Chicago Marathon: Race Weekend (Part 1)

I don't even know where to begin! This is so long, but I don't want to forget a thing...feel free to skip if you wanna...official race report will be tomorrow.

Let's go back to Friday. For the record, I managed to get everything on my list accomplished with the glaring exception of cleaning my house. I got it CLEAN, but clutter still ran rampant. Ugh. I left John a couple of things to do, and was out the door by 7:30 on my way to the Expo.

I got into the city by 9:00 and stopped at a friend's. She was graciously letting me use her parking space (she lives just a couple blocks from the start/finish area and a mile from the Expo). I picked up the garage door opener she left for me with the person at the door, found her space, and headed out into the beautiful morning to walk to the Expo.

I made it there with no issues at all - already, there were runners everywhere so I just followed along. I got my bib, verified my D-tag, and headed inside. I was a bit unprepared for how BIG this Expo was! I wish I had way more time to spend, but I was on a tight schedule. I headed to the Running Skirts booth to find Courtney - she had brought the Zensah calf sleeves I won, and I bought my race day skirt. I was a bit nervous about running in something new on race day, but I was hoping it'd be ok, since I had the same one in a different color. I did try it on, just to make sure it was ok.

I wandered a bit more, got my bag of goodies with my race shirt, and headed back to the car. All told, I only spent about an hour at the Expo. I made it home in an hour (yay!) to find that John hadn't finished what I asked him to (in 5 hours! with all the big kids to help!) and I got slightly upset. Grr. I was PMS, pre-big-event bitchy, and I kind of let him have it. Then I felt badly, and it was done. All things considered, I was rather impressed at the end of everything that this was our only fight of the weekend, and it was super minor. This just elevates his Superhero status in my eyes - my husband rules. How he puts up with me, I'll never know.

SO. We got the house in order and headed to Milwaukee to the airport. Of course, we were running behind. By the time we made it through a train, traffic, and road construction, we skipped the airport and just met everyone at Applebee's for an early dinner. After lots of hugs and love (it's been nearly 2 years since I'd seen my sis and nieces and more than 3 since ALL 12 of us - sister's family, my family and my parents - have been together) we sat down for some food and chaos. We gave my niece Jordyn her birthday present (sapphire earrings which she loved) and ate up.

We split up for the night - Jordyn came home with us, and everyone else went to my Mom's. Everyone was tired from travel, and we needed a quiet night as Saturday was going to be a big busy day. The kids all ran around and played like crazy, and I tried to get everything organized for Saturday. I stole Jack (he was getting a bit left out of the girls fun) and we hit up Hobby Lobby to try to figure out how to put my name on my race shirt. I made it out of there with a roll of pink duct tape (you all saw the photo below) and an "emergency kit" for the party (5 small sticker/activity books). After getting the kids to bed, I was done. I was in bed before 10 and slept LIKE A LOG until 7 the next morning.

Saturday morning we got rolling right on schedule. We needed to get everyone bathed and fed and dressed for pictures and a PARTY! It was a STUNNING day for photos, and although I haven't seen the full stash, my Dad sent me a couple sneak peeks.




I can't wait to see the rest! I'm sure I'll be sharing more of these in the future.

Once we got done with "posed" pics, the kids ran around at the park. We tried, rather unsuccessfully I might add, to keep the little ones from getting TOO dirty before the party, but in all honesty, I didn't care so much. They had a great time playing in the leaves, and were hide-and-seeking in all the trees. After letting them have a quick run at the playground equipment too, we headed to my parents' 40th wedding anniversary celebration.

The party was held at a gorgeous lakeside resort in WI. They actually opened up early for us, so for the first hour, we had the entire place to ourselves. We started in the bar area - there ended up being about 15 other family and friends of my parents (some of whom I hadn't seen in so long!) in attendance, and we had a really nice time catching up. James was super tired, and almost fell asleep on the rug in the middle of the floor - I had to stand over him so no one would step on him, hehe. I fielded a ton of questions about my upcoming marathon, and was wished good luck over and over.

We moved to another room for dinner, and the kids had all about had it. I sent John running for the "emergency kit" which ended up being the best 5 bucks I ever spent. They were all quiet and content, even James, and I relaxed visibly. James ended up covering himself entirely with stickers, and after some crackers and a glass of milk, was delightful for the rest of the evening. The menu was fantastic, and I ended up having wild mushroom ravioli with a creamy pesto sauce and grilled chicken. It was delicious! I drank a ton of water (gotta pre-hydrate!).

After dinner, we all headed back to my parents' house for champagne and dessert. It was a lovely end to the day, with more visiting, pre-race planning, and a couple emotional toasts (I did have a small glass of bubbly to commemorate the occasion). The kids behaved beautifully, dessert was yummy (mmm, pecan pie, red velvet cake, chocolate chip cookies...) but it wasn't long before I was feeling TIRED. Even so, it was 8:45 before we left and 10:15 when we got home.

After some drama getting the kids to bed ("I'm not tired, Auntie Bobbi." Um, I don't really care, Jord.) and the confiscating of 3 Nintendo DS's, I sat down to decompress instead of getting my shit together for the next morning. I needed it, and I knew I'd have time in before I had to leave on Sunday.

So instead of heading straight to bed, I sat in front of the computer. I sat there until I saw Laura from Frayed Laces cross the finish line live in Kona. What an inspiration she is! She had a triumphant smile on her face - her mantra stayed with me so much on Sunday: "There will be a day when you can no longer do this...Today is NOT that day!"

It was after 11:30 by the time I made it to bed. I knew I wouldn't sleep - I hoped that my great sleep Friday night would be enough. I tossed and turned until my alarm went off at 4:10.

This is epic. Sorry! Race Report to come, tomorrow I promise...