Cheecago! (Part One)

My grandfather, for whom I am named, used to call Chicago “Cheecago”.

I was fortunate to be able to attend the 2012 Cheecago Marathon, and decided that you should know about my experience. So grab a cuppa joe, sit back, and enjoy…

I arrived at the Midway Airport early afternoon on thursday, then met up with John Williamson and Brian Fowler, both runners from North Carolina. We managed to head downtown on the Orange line, headed to meet up with another friend in town. When we got off the train at Roosevelt, we followed John’s iPhone’s directions to the meeting place. We ended up walking in the wrong direction for about 6 miles (HAHAHAHA) before we realized our mistake and turned around. We did manage to pass an inner city Target:

I was impressed, mostly because there are NO target stores in Vermont. Yea, we’re hill-billy like that. Anyway, we headed into town and came across some cool looking buildings and fountains. The fountains were a bit creepy…

Not quite sure what the purpose of the creepy fountains were, but it was ‘artsy’ just the same. After dinner we headed back to the hotel to get ready for the start of the Expo on Friday.

Packet pick up was pretty smooth, though their readers couldn’t read the QR code from my phone. I managed ok, then headed over to the ArcticEase booth (#826) to begin my shift. I’d volunteered to work the booth for the Expo; John and Brian were going to be there, too, so it promised to be a good ‘ol time. I had a blast working the booth; people were very interested in learning more about the product. How does it work, how do I apply it, is it REALLY reusable? These were just some of the more common questions from the weekend. Are you curious, too? Here, click over and watch this commercial. I hope it will help answer some questions. If you have more, please let me know, and I’ll do my best to answer them or get answers. I don’t work for ArcticEase, but I use the product and am happy with the results. (Spoiler: I ran a marathon on Sunday, used AE on the plane, then used it again on Monday. On TUESDAY, I did a 5k in the morning, then another 5k in the evening. My legs are feeling great!)

Met some really cool people at the expo, and was fortunate enough to run into @KatieRUNSthis (who was at the NUUN booth) and @DrSherryPagoto (co-creator of #plankaday) and a bunch of her friends. We did a quick group plank, then went our separate ways. Good times!

Saturday afternoon we dined at a…diner. Yea. But this was unlike any diner I have ever been to. This one is called Eleven City Diner. Because I am nerdy, I checked in on Foursquare, and BOOM! Free ice cream desserts for all of us at our table. Cool. SO…here’s a PROTIP: the matzo ball soup has ONE matzo ball. It is about the size of your head. Thankfully, John was the one who ordered it, not me. Good times were had by all, and we headed back to our hotels in the ‘burbs to get some sleep.

Of course, I had nightmares all night long about over sleeping. I must have woken up every 15-20 minutes all night long. I hate that. I set 3 alarms, and was awake before the first one. Up at 4:30 and got ready. I had some oatmeal and crappy coffee from the crappy machine in the room (why are they always so crappy???) and got dressed. I bought some throw away sweats (top and bottoms for $10.99) which came in VERY handy. I caught the shuttle to the airport, then hopped the orange line back into the city.

Stay tuned for the second part. In the mean time, I invite you to watch this clever commercial (yes, for ArcticEase) which involves some pro football players, magic, and ALIENS. yes, Aliens.