We were SO lucky. The weather was beautiful, Lisa and I had a good plan for the run, and the race was incredibly well organized. All we had to do was show up and RUN.

We agreed to run about a 12 min mile and walk through the aid stations, and adjust our plan on the second half of the run if we needed to. My nutrition plan was pretty simple - take Gatorade and water at every station, eat the chews at Mile 14, and that's it.

This is exactly what we did. The first 15 miles were almost easy with this plan. Great weather, lots of spectators, DJs, entertainment keeping us going. Monica ran a chunk of this with us and having these girls to run with REALLY helped make the race day go by. Saw my husband 2 or 3 times on the sidelines. We made only one bathroom break around Mile 7. Around 18, we started to slow down a bunch, and the fans started to disappear. I knew I could finish at this point, but it wasn't feeling that great. As we came back into the South Loop, the fans became NONSTOP. Once we got to 22 miles, it was EASY. I stopped taking gatorade, just water at this point because the sweetness was starting to upset my stomach. We got our groove back, made a friend running for Lisa's charity, and chatted and worked together all the way through "mount Roosevelt." The finishing chute is only 200m, so I said goodbye to Lisa and strided it in...it felt SO GREAT!

Our strategy worked, beautifully, and I had a great time doing it. I am really surprised how well this went, how great we did, and how I felt quite good after. A perfect first (and only) marathon, truly!

Secretly - I would run one again if I didn't have to train for it...but the training is just not worth it for me. The race itself...awesome.

Better training, maybe, but given my training it was a perfectly executed race. I should have bought new shoes in the last few weeks of training - my feet hurt from the first step of the run on.

About a half-mile of secured finisher only area - just kept on moving, grabbed water, snacks, beer, took a finishers picture, and went out to Butler Field to find mr. meh.

Walked to walgreens to buy some flip flops, my feet were feeling FAT, then back to the hotel for a shower and a nap. Had a deep dish pizza to help the recovery along.


I am a slow runner! It's OK!!!


This is the Chicago Marathon. These guys know what they are doing. I have nothing to say here, even with new security measures in place it was FLAWLESS.