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    Chicago Marathon FINISHER!

    6 Hours, 29 neighborhood and numerous gel packs later, Chicago Marathon 2008 is finished! The temp reached 84 degrees that day, and 33,000 runners participated.

    A big thank you to all of my supporters for helping to make it happen. Adrienne and Dave made sure I was fueled at mile 9, Teri met up with me at mile 13 to run by my side through the hottest part of the race, I bumped into Rodrigo and Addy at mile 18 while grabbing more gel packs, and Rodrigo found me on the bridge and sprinted the last 200 meters with me (in his flip flops!). It was awesome!

    And even more amazing is over $700 will be donated to Hope Runs, which will help its children's program in Tanzania and Kenya. Read more about it at www.hoperuns.org. And fittingly so, the male Kenyans dominated the race this year. Read the Tribune's coverage here.

    Along with all the congrats and hugs and handshakes, a question I keep getting is will I do it again next year. If you asked me around mile 23, the answer would have been a exasperated, exhausted and angry " NO WAY!" But a month has passed, the pain wore off, so only more time will tell. Running is addictive so odds are, another marathon is on the horizon. :)

    Monday, February 4, 2008

    I just signed my life away... in good way, I hope!

    For the second year in a row, registration for the Shamrock Shuffle closed before I could secure a spot. Damn. I love that race! And the long-sleeved tees are always the coolest! So, acting on impulse of course, I quickly logged on to the official Chicago Marathon website.

    Registration Now Open the webpage read. Hmm. Interesting. Quickly I scrolled through to see what this whole marathon thing would cost me, both monetarily and mentally. Finally, after 20 minutes of mustering up the courage to actually to fill out the form, put in my payment info, and answer questions like "Are you interested in qualifying for a Start Corral?" (Um, maybe?) and "Do you have a time goal?" (with indicators for hours, minutes and seconds! Seriously?), I clicked Submit. Then closed my eyes as my stomach churned. Did I really just do that?

    I did! Agh! And I immediately had to tell everyone to make sure what I did was real... and reassure myself that I am, after all, sane. I mean, who doesn't want to spend four months running 30 or miles a week for countless hours in the heat and under the sun, zipping (or dragging) oneself across the city with splitting shins and sweaty everything? I, for one, am quite looking forward to the enriching experience we call training season.

    I know. Call me a sucker, a show-off, a crazy lady. But at least wave 'hi!' as I pass you by on the streets this summer. Every bit of encouragement counts and lord knows, I'll need much of it every long, grueling glorious mile along the way.
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