Chicago, Illinois Blog
August 1, 2010
Whew, this race was hard!!! The race started at 6:30 a.m. and my son, David, and I were at the start line by 6 a.m. As we were in coral 25, it was about 7:18 a.m. when we finally reached the official starting line. The day was hot and muggy at 88 degrees. The race route was relatively flat and included running through the downtown streets, crossing over the Chicago River four different times, then running along the Lake Michigan shoreline. As in all Rock n Roll races, there was a rock band about every mile along the way. Hundreds of volunteers provided plenty of water, sports drinks, and even wet sponges along the route trying to keep all 25,000 racers cool. However, I saw more runners at the first aid stations along the route at this race than I have at any other race. There were many first-time runners here and I don’t think they were prepared for running in the heat.
At about mile 12, I was surprised to see the Today show weatherman, Al Roker, jog by. Because of a bad knee, I race walk these races instead of jogging and usually average about 12 1/2 minute miles. My final time of 3:19 was my slowest time yet out of the 8 races I have completed, but I was just glad to finish . . . and there were many, many runners behind me!
My husband, Dave, and I as well as our son, David and his wife Karen, walked around downtown Chicago the day before the race and we were impressed with the friendly people, clean streets and great restaurants. We found the Merchandise Mart where there were stores and designer showrooms filled with ideas for decorating your home. There was even a model home inside the huge building.
Of course, we walked to the Sears Tower (the tallest building in the United States) but the line to visit the top of the tower had a wait of two hours, so we just stood on the sidewalk and looked way, way up. On the way to the tower, we stopped by Gino’s for their famous deep-dish pizza. We waited 45 minutes for our pizza and it was good but really not worth the wait. Actually, it really wasn’t a good idea to eat pizza the evening before running the race but friends said not to miss this famous dish so we did it. I will not make this mistake again.
Chicago reminded us of a small, compact, friendly New York City. We definitely want to go back and stay longer.
On the way to Chicago, we stopped overnight in Cleveland, Ohio so Dave could join some friends for the Cleveland Indians-New York Yankees baseball game. The Yankees won. We also visited the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum while in Cleveland. It was interesting to see the instruments, costumes and some of the early recording equipment used over the years. The exhibit is quite extensive but I was really ready to leave after two hours. The guide said it takes five to six hours to see everything but the viewer would have to be a rock n roll fanatic to last that long!
Total travel miles: 910.1