I spent the last weekend in September in Chicago. The purpose of the trip was to meet a friend to run the Chicago Half Marathon but since the race was in Chicago, it had the added bonus of meaning I got to hang out with my brother who lives there!
After a flight that was diverted due to a medical emergency and then delayed for hours thanks to storms causing a ground stop at both Chicago airports, I finally made it to the hotel late Friday night (or technically, early Saturday morning).
After a few hours of sleep, I was happy to meet up with Matt and grab breakfast! We spent the morning wandering around Chicago while I waited on Sam’s flight to get in. Once Sam arrived, we headed to the race expo to pick up our bibs. The expo was really well organized and in just a few minutes we had our shirts, bibs, and bags full of freebies.
After way too much walk walking and finally just deciding on ordering a pizza to the room for dinner, it was time for our 4:00 am alarm! Unfortunately, we woke up to pouring rain, thunder, and lightning. We made the 5 block walk to the shuttles in the rain and got there just in time to sit….and sit….and sit! The shuttles were supposed to leave at 4:45am but as you can from the screenshot, we were still waiting at nearly 5:30! We definitely appreciated being kept safe and once the storms finally cleared we were able to get to the race start and still started on time!
After a very muddy walk to and from bag check, we were off! It was rainy for most of the race and after starting in soaking wet shoes and socks, my feet were pretty much shredded after mile 3. That (and being undertrained) resulted in more walking and the slowest half I’ve ever run. I tried to take a few pictures along the way, but mostly kept my phone in a waterproof bag in the front pocket of my Nathan Hydration Pack so they’re pretty water spotted and not great quality! You can see the mud that the finish area was covered in and in the picture with that huge medal, that isn’t a brown sock, but yep! It is mud thanks to a fall on my way to grab my bag from the bag check tent.
Even with the horrible weather pre-race and the rain during the race, neither of which could be controlled, the Chicago Half was an amazingly organized and supported race! I would highly recommend this experience!
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