Rock ‘N Roll Half Marathon

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5:45am–My alarm goes off.

6:05am–I walk out the door.

6:07am–I realize that I can’t make it another step without a copious amount of coffee and bagels.  Maybe donuts too.

6:15am–I arrive at the CARA (Chicago  Area Runners Association) water station for the Rock ‘N Roll Half Marathon with a bag of bagels, donuts AND muffins after a Dunkin Donuts stop.

6:30am–25,000 runners start their race.  Man-Friend ran it, as well as several of my friends and it could not have been a more gorgeous day.  I was absolutely blown away by how courteous these runners were!  I know our water station was at mile 3 and people were still pretty fresh but pretty much every runner who grabbed a cup of water for me said thank you, thank you for volunteering.  I don’t know about you but when I run, my focus is on putting one foot in front of another.  These people had 10 miles ahead of them but still took the time to share some love.

After I was done hydrating some rockin’ runners, I headed to Buckingham Fountain to wait for Man-Friend to finish the race.

I watched as the runners met up with their loved ones, locals had their morning coffee and met a nice little Vizsla named Scout.  Ryan did great–he was out of town all week for work and didn’t get back until Saturday evening but got his butt out there and ran the 13.1.  I’m so proud of him!  I’m absolutely on board now to kick up my marathon training.  I have a little over 2 months and as long as I increase my long runs by 2 miles each week, I will be hitting over 20miles by October.  It’s in the bag.

Congrats on the Half Marathon, Ryan, Mike, Lindsay, Christina, Carina, Bill and Giuliana!  (I had to throw Bill and Giuliana in there because I ran into them while I was running down Michigan Avenue this morning so they’re practically my neighbors, ya know?)

High Five of the Day: Our basil plant is now 4 weeks old and alive and well.  This is a record for me.  I am loving being able to walk over to the window and pluck off leaves to throw in our dinner–definitely made our sun-dried tomato, roasted red pepper and chicken pasta last night oh-so-delicious.