Marathon Weekend

This is the weekend of the Chicago Marathon.

I am sad I won't be running, but in a few hours I'm off to what I hope is my LAST meeting with Dr. W regarding my stress fracture. Keep your fingers crossed.

In spite of not being able to run, I'm heading up to Chicago anyway to cheer on my Teammates and play with my friend, G. I'm taking the train . . . even though I could drive, I decided not to fight the traffic and this way I can sleep or read en route there and back. It should be a nice change from my usual frantic trip up I-55.

Once there, G and I will hit the Expo. It will be the first time I go to an Expo and not pick up a packet, but I'm looking forward to being in the environment anyway. All those runners . . . hopefully it will inspire me to eventually get back in my shoes and running - in spite of the cold and dark (because come November, my only time to run will be around 5 AM). Plus, the Expos are famous for their free samples so I plan to stock up on mini-power bars and the like. And I'm going to get a whistle and make posters for my friends. One of my teammates is hoping to qualify for Boston. He's quick . . . and to be perfectly honest quite pretty. Wish I had been as fast as he is just to spend my Saturday mornings running with him! Yes, of course he's young. It's ME, remember? But I digress . . .

Saturday evening G and I are going to eat out. HUAH! I get to enjoy a meal out of town that isn't a chain. Okay, so I don't really go to the chains here . . . I pretty much don't go out to eat here. So I'm looking forward to a fun evening. I don't imagine G and I will close the town down, however. Normally I would be happy to do that, but we'll have an early morning on Sunday to claim our spot along the route.

Sunday is race day. I plan to park it around mile 25 with other Team In Training folks. G's back has been bugging her and with my leg still healing it is probably best not to race around to different points along the route (what I would do if I were healthy). So we'll go and hang out and watch all the similarly certifiable individuals stagger by with just over a mile to go.

I admit, I'm bummed. But maybe in the end I'll be relieved. It's going to be quite warm - high near 90 degrees - and I'm not a fan of running that distance in that kind of weather. Still, there may be a breeze off the lake so it might not be terrible. Hard to know.

Anyway, that's the plan. I'm getting the hell out of Dodge, even if it's only for 36 hours or so.

Wish the Hula Ladies could be here . . . it would have been fun to party Chicago-style with them.

I'm just holding on to turning those Hula Ladies into Eskimos. :)

And to all those Chicago bound this weekend planning to go the distance - run happy.

THERE IS NO FINISH LINE