With two miles to go I somehow attracted an admirer-- a skinny young dark-skinned boy on a bicycle. He followed me along the beach, around and down the Sheridan curve and to Loyola where he finally gave up. I was kind of peeved (I just wanted to run alone and finish), kinda of creeped out (he stared and slowed down for me), and kind of comforted. Well, only when my i-Pod died during that last mile stretch. He provided an awkward distraction, I suppose!
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, April 21, 2008
My little admirer rides a bike
Yesterday I ran the farthest distance that I've run in, oh, I dunno, 5 years? It was my slow, long weekend run. Started at Rodrigo's apartment on NorthShore and Sheridan and followed Sheridan to the lakefront and south along Lake Shore Drive to Irving Park. Total distance was a little over 7.5 miles and I felt good. Took it easy; stretched and stopped for water when I needed. There was a chill in the air but I wore only my spandex and racerback anyway. :)
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