The pizza we ate the night before the marathon..and then nibbled on for lunch and snacks the next couple of days.

The pasta we split the night before the marathon - the perfect size. I worried the dishes would be huge and we’d waste food.

Deep dish and baseball, becoming an annual tradition.

We’ve covered the big parts of the Chicago Marathon experience, but there are some loose ends here and there that deserve tying up, so let’s go one by one through some New Things or Same Old Things That Are Worth Addressing to close the book on Chicago:

Every trip begins with making the hotel room feel as much like home as possible and being able to keep to routine. Kevin and I met at the airport (we were able to coordinate flights such that they’d arrive within 20 minutes of each other…and both of our flights were early and landed at almost the exact same time) and we were a little too early for check-in, so we left our bags at the front desk and made a Target run. We got lots of water, which was my number one priority - too often I don’t drink as much on the road as I do at home but I did a good job of that last weekend - and plenty of carb-y snacks: Pop Tarts and Rice Krispies Treats, and some Muscle Milk.

I brought the fuel for the race with me - my gels and the waffle/oat bar I mentioned in last week’s recap - but this time I also brought a bag of Thomas’ bagels. That’s what we had for breakfast (and for me a pre-race snack near the start) the morning of the race. That was a new thing, and definitely a strategy I learned from Reach The Beach, when I had a bagel before all of my big runs.

On Saturday morning before we went to the Expo we did a shakeout run up and down Michigan Avenue. I didn’t do this two years ago because I figured I was walking so much over the weekend. I think this was smart, though…especially because other than going to the Expo later that morning we pretty much stayed off our feet all day. The Saturday before the marathon there is also a 5K in the area so it was really crowded, but we managed to get in 30 minutes of running and loosen things up.
On the way back from the Expo we went a bit out of our way to get lunch - Jersey Mike’s, which was nice and routine for me. (And delicious.) On our way back we passed an Italian restaurant up the street from the hotel and I looked up their menu and it was perfect for a carb-loading dinner, so we placed an order for pizza and pasta, and picked it up at 4:45 and had the perfect early night-before-the-marathon dinner. We were planning on doing a takeout order - it’s hard to get a table somewhere the night before the marathon and the past two years we’d had the night-before meal at a charity-hosted event - but we were thinking about a restaurant further from the hotel. This saved us a bunch of steps.
I already mentioned that I did not go overboard at the Expo, only collecting the freebies and buying some more Feetures. (I forgot that I did buy a drinking glass and a mug. The drinking glass is for display only, the mug will be used. Oh, and a magnet. They're nice mementos.) But there was a Nike jacket that I liked and I figured on Sunday if I had a good run and wanted to remember this marathon I’d buy it at the Nike store. (Last year Kevin and I visited the Nike store on Sunday evening and then had dinner at a TGI Friday’s across the street. That worked out so well we repeated the plan this year.) I did have a good run…and I probably would have bought the jacket anyway but the world will never know. It’s a nice little windbreaker with a hood that I may wear for running but most likely just as a windbreaker. I’ve already worn it on one rainy day.
I can’t remember if I wrote about this or not but I decided to bring a big suitcase and pay the extra money to check it so I didn’t have to worry about what to bring or not bring - and primarily because I wanted to bring the compression boots to help with post-marathon recovery. I used them just like I did after every long run and I have to believe it helped. I had brought a backpack and a small carry-on that on the way back, since I didn’t need things in perfect condition anymore and because I had thrown away the sweats I wore to the start line, I shoved into the big suitcase. 49 pounds, just below the 50-pound limit…and it was nice, when I was dealing with the 3-hour delay coming home, that I only had the backpack to worry about.
We did still visit that restaurant we were thinking about having takeout from the night before the marathon - we got our deep dish pizza there for the Monday post-marathon dinner. Last year we ate the deep dish while watching the Mets win an NLCS game. This year we just watched the ALCS.

And lastly, I haven’t really talked about the fact that I set my watch for this run. I called the workout ‘Marathon Helper’, and help it did. I set it to 26 miles, and I had the range from 10:55 to 11:00/mi. My thinking was that I would only need it for 26 miles, not the final 0.2, but I did not think about the fact that because I guess I was zig-zagging it was not fully accurate. Slowly it became 0.2 miles off, then more, so every time my watch clocked a mile I’d have more to go until I saw a mile marker on the route. Which now that I’m writing it doesn’t make a ton of sense but regardless it really helped me keep my pace and I want to give that strategy its due.

Huh, who knew The bullet points really messed up the way the pictures present on here. I fixed that bottom one but I don’t feel like going through the rest, so you can just read the captions and match them up with the appropriate bullet points.

Last year when I left Chicago I had a very strong feeling I’d be back. As it turned out I got the marathon lottery spot and it felt right. This year, I did not have that same feeling. I’ll put my name in the lottery, because if I get a chance to run Chicago again I’ll always take it, but I don’t feel hopeful.

I know I’ll get back to Chicago, and maybe even run the marathon again…or maybe I’ll sign up for the Chicago Half Marathon…

But when that happens I don’t really know.