The Chicago Marathon 2014

Our trip to Chicago was wonderful! Sunday was marathon day so Nate got up bright and early to complete his normal pre-race rituals while his mom and I slept in a little longer. He was able to walk to the start line from our hotel which was perfect. Ann and I were ready by 7:30AM and on our way out the door to grab some coffee and a little something to eat before we tried to head to specific places on the course to look for him. The city is so beautiful and it was so much fun to walk all over it. The weather was cooler but felt great while we were moving. We went to mile 3 first and quickly became overwhelmed by the sheer number of bodies running past us. We tried to look for Nate but it was downright dizzying to even try to focus on a face in that sea of people! We realized pretty fast that there was no way we would ever spot him there and moved on. Nate was mostly interested in seeing us at mile 21 for encouragement, so we slowly but surely made our way there after stopping at a few other spots along the way. The hike to mile 21 was long and we stopped several times to discuss whether or not we would make it there in time. We decided that we would and continued on. I’m in pretty good shape but my feet were pretty over it by the time we got there. Nate text me to tell me he would be coming through China Town soon (which is where we were) but we still managed to miss each other in the crowd. Deflated, we moved on to mile 25. Once we got there we found a perfect spot with no barrier and waited. I text him to tell him where we were. When he came through he hugged as he ran by and went on to the finish. Ann and I both cried knowing he would make his goal time. He finished in right under 4 hours! Then came the great adventure of trying to find him after the race. We finally asked someone after walking a long time but not finding any signs or information on where to meet the runners after the race and the man said, “OH you’ve still got to go about 7 blocks in that direction.” I must have looked like I wanted to hit him. We eventually found Nate but why on earth they would put the “meet and greet” area that far from the finish line is beyond me. We visited the bean and walked around a little more before heading back to the hotel to get ready for dinner. It was a lovely, wonderful, completely exhausting day. As was every day we spent there! I will be sharing more photos from the trip over the next few days. Now that I’m finally all rested up, I wish we could back. ;]