Chicago Marathon

So it is marathon weekend. And what a lovely weekend to have the Chicago Marathon. I went down to support my dear Chelsea.

Just a picture of Chicago.

The water stations, they looked better prepared this year than they were last year.
The elite women. The winner of the Boston Marathon 2007 won this years Chicago Marathon - Lidiya Grigoryeva and the girl that took second also took second at Boston 2008 - Alvetina Biktimirova. I had to include a close up because the women are hard core.

The elite men.

This guy kicked his way through the marathon. He was actually pretty fast.
And of course, your Elvis impersonators, there were a couple this year even though it was pretty hot outside.
I parked myself at the 6k and 18k mark and missed Chelsea on the 6k. It's hard to find people with 45,000 runners. But behold, I did find her on the 18k, unfortunately, I had my big lens on and she ran right next to me and the camera wouldn't take a picture that close. But I screamed and cheered her on. So sorry no picture of the champion Chelsea.

Great job Chels on finishing another marathon!

Chicago Half Marathon

Last weekend, I ran in the Chicago Half Marathon with my running buddy Chelsea. I decided to run it bandit with her (bandit=running w/out registering for the race) and it was a crazy race. It poured the whole time, but was great nonetheless. I had the intention of running the whole 13.1 miles, but after Chelsea left me in the dust (mud might be more appropriate) at mile 3, I decided to quit at mile 5. But I ran the last quarter mile into the finish line with Chelsea. I remembered from previous experience that you can fake a 5k, and you can almost fake a 10k, but you can't fake a half or full marathon. Chels ended up running a great race, and I'll be there to cheer her on during the Chicago Marathon, where hopefully she will requalify for Boston, and we can do Boston 09 together!!!!!

My little Chelsea is a Mom

This is Chelsea, I've talked about her before. She is my running buddy and probably the only person that I would be happy for if she beat me (which she almost always does). She is very dedicated to running and is super fast. Sometimes she enters races under the name S. Fast, like K. Swtizer (first woman to run the Boston marathon), because she is super fast and doesn't want there to be any confusion on who it is that is going to win the race (be it male or female). Anyway, a funny thing happened this last summer, we ran the Freedom Festival 5k and I beat her. I thought "this is unusual, Chelsea can always keep up or beat me". Well the reason I beat her, unbeknownst to me (and her) was that she was pregnant. So now turn your head to see the picture below, Chelsea and the cause of her slowness, little baby Emmy - who is adorable and so tiny (I got to hold her, and it made me very happy)! They say that after you have a baby, your race times drop because you know how to handle pain and exhaustion.Chelsea has signed up for the Chicago marathon this fall, and I'll be there to watch her break the 3 hour mark, (she can now that she has given birth, it's a right of passage). I love ya Chels, maybe we can start training together soon, or maybe I'll just hold Emmy while you run because I need a break, or better yet, we can do Boston '09 together. Think about it.