11:30 pm, which should be considered a win... when I reflect on how much worse it could have been.

Thank You So, So Much

By this time, due to the shared efforts of social media, my fan base, and myself--who understandably proud, did some of my own bragging--the world knows that I completed the Chicago Marathon on Sunday. This accomplishment would not have been possible without the support of so, so many.

Thank you to my parents for traveling to Chicago, Illinois to cheer me on at four separate miles--2, 13, 17, and 26--along the course, completing their own marathon of sorts. An additional thanks to them for all the meals they provided to fuel me before and after the race. Thank you to C.D.H. for riding a bus from Atlanta, Georgia to surprise me! I'm not one for surprises, but this one--oh man, it meant a lot. Further thanks to him for breaking down the marathon with me on at least three different occasions. And lest I forget my youngest brother, the fastest H as far as 5Ks are concerned; he sent me a wonderfully encouraging text the night before the longest race of my life. For him, I'm thankful.

To H.M.M. for being at mile 7, when her out of town family was in town, and screaming for the nine seconds I spent running past. Thanks for providing the burst I needed. To Boyfriend's parents for using the Runner Tracker feature to track me during the race--for caring because I cared. To J.L.W. for always thinking I can, for knowing I could, and for responding to my texts of agony with understanding. To R.D.S. for sending a timely card right before the race. And repeatedly asking about training throughout the course of the year. To A.J.S. and S.D.G. for dealing with an exhausted, moody friend and accepting "Sober S.M.H." into their lives. To K.A.B. for listening with intent as I spewed running jargon over multiple weekend stays. To K.S.D. for pulling me out of the apartment for timely calorie-dense meals when the stress of training turned me hermit-esque. To S.K.H. for the Instagram well wishes and for playing the role of "cousin" so well. To Sweet Neighbor for sending me a bazillion emojis to lighten the intensity of the experience. To K.F.A. for letting me know I was in the "speedster" coral, which was actually more terrifying than helpful. Thanks, K.F.A., thanks a whole bunch.

Before Boyfriend, a final thank you to M.E.K. for encouraging me to enter the Chicago Marathon Lottery and, after winning said lottery, later assuring me I could run 26.2 miles regardless of how impossible that sounded way back (in January) when I was barely running at all--during the marathon winter.

And last but not least, Boyfriend, thanks for doing all of the above on repeat. Since March. It should be noted, Boyfriend has zero interest for running, participating in sports (outside of downhill skiing, ugh), or the thrill of a good sweat. Yet he managed to manage me during several long months of marathon training, which rest assured was no easy feat.

Thank you all--and so, so many more--for caring so, so much about my race. There is no way I would have made it to the finish line without all of you; this much is true.

I'll continue to speak miles and paces and training until Boston because I QUALIFIED. Y'all will be around in April 2016, right?

Chicago Marathon, Goals

I am ready, ready, ready, ready, ready to run (Dixie Chicks, anyone? Running playlist, anyone?) the Chicago Marathon because I am so ready, ready, ready, ready, ready to stop over-thinking marathoning. The miles. The fuel. The distance. The sleep. The pace. The million things that could go wrong. The million things that can't possibly go wrong. I am o-v-e-r this. This final week of easy runs and monitoring every jag (or worse, cough) has turned me into a crazy person (i.e., crazier than I was previously). I'm crumbling under the self-induced pressure. On Sunday, I must rise... I have enjoyed training, much more so than I previously imagined possible. Let the marathon be a celebration of all the miles run to train for The Race.

That said, I have some goals.

Goal A: 3:32:XX – This time will ensure I qualify for the Boston Marathon, I think. Though I technically only need a 3:35:00 finish time to meet the women's Qualifying Standard for the 18-34 age group, fewer and fewer runners are "squeaking in" to Boston as the field increases in competitiveness. For example, the 2015 field is set, and those women in my age group who did not run at least 3:33:12 were left out of the mix. For the numbers geeks out there, this article answers the questions posed by those trying to qualify for Boston 2016. So with that, I present this Goal A finish time, in hopes of "guaranteeing" my entrance to the iconic Boston Marathon. With the hours of training and miles logged, this is a feasible A+ day.

I'm also have my competitive spirit on my side, which rarely gives up on me. I'm physically ready for Goal A, mentally... well, there are still 20 hours to go.

Goal B: 3:40:00 – This is the pace the majority of my long runs have averaged. All along I have said if I miss qualifying for Boston, I'm likely only to miss it by a couple of minutes (or even seconds, in the case presented above). I know I can run this pace and absorb the atmosphere. This pace will allow for lots of fun while crossing 'finish a marathon' off my Bucket List.

Goal C: Finish. Though I've set my sights higher and I'm thinking positive, positive, positive, tortoise or hare, I'm going to be proud of finishing.

At 7:30 am on Sunday, October 12, the gun will sound in Chicago and I will run. I've always appreciated running for the simplicity in lacing up and taking off.