Things I Learned Over Marathon Weekend

So I promised the “bestest post ever”. 

I really shot myself in the foot with that one, huh?  That may or may not have been said with a wee bit of sarcasm.  But now I feel the need to deliver.

Well.  Let’s see what we can do…

Because I do well with lists, here are a few important things I learned during the weekend of the Chicago Marathon (through the eyes of a spectator):

1. Inevitably, we’re all going to turn into our mothers.  Sorry peeps, it’s gonna happen.  The “family dinner” we had consisted of the three aunts and cousins congregating at D’Agostino’s for some decent pasta and pizza.  The cousins spent a lot of the time catching each other’s eyes.  As our mothers all chatted us  up in circles, we realized this is most likely a window into what our futures look like 25 years down the road.  Gulp.

2. To actually see someone running a 4:30 pace for a marathon is amazing.  I’ve seen sprints on tv.  I’ve read about crazy marathoners.  But to actually see these people run right past left me speechless.

3. You will never find a Starbucks when you’re actually hunting for one. Or even a coffee shop in general.  Amy had no caffeine or food until 3 hours after she got out of bed.  This is never ideal for the people who’s company I am keeping.  I had no shame in stopping everyone with a Starbucks cup and asking, almost accusingly, “where did you get that?!?!”.  I apologize to anyone I may have frightened.

4. People are crazy creative.  Or sometimes, just crazy.I can’t imagine running with this thing on for one mile.  And I’m going to assume the few guys with him were there to switch off.  Either way- that’s crazy.When I do races, I love reading the signs.  They can be hilarious.  This was one of my favorites.  On the other side, it said “I promise there’s beer at the end”.

We were creative in our own right.  My cousin had on a Missouri Tigers shirt and had her mom bring Mizzou flags to wave so she could spot us easier.  That’s right, we had a theme.  No party (or marathon) is a success without one.5. My cousin is an awesome runner!  At mile 11, she still looked like she was feeling amazing!Granted, this is only about half way through.  But I know I can’t run 11 miles and look so perky…   She did great and finished a little under 4:15!

6. Do NOT use the porta potty in the runner’s reunite area.  Or if you do- try to be one of the first to do so.  Not after hundreds of sweaty, smelly people used it before you.  When there’s no toilet paper.  And you consider getting out to use another one, but do you really want to wait in line to take your chances?  Granted there’s not much worse than poo hanging off the inside of the seat and trying to figure out if that’s drops of sweat or pee on the seat itself.  I knew I was doing all those squats for a reason.  I hovered like my life depended on it.  Knowing the condition of the toilet seat, it’s possible my life actually was depending on it…

7. Marathons are good excuses for blogger meetups.

First, I made sure to hang out to not only see my cousin, but to also see Pham!The kid was able to beat the heat and get a new PR!  Nice work, Pham!  Did you even see me the second time?  Doubtful.  For real- you were 2 feet away from me as I screamed at you. 

After the marathon, the family all left and I headed over to Megan‘s to celebrate Sunday Funday!  We ended up hitting McGinny’s- because who doesn’t love buckets of beer?I promise you, Megan loves the buckets of beer, too. Contrary to the picture.

We were also joined later on by a couple ladies who traveled to Chicago to RUN the marathon…Shelby and Angry Runner came to say hello (check out their blogs for their own versions of how the marathon went)!  I was so excited!  And not just because Angry was wearing some sweet hot pink compression socks (Christmas list, anyone?). 

One thing  you’ll notice when bloggers meetup- first, because it can be awkward, we talk about what we blog about.  Like running.  Plus the marathon had just happened.  It was a “duh” topic of choice.  But then you get a little more comfortable, possibly a little tipsy, and start talking about anything and everything.  For example, there was about five minutes dedicated to trying to figure out what “Like a G6″ meant.  Still clueless on that one.

If you know, please inform me so I may pass the information along.

8. Even if you don’t run, the Chicago marathon will be exhausting.  Between the early wakeup call, walking to multiple points of the course, the heat, the food, the drinks, and the late metra ride home, I was DRAINED.  But it was such a great experience!  I may not run it (although I’ll never say never), but I will DEFINITELY be going back next year to cheer on the runners.  You guys are amazing!

So there you go.  I hope this rises to the occasion as an “awesome recap post”.  But if it doesn’t, please understand it’s Tuesday.  And everything’s worse on a Tuesday…  :p

Later!

How would a cougar just walk into a Quizno’s?

The big run finally happened. And we got through it! Sure, it was only a 5K. But in my head it had become a very big deal. And in my head it was being built up into this event that seemed so much worse than it really was. Serious runners laugh at the so-called “intensity” of a 5K run. Niki said that her friend that does races pretty much declined her invitation to join us because it wasn’t something serious runners do… I love running, but have never actually done it in an organized fashion (unless you really want to count track in junior high). And I would like to eventually do a half-marathon, but you have to start somewhere, right?

After work I battled rush hour traffic down to Niki’s place in the River West area. I got there faster than expected, but we realized after a discussion about public transportation, I could have easily hopped on the Blue Line and ended up a block away from their townhouse. Good to know for future reference…

We went out to eat that night at D’Agostino’s to load up on carbs. I don’t make a habit out of eating pasta much anymore, so this was a really big deal for me. Niki said for the longest time that they would take everyone here, thinking they had found this intimate little Italian restaurant. Then someone at work informed her that there was also a Wrigleyville and suburb location. I’ve never been to it, but I have enjoyed late-night pizza from there when sleeping over at Jaime’s. Bacon and sausage is a yummy combination when ordering from them…

Anyway, we walked to the restaurant for our late dinner. Apparently on fridays they have $5 martini’s. I looked longingly at a chocolate martini they had just made sitting on the bar. Niki commented on how she would have loved to have a martini, too. But, being the dedicated runners that we are, we declined. We had to keep our focus.

Andy was the only one out of us that picked a healthier option- chicken and pasta with an olive oil sauce. He quickly negated that, though, when he ordered toasted ravioli for a starter.  I heart T-Ravs like none other.  But then again, you can fry almost anything and make it twice as delicious.  Niki ordered lasagna and I had the baked cannelloni. Or at least that’s what we ordered. It was hard to tell if that’s actually what we got because of the massive amount of mozzarella that was melted over the top- suffocating our poor little pasta order underneath. I don’t want to sound like I am complaining- I LOVE cheese. I think I’m actually addicted to it. I read that can happen. Something with the hormones in the milk… One of the few things I remember from the book “Skinny Bitch”. I don’t think the authors would have approved of my dinner selection that evening. Anyways, it was cheese-a-licious. And the cannelloni, once I found it, was also quite good.  Though i would recommend the pizza, first.

We sat for awhile at the restaurant. It was crowded, but not loud, so we could actually have a conversation. It’s fun to get together with Niki because we like to gossip about the fam (mostly our moms and how freakishly similar they act). We love our moms. But sometimes you do have to shake your head at their quirky behavior.

Also, our conversation jumped around immensely. I think it went to the recent death of a monkey at the Lincoln Park Zoo and a dolphin at the Brookfield Zoo to Niki swearing up and down that a cougar had been on the loose in Chicago last year and randomly walked into a Quizno’s. Neither Andy or I believed her. He looked it up on his phone- apparently Niki had combined two stories in her head. A coyote had walked into a Quizno’s, not a cougar. A bit of a difference. Still crazy, though. And the cougar came from a story a few weeks later. There were cougar sightings in the Northern Chicago area, where cops shot it dead in Roscoe Village. Seems like they got a little trigger happy, but I guess waiting around for tranquilizers could have lead to a threatening situation.  Like death… Not sure what I would have done if I saw a mountain lion strolling down the street… Being from the country, I’m used to seeing the random deer or fox in the backyard on any given day. But they’re scared of me. And run the opposite direction. The cougar may be scared, but is an animal that would take me DOWN.

Coyote visits Chicago sandwich shop

Cops Kill Cougar on North Side