Off to Chicago! We were both looking forward to some new places, some cool weather, and a babysitter. Flight went fine, Janna was our sucka who got stuck in the row w. parents. G was mostly behaved. And getting our shit from luggage was not as horrendous as it might have been, though moving all our luggage and out t.human did most certainly suck, a theme which would continue theme all weekend.

Our first impression of Chicago was that cab rides are insanely expensive, traffic is horrendous, and thankgod the happy hour at Embassy Suites goes til 7:30 and not 7. Never was half an hour of free drinking put to such good use, a theme which would continue all weekend. Bob and Bette arrived at 7:17 and may quite possibly have done as strongly. It felt like home, or any other Embassy Suites anywhere in the country. Oddly enough, this was still a fabulous vacation for me so far.

Getting up in the morning with G took longer than expected. This should not come as a surprise, yet it does. Over and over again, t.Human’s power over Time continues to astound. So we had a short workout, and then complete and total engorgement at the free Embassy Suites buffet, a theme that would continue all weekend.

What followed was something I’d like to blot from my memory. We had to pack up all our shit, and switch hotels. Yet again. There needs to be bigger words for this, to fully express the looming horror that this process had already engendered in me. Not only would it suck, involve too many heavy uncomfortable bags, millions of other people, dripping coolers, and a screaming baby…and over and over I would repeat the build-up and engagement of the horror that was moving all our shit. It was Sisyphus, knowing the stupid rock would roll down again. And again. He had themes that repeated all weekend too.

We piled into Bob’s car to head to the expo. It too, is something I’d rather blot from my memory. I’m not going to point fingers…let’s just say that horrible traffic, 4 mouths and a tiny mouth, luggage, opinions, and a driver’s particular idiom don’t mix well. Not sure I would have done much better. The expo was a lot of fun. It was huge! This whole event was huge! 45,000 runners…an army of masochists in skinny neon shorts! And enough free shit at the expo for…quite literally…everyone and their mother. As if our luggage woes were not enough, we added at least 25lbs of powerbars, recovery shakes, and energy beans. I counted when we got home, and it was like 40 snack bars, 30 power bars, 20 goo shots, 20 beans. I can’t event remember the number was so big, but it currently occupies 4 bags in my pantry.

After the expo, we…meaning G chased by 4 adults..played in a grassy area for a while, then it was back into the car, a theme that would blah blah blah.

We found Lakeshore Drive, Soldier Field (which looks like the most atrocious un-Fountainheadish creation ever imagined), and the aquarium. Here is where I had my short, and single, meltdown of the weekend. It was wrong and a little embarrassing, but as Beckie would later attest, really below average for the group that weekend and not really that bad. I was sick of being inside, the aquarium and people and a squirmy baby seemed like a terrible idea. It actually wasn’t bad, but we were only there about an hour. My and G’s favorite part was the underwater tanks, we both loved the sea lions. She thought they were kilas. Turned out to be a good call – thanks Bob for the tix.

Back in the car, the repeating horror, flumbling our way through Chicaco to our 2nd hotel, the repeated horror of moving all our shit…and finally a nice room smack dab in the middle of downtown. The room was sweet, it overlooked the river and the Lake. The hotel had everything, and was the most enormous and service-laden establishment i have ever stayed in. Off to the gym and to buy some beer while Beckie wound down, then early to bed.

I got up at 5, so I could get some time in the gym before Beckie and Janna (who crashed in our room) got up at 6. i rolled, they rolled, me and G hung out and had a leisurely morning of guilt free eating without worry over cleaning the floors. We ate, we stretched, we did yoga on the hotel’s video system. Our hotel room overlooked the first crossing of the river about .5 mile into the race, and G and I watched the start from 9 stories up. It went like this: motorcycle cops leading the pack out, wheelchair competitors, a blindingly fast lead group of elite men mostly from Kenya, then 35,000 others. It looked to me like the Kenyans were hunting the wheelchairs, then they in turn were being chased by a mob.

G and I saddled up to walk along the course and meet Beckie at mile 12. The course winds through many parts of Chicago you have heard of in sports, tv and movies. But fortunately mile 12 was a brief mile and a half along the Chicago River from the hotel. We enjoyed the walk, looked for Jake and Elwood screaming down West Wacker drive, saw the parking garage where Steve McQueen drove the bad guy off the roof, and noticed that every street or site in Chicago is named after a guy with an extremely white name.

We got to mile 12 JUST as Beckie came flying by. DAMN! She didn’t hear me as I yelled at her. A quick look at the map revealed that with about a mile or so of walking we could intercept the marathon again at mile 17. So off we set, with much more purpose and mission. Now G is getting to be a big little girl, and her in that carrier is not nuthin, but I also noticed how dang hot it was. Turns out the high this day would come to 87 and be one of the hottest days they’d seen in October, ever. This came to have significant consequences for the marathon, and many runners were cramping or walking or flat-out DNF relatively early in the race. We heard stories of people in the back not having water at the earliest rest stops, a guy in the airport who was a pretty good runner talked about quitting at mile 12 rather than risk injury, people running into stores to buy Gatorade, hundreds of people eventually went to the hospital and one died.

We hoofed it to mile 17 and took up a good spot on the street. With some of the key points in the race being so close together – the finish was only about 2 miles away – many other people elected to follow the race from point to point like us. Lots of fans on bikes, it would have been really fun to do it that way. About 5 minutes after I arrived, Beckie came rolling by. Dayum I am good picking her times. I screamed and shouted and finally ran next to her until she noticed us. This was as always a good pick-me-up for Beckie, but sent G into paroxysms of unhappiness and woe. In her mind, Mommy appeared out of thin air, gave her a kiss, then vanished into a sweaty fog.

G was upset.

She pouted for awhile.

Back to the hotel, a refreshing lunch of stuff she could filthify as much as she wanted, then another walk through the hotel and to the gym. I figure I managed an hour of cardio, and hour of lifting and stretching, and 2 hours of hauling Genevieve around Chi-town, so I did not have to feel like a fat sack of crap around my wife. Beckie arrived, happy with her time and commenting on how hot it was. But mostly she was just fine. She trained in the heat, and knew how to take car of herself. we both talked about how many walkers and cramping we saw, but figured whatever, hot is part of life for us. I tried to teach G to point and say “Quitter!”

Meanwhile, still no word from Janna.

Then we moved hotels, again. In Bob’s car, again. It was horrible, again. But I was actually rather prepared for it, I drank quickly and liberally during a limited window, again.

We finally heard from Janna at the next hotel, and the story was they stopped the race. It started at mile 13, and rolled all the way up til almost the end. Janna got stopped at mile 22 and was on like a 4:20 pace. We heard some got stopped at mile 25! We had a lot of mixed feelings about this. As an mtb’r, I think you embrace certain risks and a greater degree of self-sufficiency in an endurance race compared to runners; I’m looking for much less support on the trail, but runners expect support. The race being out of water is just huge for a runner. But, what is wrong with you if you come to an event and train for it and then don’t stick an emergency $5 in your shoe? Being from AZ we treat the heat with more respect than a lot of people did, quite simply, many of these people did not know how or were even aware of the toll a hot day takes. Chicago draws A LOT of first timers who don’t know what they are about to put their bodies through in a marathon, under the best of conditions. But, doesnt it seem like every person you meet now is “running” a 7 hr marathon, and gawdurnit it SHOULD be hard? So many opinions. But what finally led us to accept the decision to tstop the race was the reported “running out of ambulances”. So many people went to the hospital, both the city and some of the surrounding suburbs were out of ambulances. At that point, if you simply can’t ensure someone’s safety, its time to stop the race. And in fact, it was reveal that the one runner who died was driven in an ambulance from the suburbs that did get slightly lost en route to the hospital. Did the delay cause his death, hard to know?

After settling at the next hotel, another Embassy Suite that looked just like every other Embassy Suites, G rallied for another romp around town. This would be fun for us all to take a nice casual walk through the cool parts of Chicago.

Lakefront\downtown Chicago is a very nice area to check out. I did not get to wear long pants all weekend , which I take as proof of global warming.

Back in time for another Embassy Suites happy hour, this time the extended version. I pretty much drank myself retarded and ate way too many empanada things, watching football, and finally collapsing.

Next day…checkout and move our shit, again…ride in the car, again. Bob and Bette headed home, and we set out to explore the lakefront area some more. Our first stop was Millenium Square where there was an incredibly fun fountain designed for kids to swim and play. G steered clear of the falls, and prefers her bathing nekkid, but otherwise had a fabulous time.

We walked, we rode in the stroller, we made our way out to the end of Navy Pier.

We went to the Lake, more walking, more hauling our crap to the airport. More hauling stuff home, driving out to EBF Gilbert to pick up Kila from one of my very gracious co-workers, and finally to bed.