I mowed the lawn the other day. It didn’t need it. I just did it to take my mind off the elephant in the room – it’s race week and the Chicago Marathon is Sunday. It’s on my mind constantly.
You would think that I would be used to pre-race jitters by now. This will be my 23rd marathon (if you count the five Ironman marathons, and I do), and tenth Chicago Marathon total. I’m not new to this, and I know that once I start moving forward everything will be okay. But damn, the nerves are kicking in hard.
To start, I didn’t get an email with the packet pick-up QR code that you need to get your bib and t-shirt at the expo. I got every other damn email they sent me to remind me about everything regarding the race, but not that one. It wasn’t in my inbox, my junk folder, or in the e-trash bin. Trust me I checked, numerous times. I posted that I didn’t get the email on r/ChicagoMarathon on Reddit and found that I wasn’t alone. Someone mentioned that they emailed the race and got a new email within a couple of days. So I went with that approach. Crickets. Then I get one of their regular emails stating “Packet Pick-up tickets cannot be resent. Please go to Participant services… at the expo.” Great. Thursday comes and I check my email – lo and behold – a nice email from Kelli thanking me for being a Legacy Finisher and the missing/replacement QR code.
I hate driving into the city, so I looked at the Metra service to get me to the expo. It looked like the Metra Electric line east of me runs by McCormick Place. Perfect. I asked a police officer coworker of mine if that train line was safe, and he strongly suggested not to take it. Interestingly, my Facebook friends mostly said that it would be fine. I rechecked the schedule from another “safer” place to catch the train and it turns out that none of the afternoon trains even stop at McCormick Place. Driving it is.
I found the Chicago Marathon’s suggested parking garage fine, the one with the half-rate cheap parking. But once in there I had no idea where to go. There was no signage, so I found someone who looked like they had just come from there and they directed me to continue going in the direction I was heading. I found some people getting on the elevator and I asked if they were heading to the expo and got a yes. Great. Up the elevator and down the hall and we were there. I was sure that I was going to have trouble finding my way back to the car.
The expo on opening day Thursday wasn’t too bad, and the check-in volunteers were great. I got my envelope with my bib and started heading to the back of the expo to pick up the t-shirt. I wandered through the Nike store with the official race gear and glanced at some of the offerings. I was unimpressed. The quality seemed poor and the prices were crazy. When I saw how long the line was to overpay for cheap stuff, I made my way out of the store and walked to the back for my t-shirt. I have been to the expo numerous times, and there’s really nothing there that I need. I made my way back to the exit but didn’t see where the event posters were located. The volunteer that I asked didn’t have any idea either. I finally found a guy who had one and he pointed me to the booth. I have to have a poster for my basement workout room shrine to myself. (I took an extra one for the shrine at work, too!)
I was right about not knowing my way back to the parking garage. I doubled back two times and finally found the way out. I got my parking ticket validated and was back on the road quickly. Glad I got in and out of the expo. It was underwhelming and just causing further stress.
At home, I began the “nesting” process where you gather all the running crap that I still own and figure out what I will wear and use on race day. Sometimes I will overthink this way too much, and the five different shirt/shorts/socks/visor options will need to shrink down. I also had the bright idea to bring enough gels to eat one every 20 minutes. I’ll look like a clown carrying that many gels. Time to pare that down as well. Eating a gel every 30 minutes has worked well in the past. Why change it now?
Oh, and let’s stress about the weather a little too while we are at it! I’ve been checking the weather app constantly for ten days now, and nothing has really changed. Low 50s (d. F) for the start rising to mid-60s and dry. So the weather looks to be pretty good, and last year’s race had perfect weather and was one of the reasons I signed up to run the race this year. That’s a win. Stop stressing.
I will carbo load on Friday night, and eat a sandwich or something easy Saturday night. I’m not trusting the restaurants downtown, not so much for the food causing issues, but more so for the lack of availability. Maybe some soup and bread with the wife.
I’m staying at the Palmer House Hilton, very close to the start/finish line. I will walk the route to the Jackson Street race day entrance, and then walk from where the exit from the finish line to the hotel in case my wife can’t find me. I can get turned around very easily downtown.
And that reminds me, I bought an Apple AirTag device, which I plan to carry so Kari can track me more precisely. It’s an extra thing that I will have to have on me, but I think it is worth it.
Just writing this stuff down has been a good stress reliever. Now I just have to kill 1 DAY : 16 HOURS : 14 MINUTES: 37 SECONDS until race day. Not that I am counting or anything. Pre-race nerves stink.
an amazing run 