Why, you might ask, would I choose to do a race in Chicago in the middle of August when it's hotter than (insert your preferred metaphor here)? Well, a few reasons:
1. I'd been wanting to visit my dear friend Candace and my darling cousin Dana in Chicago for a while, but I didn't want go there in the winter when it's colder than (insert your preferred metaphor here).
2. Since I've committed to doing a race per month this year, I needed one for August, and the Chicago Distance Classic (CDC) seemed as good a race as any: big city with stuff to do in addition to the race, popular (12K estimated entrants), etc.
3. Since I've complained enough about how cold I've been in previous races this year, figured I'd try the other extreme.
4. Last, but certainly not least, I'd read about Alinea restaurant and had to try it. In fact, to show you where my priorities lie, I made the Alinea reservation first, booked my flight second, and then registered for the race. More on Alinea to come in a separate post.
Here's how the weekend went:
Friday, August 10
4:45 pm - Touched down at O'Hare a bit early. That's a refreshing and pleasant start!
6 pm - Arrived at Candace's fab apartment in Oprah's hood. The moment I got there, Candace banished my little jacket -- a San Francisco wardrobe staple -- to the closet, never to be seen again until I left on Monday.
8 pm ish - The two of us gussied ourselves up and headed out to Cafe Iberico for dinner. It was so nice to walk to the restaurant and breathe the warm night air. Once we got to the restaurant, it wasn't so nice to breathe smoke. Thankfully, a smoking ban is going into effect in January. We ordered two dishes from the traditional tapas menu: Tortilla Espanola and Seared Scallops with Rice. Both were excellent and authentic.
10 pm ish - Candace's friend Rob met us at Cafe Iberico, then the three of us went to Fulton Lounge for after-dinner cocktails. When we arrived, we were carded. I'm not even in the door yet and I LOVE this place! We got there just in time to be escorted to one of the last available tables. The one word I'd use to describe the decor would be "mod." Low tables, Eames-y chairs and a big shag rug along the perimeter are the perfect vantage point from which to observe the action at the bar and sip scrumptious specialty cocktails. On Rob's recommendation I ordered the Key Lime Pie Martini -- Absolut Vanilla, KeKe Beach Liqueur and pineapple juice served in a graham cracker rimmed glass. True to their menu's promise, it was even better than a slice of the real thing. I kicked off my shoes to let my feet enjoy the shag rug while the rest of me enjoyed my drink, the atmosphere, the music and the great company.
Saturday, August 11
10 ish - Brunch at Tavern on Rush. Features sidewalk seating and an extensive menu of breakfast specialties. I decided to go for a short stack with banana and mango - however the waitress informed me that it might be difficult for the chefs to fit more than one type of fruit on the dish. Perplexing... especially since when the pancakes arrived, the bananas took up very little plate real estate. What was there was very good, though.
After brunch we headed over to the Race Expo at the Hilton. The main floor of the hotel had no race signage whatsoever, and while there were tons of people everywhere, they didn't seem to be there for the race (no telltale Expo goodie bags in hand, for example). So we spent a bit of time figuring out where to go, but once we got to the North West Hall, there were no lines and everything was well- organized. At this point I should note that if I have one criticism of the CDC's pre-race communications, it's that among the gazillion emails they sent me, and among all the flyers in the goodie bag, the only reference to the race start location that I recall finding was on the PDF of the course map on the race web site. It would be much more helpful to include the info in the race day logistics email and/or on something similar in the goodie bag. Maybe they figure there aren't that many people like me that travel to run this race, so people know what they're doing or at least have access to a computer. However, I'd implore any organizers of this race or others to consider this feedback in your game plan.
The rest of the afternoon was spent seeing Chicago sights such as the big silver bean in Millenium Park and the Architecture Tour (an expertly narrated boat ride) at Navy Pier.
8 pm - Carbo loading at Quartino Restaurant. In fact, it was a carb and cheese orgy that included a Pizza Quatro Formaggi, Caprese Salad, Potato Gnocchi with Green Beans and Arugula Pesto, and Cavatelli with Fresh Tomatoes and Fresh Ricotta. Everything was very good, the pastas in particular. Though I later learned that I should "Save room for dessert," (Crain's Chicago Business) at the time we couldn't even bring ourselves to look at the menu. We had a great table upstairs, away from the din of the main floor, but still very much in the thick of things. In fact, I don't think there's a bathroom downstairs, so everyone came upstairs and past our table to get to the WC. This was akin to having front row seats at Fashion Week. Though the couture wasn't necessarily haute, it was a vast improvement over San Francisco, where in a restaurant like this each and every woman would be wearing "the uniform" = jeans and a cute top.
Sunday, August 12
5:30 am - Rise and shine and get ready for the 6:30 race start. They start the race early to beat the heat. Thankfully, it rained a bit last night and that's cooled things down a little bit.
5:45 am - Head downstairs to grab a cab to the race start in Grant Park. As I'm leaving Candace's building, three guys are leaving the bar next door, finally ending their night as I'm starting my day. Toto, we're definitely not in San Francisco anymore. They see my bib and attire and ask me if I'm going for a little run. Yes, a little 13.1 mile run this morning, boys. Care to join me?
6:00 am - I still haven't been able to hail a cab. One cabbie even stopped, but when I told him where I was going, he said he couldn't take me, he was going home. I started walking down State Street and just as I was getting worried that I might not make it to the start in time, I got a cab. Arrived in plenty of time for my pre-race stretching and CLIF Builder's Bar rituals. It was so nice to stand at the start in shorts and a tank instead of long running pants, long sleeves and gloves for a change.
6:30 am - Race time! For this race report, I'll do a pro/con format:
Pros:
- Started right on time.
- Though I heard folks complaining that the course wasn't as nice as the Chicago Marathon course, as a tourist I enjoyed the sights, especially Soldier Field, the planetarium and the lakefront.
- There was a bit of a cloud cover for most of the race so while it was warm, the heat and sun weren't oppressive.
- Plenty of wide-open space in the finish-line transition area
- ChampionChip timing
- Finshers' medal -- not too heavy, not too gaudy, nice ribbon
Cons:
- The quietest race I've run this year - the only music I remember was at the start, the finish and one or two other places.
- Fan support was concentrated in a few areas, rather than being consistent the entire way.
- Many narrow stretches - difficult to keep a consistent, comfortable stride.
- They ran out of cups at two of the water stops.
Finished the race in 2:21:25, achieving my goal of beating my time from SF two weeks ago by a mere minute and five seconds. I was pleased with that considering the Chicago course was more flat-to-uphill, vs SF which was more flat-to-downhill. Plus, I was running with a minor injury. I'd accidentally disregarded rule #1 of race training: Don't do anything differently the week prior. Don't eat differently, don't dress differently, don't work out differently (aside from tapering). Unfortunately I'd used a different treadmill at the gym than I normally do, and pulled a muscle in the arch of my foot. I was bound and determined to do the race, though, and while I was running it didn't hurt too badly thanks to the adrenaline factor. Once that wore off I realized how bad it actually was and I hope I didn't screw it up too much. Thankfully, my next race isn't for another six weeks.
9 am - After the race, Dana met me near the finish line after a pretty hilarious cell phone exchange trying to locate each other (Dana: Go North. Laura: Where's North? Dana: OK, now go away from the lake. Laura: I don't see a lake! etc.)
12 pm - After a much-needed shower and nap, Candace and I went over to Dana's for a relaxing afternoon on her condo's pool deck. Dana made us a delicious lunch of barbecued chicken, green salad, Asian slaw & noodle salad, and fruit. From there we went to Karen's Nails for what is becoming another post-race ritual: the mani/pedi.
7 pm - Dinner at Alinea. (See separate post).
Monday, August 13
8 am - Fly to NY for the second part of my summer vacation. Stay tuned!
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