Running Chicago

Last night, Aviva and I returned from our whirlwind trip to Chicago. Although we didn't have time to really explore the city, I liked what I saw in our short visit. I'd like to return again sometime soon so I can visit some of it's cultural sites, like the Art Institute of Chicago or the Chicago Museum of Contemporary Art. This time around, the marathon took priority and I had little time or energy for other activities. Because our flight left out of Buffalo on Saturday morning at 7:30am, we had to leave Rochester at 4:45am. Not fun. Needless to say, by the time we arrived in Chicago, we were exhausted.

Approaching the Expo Entrance

Despite our fatigue, there was little time to catch our breathe. Once we arrived at the hotel, we had about 20 minutes to get settled in before going on a mile-walk to catch our shuttle bus to the Expo.

This is where sponsors give out free samples and sell various running paraphenalia. We loaded up on free samples and tried to avoid the temptation to buy lots of expensive Chicago Marathon souvenirs. Can you believe they want you to pay $125 for a track jacket? And pay people did! I settled with my free samples of Silk, organic crackers from Whole Foods, and Powerbars. I was sorry to hear I missed out on wine samples, but several members of our team, including Coach David, ponied up to the sample bar. Perhaps that's why they were a bit late returning to the hotel for the pasta party.

Aviva couldn't resist taking a picture of the world's biggest New Balance running shoe. It was even be too big for my huge feet

Me, Molly (one of my running teammates) and her husband, David.

We also picked up our bibs and collected our runners' goodie bags, which included a t-shirt, a bunch of Tylenol 8-hour (that might come in handy), and brochures for future marathons. They were obviously hopeful we'd all finish the marathon feeling good enough to consider subjecting our bodies to another go at 26.2 miles.

After the expo, we went to our pasta dinner and loaded up on carbs. John the "Penguin" Bingham emceed the event and gave first-timers like me some tips for surviving the marathon. He provided all kinds of practical advice, including the suggestion that we get in the port-a-pottie line immediately after arriving at the start line and get back in line at least three times before the marathon starts. He also warned us not to bore our friends to death with the post-marathon details as they'll only want to hear the answer two questions: How long was the marathon? And did you win? He didn't specify whether writing lengthy, rambling blogs about the experience would alienate your friends. I guess we shall see! After the pasta party, our group had a brief meeting.

This allowed us to ask last-minute questions. Our encouraging spectators also picked up signs and prepared their spectating strategy. How to find us in a crowd of 40,000 runners was not going to be easy.

Ellen puts on her most reassuring face: You're all going to be fine. Trust me! After the meeting, Aviva and went back to our room and went to bed super-early. In fact, I turned out the lights by 8pm in the hopes of getting a good night's rest. I was determined to compensate for the ridiculously early start we'd had to get the day before in order to catch our early flight in Buffalo.

At 5:45 the nest morning, we met my running group in the hotel lobby to discuss last-minute strategy, eat bagels and hydrate, and receive a pep-talk from our coaches. As you can tell from the picture, I was eager to get started. We also took the time to do some stretching. Even though he was in San Francisco with the other half of our team, I couldn't help but hear Coach Dave's voice: "Stretch and talk people, stretch and talk."

He used to say that to us on Saturday mornings as we'd gab away, trying to catch up on each others' weeks before we started our training run. Dave would be proud to see we took his advice--or at least Paul did. You can see him sort-of stretching there in the front, while the rest of us talk away. I'm sure that'll be a familiar site to Dave. I promise we did stretch after the picture was taken!

The start was extremely crowed, with almost 37,000 runners participating. We were in the open start area, where everyone was wearing a bunch of extra layers in order to ward off the very cold and windy temperatures. In fact, only minutes before the gun went off, people started throwing their clothes into the air and the streets were soon littered with sweaters, jackets and long-sleeve t-shirts. You actually had to jump over piles of clothing for the first 1/2 mile. Apparently, the marathon organizers collect the clothes and donate it to shelters. Nice to know they won't go to waste! I ran the first five miles of the course with Coach David and he helped keep me from going out too fast, by monitoring my pace. He wisely warned me that it's easy to let the thrill of the event carry you away, though the crowded course also prevented me from being too speedy during that first portion of the course. Once I got to about mile 22 and saw many runners hit the proverbial wall, I was glad I'd listened to David and kept to a reasonable pace in those first few miles. Without the reality check, I might have pushed myself too hard and ended up hobbling to the finish line!

More than 1.5 million spectators lined the route and they certainly helped keep us runners moving. I know I appreciated the dozens of complete strangers who cheered out "go April!" or "you can do it April" as I moved through the course. I actually felt pretty strong throughout the course, though my thigh muscles started to feel a bit tired and stiff by mile 21. Even so, by the time I rounded the final corner and saw the 800 meter mark, I was pumped and broke out into a sprint. I finished the marathon in 4 hours, 4 minutes and 55 seconds.

That put me in 12,737th place overall and 3,559th place for my gender! Unfortunately, they don't give out any prizes for that placing. A long way from breaking any records but not bad for my first marathon! In fact, I'm already thinking about where my next marathon challenge will take place.

That evening, we went to our post-marathon celebration. Although we didn't stay very long, it was nice to celebrate the completion of the race with our team. Unlike some of my teammates who had enough energy to go out on the town afterwards, Aviva and I decided to go back to the hotel and use the pool. I decided I wanted to conserve some energy for exploring the city the next day.

Everyone warned me that I'd dread walking, particularly up and down stairs, for at least a few days after the marathon. Although I was a bit stiff the next day, I managed to spend several hours walking around Chicago on Monday afternoon. Aviva and I spent the day browsing in the shops along Chicago's Magnificent Mile. It was easy to spot the other marathon-tourists: just look for the stiff-legged, limping folks, of which there were many. While I didn't buy much (a marathon hat and shirt and a cheap dress from H&M) it was nice to see a bit of the city and to check out the famous shopping district.