On the morning of Saturday, October 12th, Joe and I ran two miles at a 10-minute pace before we met Tammy, Alex, Jordan, and Steve at Rob's. We packed ourselves and our race gear, blankets, pillows, and air mattresses into a 12-passenger van and Captain Jordan drove us to Chicago.
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| Mature photo booth fun in the big white van! |
After making a quick stop to drop off our belongings where Joe, Jordan, Rob, and I would stay for the weekend, we piled back into the van and hit up the expo.
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| This explains a lot about why we are slow. |
The expo was way more awesome than any of the other three marathon expos I've visited. I immediately wanted to head straight toward the giant Nike merchandise area, which was pretty much a mini-Nike store, but I knew that getting my bib, shirt, and bag were of utmost importance. Also, picking up all of that stuff would leave me with a bag in which I could carry all of the junk, free samples, and gear I would buy. The race shirt is really sweet; I love Nike's running tech tees for the feel and fit, so I was pumped to get another. The graphic is pretty BA-looking. I do kinda wish that the bibs could have been personalized, but I'm not complaining that it wasn't an option. The entire process of getting my packet, bag, and shirt was quick and easy, aided by iPads and QR codes to quickly find runner information.
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| Bad-ass race tech tee on the left, bad-ass souvenir tee on the right. |
After the expo we headed to our weekend dwellings and relaxed a bit before meeting at Giordano's for pre-race dinner. When we were deciding weeks ago on where we'd have dinner, a lot of self-proclaimed Chicago experts suggested Giordano's. Steve made us a reservation which ended up being a huge move because when we arrived the walk-ins were waiting an hour to get a table and THEN another 45 minutes for deep dish pizzas. I had planned to eat a thin crust pizza because I didn't want to mess with all of that deep dish crust, but Joe was set on the deep dish so I reluctantly, and with some admitted bitchiness, ate that. I was bold and also ordered a salad with bleu cheese to start and because I was so hungry I ordered a plate of spaghetti with marinara to tide me over until the pizza was ready. The spaghetti was bomb, the noodles being darn close to perfectly al dente. I put down one slice of pizza at the restaurant then I had another before bed later that evening.
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| Gear and fuel for the race |
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| Yes, that is a ticker above the TV. |
By about 9:00 Joe, Jordan, Rob, and I were back at our slumber party apartment. Jordan and Rob filled their air mattresses, Joe and I pulled out the sofa bed, we laid out our race clothes and attached our bibs, watched a little baseball, and I somehow managed to be asleep before 10:30. I woke up one time in the middle of the night and was pretty sure that Jordan was either pooping or sleep-walking. I couldn't see him on his air mattress, which apparently had significantly deflated and swallowed him. Photos of the Jordan Taco will come later...
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