Blueberry Ever After

So after Chicago not going as well as planned, I decided to upgrade from the City of Oaks half marathon in Raleigh to the full marathon to see how I could do if I actually got to run the whole thing! This time the race day temperature was perfect, cold to start but then warming up to a fair 60 degrees or so. However, the Raleigh course was a lot tougher than Chicago! I think I prefer hot and flat to cold and hilly any day! Nonetheless, I finished the race in just over 5 hours vs. the 5 hours and 38 minute finish in Chicago so I feel pretty good about that.

And the great thing about this race was that Jay and several of our friends got to be there to cheer me on and see me finish! That was really nice. Our friends Kathleen, Allyson and Amanda completed the half marathon and Kathleen's hubby Bill completed the full (a full hour faster than me, I may add!). Jay, Allyson's husband John, daughter Elizabeth, and Amanda's husband Chris were our official entourage. It was a fun day!

Amanda, Bill, Allyson, Heather & Kathleen before the race:

Bill, Kathleen, Amanda, Allyson & Heather after the race:

Allyson & Elizabeth

Amanda & Chris

In October I traveled to Chicago with Courtney to compete in the 2007 Chicago Marathon. Unfortunately, Courtney had to drop out of the race due to stress fractures that popped up after we registered for the race. Since we were already registered and had reserved a hotel, we decided to book flights and carry on with the trip. I ran and Courtney was my cheerleader! Although, since there were 36,000 runners and 1.5 million spectators out and about, I did not see her until the finish line.

For those of you who did not hear, the race got cancelled at about 3.5 hours in, due to extreme heat. Yes, it was 88 degrees in Chicago, in October! Fortunately for me, I trained in the NC heat all summer so I was prepared, but I saw many runners who were not. Over 10,000 runners dropped out of the race by choice due to the heat. Over 300 runners required paramedic assitance due to heat exhaustion, which is ultimately why the race officials called the race off. Despite the fact that they had brought in paramedic resources from Chicago's many surrounding suburbs, there still weren't enough paramedics to serve the runners and the conditions made it too unsafe to continue. A large portion of the runners got diverted to the finish line and did not get to complete the full course.

Since I was at about the mile 20 marker when the race was called, I was able to complete the full course, but I was forced to walk the last several miles. When I got to the finish line and learned of the many runners who did not get to complete the race, I was just happy I got to the finish line! All in all, I had a great race day despite the conditions and I would recommend the Chicago Marathon to any of my fellow runners. Just hopefully if you choose to run it, you won't experience the freakish weather conditions I did!

Here are some pictures from the trip:

Me with KC & Leslie at the Packers game party.

Heather & Court. (The Packers fan bar had giant beers.)

And no trip to Chicago would be complete without a visit to famous Gino's East for deep dish pizza. Yum!