Sweet Home Chicago

So the 4th of June came and ended and they drew the lottery for the ING NYC Marathon that day. As many of you know, I got the big, bold NO next to my name in the accepted column. I really wanted to run this race this year, and that feeling of grew over the course of the day, after I found out my friend Chooch was accepted earlier in the day. To be able to run the same race as him and the world famous Squirrel would have been very cool. I am not in the same league as either of these guys as far as speed right now, although in my first two marathons, my performances haven't been that far away from what they did in their first two. So there's still hope for me I guess.

So I was really bummed for a couple days, but then I really got to thinking about this trip as a whole. First and formost, I really wanted to run with Squirrel, but in reality, I had my chance to do that in May in Cinci, and bypassed it to stay here and run the marathon in my hometown instead. So I can't feel bad about that. Chooch and I have never run the same race, but I know we'll get that chance soon. A trip to Chciago will cost me a fraction of what a trip to NY will, I think right now, RT airline tickets are right in the 160-175 range. And I'll stay a little different this year than I did last year. Probably closer to Midway, to downtown, and closer to the El, because cab fare just kills you. And really I am way more a Chicago guy than a New York guy anyways. I love the Cubs, although not a big fan of the rest of the sports teams. It really is my kind of city. I've traveled a lot the last year or so, and it's the one I enjoyed the most from a city standpoint. Chooch was a great Chicago host, while TJ was awesome in Phoenix when I was there, and I did love LA and all that went with it. The Blues Brothers is one of my favorite movies, and I've been called Clark Griswold a time or two while decorating the house for Christmas, lol. It's my kind of feel, my kind of town. Plus I really wanted to run the one there last year, so thank GOD I registered when I did. I can't seem to get my corral status fixed with them, but hopefully we'll work it out.

So my training program starts on Monday, so today I am sitting over a couple (the word couple used very loosly) beers, will probably head to the Trailhead for lunch or something, and enjoy my last day before I start a very serious training cycle. I will start updating in this blog pretty much every day the workouts that have been done, how I feel, and how I think things are coming along. It will really be a Daily paper at that time. Some updates may be short, but I'll try and check in every day.

The clock is ticking...