Before I even get to the fun and excitement of race day, I wanted to dive into the fun and excitement in the days leading up to the Chicago Marathon. Obviously, this wasn’t my first time in Chicago, but there was definitely a lot more specialness going on this time around.
The Friday before the marathon, it was going to be nothing but the expo, and the Team DetermiNation dinner for the American Cancer Society. That’s it. That was my agenda. And that was enough.
After a 4 mile run, breakfast, and Peet’s coffee, I made it out to the expo around Noon where I proceeded to pick up my bib first. This was the coolest part. With most races I’ve done, especially marathons, all I needed to do was bring my confirmation and show my ID. One stop shopping. But at Chicago, it was different.
First, I went to a kiosk where my packet pick-up ticket was scanned from my phone. I confirmed all my info was correct. I then proceeded to another location where someone called out my name and handed me my actual packet. This was cool! I loved how smooth that process went.
Next, I started my long trek towards the very end of this convention hall so I could pick up my goodie bag and shirt. Off the bat it took forever to even get there because right when you walk in the room, you’re engulfed inside the Nike area where throngs of people are shopping their socks off!
I get why maybe the race does this. They want people to be enticed to stay awhile and shop – not just pick up their bib, shirt and goodie bag and leave.
It’s actually been 18 months since I’ve been to a marathon expo because I’ve pretty much have only done trail races where it’s pick up your bib and go run. And this was so crazy busy! To top it off, we saw a helicopter outside and found out President Obama had just landed and was going to be in town for the weekend. I overheard a woman tell someone, “if you open that door and pop your head out you’ll probably see him.” I had a feeling Secret Service would probably prevent that. Now, I don’t know if Obama was indeed right outside the doors but it was pretty cool to know he was in a very close vicinity.
After I got my bag and shirt I stood there with my mom and sis getting my stuff organized. It was then, I heard “I know you!” As I turned around, I recognized a familiar face from Twitter – Kat!! I honestly couldn’t wait to meet Kat and more importantly give her a big ol’hug! I know there was a whole expo going on, but I wanted to stay there and chat with her. I felt like time flew by so quickly and before I knew it, we parted. She was just how I imagined — so sweet and so lovely!
The expo was massive and I wanted to take it all in. I tried to remember my first Chicago Marathon expo, but I couldn’t remember it being this huge. Maybe it was.
We walked around and stopped by practically every booth. The one place I knew I had to stop by first was the American Cancer Society booth where I picked up my “I’m running for…” back bibs and “In Honor Of…” ribbons. These were the items I wanted to pin to my race singlet, which I didn’t know I was going to wear just yet. I’ll get to that later.
Zigzagging through the aisles there was absolutely so much to see and do. I stopped by the Runner’s World booth and was able to catch Bart Yasso before he took off.
I even came up on the Little Rock Marathon where I discussed ultras with the race director and got an invite to run the marathon in March! To be honest, this race has been on my list for a while because they always have some great themes. But I haven’t committed to any races for 2017 yet because I’m just trying to survive the remaining race of 2016 in a few weeks.
There were a few other people I knew were running Chicago but I didn’t get to see them. One friend I was so happy to see was Saeed! If you read my recap of the Bulldog 50K, I ran with Saeed and got to see him when I finished the race. I love seeing familiar faces at destination races!
After nearly 5 hours at the expo, my dogs were barking, and it was time to bid adieu to the expo and head over to the Team DetermiNation dinner.
The team dinner was something I really wanted to be a part of since this was the very first time I ran as part of a charity team, and the emotion of the night was not lost on anyone.
I even got to meet my teammate Ellen, who is a local Chicagoan and first time runner with Team DetermiNation as well. Towards the end of the night we were discussing what to wear on race day. We had two options basically – the short sleeved shirt, or the singlet. I was actually leaning towards the short-sleeved shirt, and I was leaning towards it up until she asked me about it. All within a matter of a minute we both decided we would wear the singlet! And all I can say is, it was a great decision!
But more on the race itself in my next post.
We closed out the dinner listening to a motivational speech by coach Ramon Bermo who was absolutely hilarious! I don’t think I’ve ever laughed so much during any running motivational speech before! He truly was the best way to cap off the night!
Walking down Michgian Avenue on Friday night, the Two Prudential Plaza was lit up with Chicago Marathon colors. Of course, I guess it could also signify the Cubs as well, since they were playing, and winning, that night in the National League Division Series against the SF Giants, but I’m gonna go with the marathon colors.
Yeah. It definitely was a great time to be in Chicago.
Thank you for reading!
Next post: the recap!