Chicago Marathon

I am so thrilled that I got to accomplish a life goal with my best friend! I have the most amazing husband who was willing to run 26.2 miles with me to see me to the goal. Words can't express the gratitude and love!


We headed to the big town of Chicago on Friday, October 8 with the Comforts and OC VL's and Megan. It was a great trip up with a fun shopping trip on the way and dinner out that night. The next morning we headed to the Expo to get some great swag and psych up for the next morning.

All the runners' names were listed on a wall at the Nike booth. About halfway down you will see our names

Out of seven of us only two weren't running - but they had very important roles that weekend. Cheering us onto the finish line and providing great encouragement along the way! Thanks Rob and Heather!

Some fun clowning around with Erin and Megan (who by the way has great taste in clothes and shoes! We found it quite humorous how we kept buying the same clothes and even have the same running shoes!)

Here's Chad's amazing recap of the race!

Sunday's race temp had to be in the mid-60's, b/c you hardly needed long-sleeve's out there. Grant & Millennium Parks were packed with peeps - it was crazy - runners were jumping corral fences after they had officially closed just to get on the race course.

The race:

0-5 miles: Settling In things went well, Shay and I were on a solid 10 minute mile pace. We were feeling good, really getting comfortable and thinking about pace & fluid management given the heat already - just about 1 hour in, the conditions changed from low to moderate. We were taking as many fluids as we could and trying to keep our pace around 10:00/mile. Running through downtown was awesome - what a way to see the city on foot - it also provided much appreciated shade. Mile 5 started us up through Lincoln Park and somewhere late in mile 5, Shay needed the restrooms. They were situated on an odd corner and I waited for almost 6 minutes at one leg of the corner, but didn't see her leave the kaibo and she never returned to where she left me and so we got separated - a very devastating mental blow for each of us. We each tried a couple of times to wait and watch for each other, but there were just too many runners. How were we going to accomplish our goal of finishing together?

6-11 miles: Separation Anxiety I tried running some fast miled (8.5 - 9 min/mile) to hopefully catch Shay and then stopped to look over the on-coming runners for her, but that didn't work. I was playing through all the scenarios of what could have happened. I was just praying and hoping that somehow we'd find each other before the finish. I knew that with our family and cheer squad on the course, somehow we'd link up again - I just had faith. I knew that if I finished ahead of her, I would be in big trouble b/c that meant I would have ditched her - not good :)

11: The Reunion It wasn't until around mile 11 that my brother Rob saw a panicked Shay coming his direction. It had been almost 5 miles since she'd seen me at the toilet stop. He told her to stay the course and that he'd let me know where she was in relation to me from a timing perspective. Then, the irony of it all...I cam by literally 30 seconds later on the same side of the street on pace to catch her within the next mile. He told me she was about 50 yards ahead and then I laid down my fastest stretch of asphalt of the day. I found her from behind, linked my arm in hers and listened to her scream for joy (SO TRUE!! THANK YOU JESUS!!!) - what a reunion. We talked and shared the thoughts of the last 5 miles.

12-20: The Long Haul to the WALL This stretch was all about racking up the miles. The course teased us by getting us close to the city again, but then taking us out west towards the United Center where the Bulls and Blackhawks play. The fans along the course were absolutely spectacular - everything from bag-pipes to Elvis impersonators to drum-lines performing. One guy we saw a number of times with a sign that read "Run Bitches" - quite interesting and slightly humorous to Shay. There literally were maybe 2 sections of pavement where you didn't hear people cheering, and they weren't very long. This section too was all about taking on fluids, battling the body to maintain the pace and hopefully keeping the cramps at bay. We hit the 17 mile mark about 3 hours and were hopeful to knock down the next 9 in 90 minutes, but after about 2 more miles, the WALL arrived early and the pace slowed and the aid station breaks lengthened. From there in, we were happy to be on the 11:00/mile pace.

20-26.2: Push through the pain Finishing marathons is about 85% mental and 15% physical, and the last 6.2 miles required all of our mental toughness to push through Chad's quad cramps and Shay's bum knee/foot. She encouraged me and I encouraged her. We took some stretch breaks and guzzled Gatorade like manna from heaven! We managed to finish strong on the last 1.2 miles, running the entire way! We crossed the finish line with hands joined and arms held high - we had done it! Shay was pretty excited and emotional. I was so proud of her and thankful it was over. We both agreed that while we wanted to finish about 20 minutes sooner, given the course condiitions and all that had occurred - we were thankful and blessed to be done! Will we do it again - you bet! but not until the boys are a bit more self-sufficient.

What a metaphor for both marriage and the Christian journey - incredible!

Hand-in-hand to the end! What an amazing enourager Chad is!!

Love you girl!! Erin did such an amazing job with her 3rd marathon! I don't know how she finds the time to train, work, go to school and raise three beautiful girls!

So proud of all of us! It was a fabulous sibling weekend!

Chad - you are my very best friend and I love you! Words can't adequately express the gratitude and love!