Chicago (An Updated Photo Edition)

This will be my first attempt at adding photos to my blog so please bare with the results.




I saw all of these porta-potties and I couldn't resist getting a shot. People complain about the lack of bathrooms before the races in Philly and now I know why. Heather wasn't to keen on my normal pre-race ritual of peeing behind the closest obstruction so I actually used one of these things.









Heather and I in front of Buckingham Fountain. A ridiculously large fountain in the center of Grant Park not far from the start and finish of the race.









Heather was able to snap a photo of me near the finish. This is right before the final turn up the "hill" and to the finish. Josh is the guy in front of me, he was able to outkick me at the finish, another reason I need to get to the track.











This is a shot of Ryan and I at the post-race party. At this point we were fairly sober (at least I was, Ryan got there a while before me) but that was to change over the next couple hours. Ryan doesn't show it to much but I could tell he was incredibly happy with his time in the marathon. It was nice to have a friend to enjoy the race with.








We had to be out of our hotel by noon and our flight didn't leave until 8:30 so Heather and I wandered around downtown Chicago for most of the day on Monday. It was blustery and cold and neither of us really had the right clothes to deal with the temps but we sucked it up and enjoyed the city. We turned a corner and there was the the sculpture from "Ferris Bueller's Day Off". Heather didn't remember the scene in the movie so I did my best renditions of "Shout" and "Danke Schene" but I couldn't stir any memories.



As for my running. I did 4.4 miles on Tuesday which felt much better than I thought it would. I have also come down with a cold. I know I've read somehwere that you are much more likely to catch a cold after running a marathon and I guess it is true. I'm glad I got it this week and not last.

I'm going to make an attempt to go to the gym for an actual workout and maybe some swimming over the next couple months before getting into training for Boston.

I'll try to keep up 30-40 miles a week with at least a 10 mile long run and some speedwork. That should keep me in decent shape and hopefully make me a little quicker. The rest of this week will be spent on my ass or at least out of my running shoes.