Chicago 2008

Well, I survived!  Ben, Heather, Sharon and I had a blast in Chicago during the marathon weekend. Prior to training for this marathon, it's been almost three years since I've been in the habit of exercising.  In order to force myself to get back in shape, I set the goal of doing a marathon...not the smartest things I've done, but why not.  As a decathlete, I was never a "distance" guy (I'm still not)...the farthest I ever ran in college was probably three miles.  I finished the marathon in 4:49, which I was happy with.  I didn't break any records, but I was happy to finish and I never once walked unless I was throwing back some water.      

I must say, I did enjoy the marathon.  The city is a fantastic venue for the event and the streets were filled with enthusastic supporters the entire time.  I was happy I wore an old Tennessee singlet because I got a lot of support from folks yelling "Go Vols!" or "Go Tennessee!"  The course was fun and took us all throughout Chicago, including some interesting parts (the stretch including the assembly of men wearing tight camo shorts and dancing to "Macho, macho man" was hilarious).  

I'm celebrating on mile 2...a little too soon:)  This was the only time I saw Sharon.  At one point in the race, I heard a loud "Go Vols!" at which I immediately raised my left fist....little did I realize that a 5 foot woman was right there and I elbowed her in the back of the head...   

Took this picture right before the race...my "first" marathon.  At the start of the race, the runners were all yelling and cheering...Since we were about to run 26 miles, I did not share their enthusiasm!:)  

I felt great for the first 13 miles...but a little bit of pain started to settle in around mile 15.  The hamstrings hurt, my right foot hurt, I was a little winded and the race elevated the warning from "moderate" to "extreme" due to the heat.  It was in the mid-80s.  Around mile 15, I went from saying, "Wow, I feel great" to "Oooh, this might suck later."  The heat wasn't that bad, but it wasn't very comfortable either.    

On Friday night, we had an incredible evening!  We picked up Heather at the airport.  She was student teaching in Ireland for 6 weeks.  We went straight to our hotel and used up our free vouchers for the room (thanks mom) and hit the town.  We went to Smith and Wollensky steak house, which had a really cool ambiance, and then went to see "Wicked."  Wow, what a show!  I encourage everyone, EVERYONE to see it.  It's a story about dreams and doing the right thing no matter the price.  Great story, great music, and clean.