Chicago Marathon....check!

Well, yesterday was the big day and I survived my very first Chicago Marathon!!  Yesterday, could probably be one of the coolest days of my entire life - thus far.  From waking up well before sunrise, and seeing a few bar flies staggering home, I made it down to Grant Park with Chris to line up with 45,000 other people for the marathon!  It was great to have him down there to help me calm my nerves before the very start of the race.

Running through the city and seeing all of my friends along the way was by far one of the greatest things ever.  I was amazed by the number of people out there cheering everyone along the way and how there wasn't one part of the race where there wasn't someone holding up a sign of encouragement.  Just before Chinatown was probably one of the worst parts of the race.  My legs were starting to tight up and the soles of my feet were really feeling it, however just before turning into Chinatown I saw my traveling cheer group which gave me the extra push to go the last 5 miles.

I finished the race in one piece, which was my main goal.  Probably one of the coolest things I saw just as I was finishing was a man fell about 100M before the end and two medical assistants ran out there and put his arms on their shoulders and helped him cross the finish line.  What was even cooler was that the crowd began clapping and cheering him on as he crossed...it was just like in Cool Runnings! Minus the bobsled and luck egg of course :)  It was great to celebrate with everyone at Jack's after the race as well!

I'd like again to give the biggest THANK YOU to everyone for their support and generous donations to Catholic Charities.  Thanks to all of you we were able to raise $2,180 (actually more thanks to company matching programs).  A special thank you to The Walker's, The Burt's, Jay Feeney and Christina Ridgeway, Chris Kudia for your donations!

Here are a few photos from the race: