Chicago Part 2: Race Day

Continued...
After sleeping with the leech (BigGirl), I awoke with the sound of my blackberry alarm "I wanna be a Billionaire so freakin' bad!! Buy all of the thin...." ahh sorry there. I quitely got up, got dressed,

**note to self: never wear this outfit again until the muffin top is ALL GONE. You will see why in the below pictures.

..went through my morning  regiment and had my peanut butter natures bar. I walked out the door and awaited for the SLOW elevator. I was happy to find it open after only a few moments and was able to get one with another runner, it stopped on a another floor and picked up 3 more runners. Awhhhhh the early morning runners make me sooooo happy. :o) When the door opened, we headed outside and down a couple blocks to the start liner and our corrals.

When I got to the corrals, how happy was I too see that not only were they empty (not opened for runners yet) but it was a straight shot from my hotel to my corral. No walking forever until I got to my sad and lonely corral. * I pulled corral 25 out of 29 this time. Pathetic, right. I did meet a few great gals while awaiting the start, then awaiting the 40 minutes after the official start to the start of my corral. YAWNNNNNNNN.

During that time, I found out that there were a handful of celebreties in the race... Jason & Molly Mesnick(the bachelor), Jake Pavelka (the bachelor & dancing with the stars)*yucky guy*, Kelly Bensiman (Real housewives of NYC), Giuliana Rancie (E! news), Andrea Powell (The Gates), and Al Roker (morning weather guy). *more on these coming, but can you guess which 1 celeb I beat? Don't strain yourself, it is a no brainer. Another sad moment for me.

Ok, and we are off!
Mile 1: 10:55 Woohoo good start
Mile 2-3: I am telling myself to make this good, the 5k is the first text message to family about my time!
5k: 37:04
5k-Mile 5: Keep going strong! My kids and hubby are right around the corner waiting for you!!
Mile 5-6: Where are they, Where are they, Ohhh "Sweet Caroline, bom,bom, bom" HEY! There they are!! HIGH 5s!!!!
Mile 6: 1:17:03
Mile 7: Getting beat here, just don't look at your watch, need mile 8, Coffee Bean Gu at mile 8.5....
Mile 7.75: ICE!! Wohoo!! DEAD BEAT TIRED! A little fast walk and ice in my water.
Mile 8: My legs are so heavy, just keep moving, HATE all the people that are already running along the lakeshore (mile 10-finish)

Mile 9: Coffee Bean GU!!! Ok, turn towards last 4 miles. Look at watch, 2:39:59 MAYBE POSSIBLE.

Mile 10: 2:11:38  Pass the Gu station. Take the ice cold sponge! Try to move faster.

Mile 10.5: Look at watch, push harder. Lots of weaving, this SUCKS!
Mile 11: Look at watch, damn! Try to atleast cut ahead of 2:46:09 (last race time)

Mile 11.75: Girl down... not me. 3 people stop with her, I speed up to...
Mile 12: .... and tell the Crew to send for help
Mile 12.1: we are on a freakin' wall to wall curving sidewalk. I can't weave around anyone anymore. Shit!
Mile 13: Try to speed up the hill since the walls around gone... haven't looked at watch in a while... I now I am f 'ed.
Mile 13-13.1: My usual Sprint to the finish is non-existant. I am done. Just look for family, wave and cross the line. I didn't even throw my hands up for the Rock Star photo finish. I am feeling totally pissed at myself already.
Finish Line: 2:53:26    (Pace: 13:14)    I spend the rest of the day, oh hell who am I kidding, I am still running over in my head what I should have down at mile 7 to have given me a better chance for my 2:39:59 or better goal.

So, I am VERY hard on myself. I am not looking for a handout of "you did great" "you did it, I can't/did't/would have stopped...etc" I am just a natural competator. I am always hard on myself. That is my way of life..... welcome to my world.

Back to the race;
I loved having my family there to actually see me finish this time around. And to see me during the race too! It was great! I was disappointed by the finishline grabs though. It consisted ICE COLD TOWELS (fav!! and best part), NOT COLD water, NOT ENOUGH cytomax (didn't get one), Some oranges that they were STILL CUTTING, popcicles that were half melted and half broke to the ground before I got it to my mouth, 2x2 inch protein bars that were GROSS, and ohh yeah- that was it! What the hell?! So I headed over to the beer garden to get my free beer..... no way in hell was I going to wait 45 minutes or more for a free beer. I need to get moving to the hotel to get out of the soaked clothes, take a shower and get us checked out in 45 minutes time.

ALL IN ALL: I need to get in another half asap to make my time better and myself feel happier.

Ok on those celebs: Well the only one I beat was Al Roker...... 3:20:58. All I have to say is "WAY TO ROCK IT AL!!! CONGRATS!!! MAYBE I WILL SEE YOU AT ANOTHER SOMEDAY SOON!!"

E! News: 2:20:05
NYC Housewife: 2:21:40
YUCKY Jake: 2:23:05
Married Bachelor stars: 2:42:05 (they ran together the whole time!)
The Gates: 2:44:31

The Winner Patrick Rizzo 1:06:19
The Female Winner Tera Moody: 1:13:36
Both Illionis natives

A little review...
The Injinji Socks!!!

THEY DID THE JOB!! Just a small blister on the small toe and a tiny one under big toe! BAM!

As for injuries....


.... A major rubbage (burn from shorts that have never done it before) on the inner left thigh.

The Day ended with getting checked out of hotel, taking the bus to Union station, eating a Lo Carb burrito salad from a "like chipotles" place at the station along with a bowl of white chocolate TCBY!!
Then a 12 hour+ Train ride back home.

GOOD BYE FOR NOW CHICAGO!!

Worst part: falling asleep in window seat with hubby and sleeping littleman on his lap. Waking up to asleep right foot and cramping right leg, jumping up to fix the issue and not being able to move... sleeping littleman on hubby remember. Totally didnt drink enough water saturday. But a little after 3am, we got home. Got the kids back to bed and ourselves too. And was woken at 9am from kids. Spent 2 hours in our king size bed with kids watching Happy Feet. Then suffered though the rest of the day before back to the grind Tuesday morning.

The End.