I’ve been thinking about this recap since Sunday afternoon,
going over it all in my head. The
whole weekend was so overwhelmingly awesome emotionally and physically- it has
taken me a while to really decompress from all of it. We had a great time as a family, a lot of fun meeting new
ADPi’s and other RMHC runners and supporters, yummy food, friendly city and
perfect weather. It’s hard to know
where to begin. So I’ll just start
at the beginning.
The “Marathon Weekend” really began a few weeks ahead of
time as I began watching my nutrition extra closely and checking (obsessing
over) the extended weather forecast and gathering clothing, gear and
snacks. It was in the final week
before the race I really tried to be very careful with what I ate and tried to
be extra aware of how much water I was drinking. I think I did well.
I upped the carbs a bit (mushroom ravioli is straight from heaven),
included more raw veggies and salads and was drinking a bit more water that I
probably needed since the mileage had decreased a lot. (confession: I also ate too much candy
corn that week).
I started to get super worried about the weather. It started to call for mild temps and
rain storms. The thing is, I’m ok
with cold rain (just bundle up) or hot rain (cools you off!). But with rain and just mildly chilly
temps- I had no idea what to wear.
Luckily a few days before the race the forecast changed and it was
supposed to be perfect! (It was!)
We left for Chicago just a little before 7:30am on
Saturday. It was a nice morning
and we had breakfast in the car and Josh even took a little detour to get me my
favorite Chai Tea from a local place around here. He drove 90% of the way, which I was so thankful for. Leah played some games and colored and
talked and sang a lot. We also
listened to a lot of Josh’s Bar Exam Prep CD’s- super fun to learn about the
history of property law. We
arrived in Chicago right around lunchtime, checked into the hotel, got settled
and then took a cab to the Expo to pick up our race packets. Josh kept saying that he had never seen
so many fit people in one place!
Remember, Josh had initially planned to run with me but with everything
else he has keeping him busy AND with me training- there was just no way for us
both to train at the same time.
Someone has to watch little Leah and I am so thankful that he was so
supportive. Josh swapped out his
race shirt for a smaller size for me (yay! Now I have two!) and we explored the expo (spent too much
money). I got a lot of great gear
(Leah and I got matching tshirts!) but they were sold out of most of the
smaller sizes so I was so, so thankful that one of my ADPi sisters offered to
buy me a marathon jacket the day before to ensure I would get one in my size. She is amazing! We had lunch at the expo too. Surprisingly good food! Josh and I both had a chicken caesar
salads and I shared mine with Leah and she also had some pizza. (and Josh got her an oatmeal raisin
cookie too- that theme will continue through the weekend!)
Ok, so, the Expo.
It was loud and chaotic and crowded. Everyone kept warning me that it was so big but honestly,
for me, it wasn’t the size of the place, it was the crowds and noise. It was stressing me out. Like, a lot. Very often Josh and I couldn’t even hear each other when we
were talking and forget about hearing Leah in her stroller. Lesson learned. When possible (it wasn’t possible this
time) go to the expo as soon as it opens on the first day. I figured that but there was no way
around it this time.
After finishing up at the expo we made our way to the start
line of the race. We planned to meet with all of the other “Team ADPi” ladies
for a pre-race picture before the RMHC Pasta Dinner. It was wonderful to meet everyone- we had been talking for
months but many of us were meeting in person for the first time! <> Leah was in heaven with a whole group of ladies to perform
for (she likes to put on “shows”) and Josh was a champ wrangling Leah and
holding all of my stuff so all of us sorority girls could take a million
pictures! We took a nice little
walk to the River East Art Center for the dinner and on the walk we were able
to start taking in the sights of the city we would be running through the next
morning.
The dinner was great and lots of fun (beautiful venue!) but
sadly we had to leave right after dinner.
There were awards and presentations planned for after the meal and I had
heard that they often included past RMHC families and it was supposed to be
very moving- but Leah had had enough!
She was so good but was over tired but also hyped up from the
excitement, so it was time to go.
We had a beautiful and comfortable hotel room to return to
and truthfully, aside from Leah, it was probably best that we left when we
did. It had been a long day and I
was exhausted too. I was actually
getting a little bit worried because my knees were aching- and we hadn’t done
that much walking at all. I got to
bed around 9 and slept well- much better than I anticipated. I wasn’t feeling nervous at all
(denial) but I think that was because I was preoccupied with getting everything
prepared for the race. Feeling in
control and prepared always helps!
I was also excited to use my FlipBelt. It was not totally new but I had only used it on shorter
runs. I was still not completely
psyched with the SPI belt so I wanted to try something new and I love it!
FlipBelt!
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