Parents, a princess and a pirate

Rocked and Rolled in Chicago

We traveled to Chicago on Saturday morning for the Rock and Roll Half Marathon. We went with Lynk, Nancy and Alex. First stop was American Girl Doll store at Watertower - wow - is all I have to say. It was huge, 2 stories and packed with moms and girls from wall to wall. Alex brought her doll and had her (the doll's) hair styled. Kylie walked all around, looking at each of the historical dolls, picking out what one she wants for her b-day or Christmas. She did have some money saved up so she picked out a dress for herself to match her "Bitty Baby's" dress. Bitty Baby is the younger girls version of American Girl, not as expensive or fancy but still very nice and a good starter doll. Mom and dad met us at AG and we arranged for them to take Kylie, Matthew and Alex back to their house to spend the night. This allowed us adults to stay downtown so we would be close to the start line for the race on Sunday morning.
Next we checked into the hotel and headed to the RNR expo to pick up our bibs, goodie bags and whatever else we couldn't live without. The expo was big but well organized. I, of course, couldn't run but I had already signed up so Nancy took my spot since the race was sold out before her and Lynk got signed up.
After the expo, we drove to the south side to one of Brett's friends for a cookout. Everyone there was very friendly so we had a nice time. The food was so good and ask Brett sometime about the corn - easily the best corn on the cob we've ever had in our lives. We stayed longer then we should have but oh well...
Alarm went off at 5:00am. We all got up and ready. Grabbed some breakfast, happy that the Hampton Inn started breakfast early so we could eat before the race. It was a quick walk to the start line and Lynk and I wished Brett and Nancy good luck. I headed for the start line because I really wanted to see the elite runners warm up and start the race. They brought in Kara Goucher, America's best female long distance runner, in for this race. I've been watching her career since reading about her in Runner's World this spring (she finished 3rd for women at Boston this spring, losing by only 8 seconds). It was easy to pick her out of the other runners, first she was a girl and second, she looked fast. She warmed up very close to me, I actually got to wish her good luck. She was very nice, really impressive. The gun went off at 6:30 and they were off! And man, those elite runners were running fast!
Brett was in corral 3 and Nancy in 4 so I cheered them on as they started their race as well. I signed up to receive text messages when they would hit different parts of the race so I would have an idea how they were doing. It paid off so well. But more on that later.
Lynk and I walked up to Michigan Ave and I headed for mile 4, which was close so I wouldn't need to walk far. Lynk went to mile 2. About 21 minutes after the gun went off, Kara and a few other elite runners past me. I kept an eye out for Brett and was happy to see him about 28 minutes into the race. He ran over to me and said he was going too fast, needed to slow his pace down. He needed some more gum, which I had in my purse, gave him a kiss and he wiped some sweat on my cheek -- yuck. :-)
I got a text saying that Nancy had past the 5K mark so I watched for her too. Didn't see her for a long time. I wanted to make sure that I saw Kara finish so when it hit 50 minutes, I left mile 4 and headed to the finish line in Grant Park. I got there just in time to see Kara win the race with a time of 68:05!!! A 5 min, 12 second average! It was amazing and I consider myself really luck to see a possible Olympic Champion race.
Soon after this I got a text saying Brett had past mile 10, so I headed up to mile 13 to try to see him. I also got a text to say that Nancy had past 10K so I texted Lynk to let him know, he never did see her at mile 4. Lynk found me waiting for Brett so we watched and cheered everyone on. Brett came tearing down the road at 1:40, he saw us and waved and kept running. He ended up finishing at 1:40:39!! That's 9 minutes faster then the Mini in May. We were very excited for him but he was disappointed that he didn't finish under 1:40. His medal is really cool but Brett being Brett, he just handed it to me and I put it in my purse.
We hung out and waited for Nancy. We were happy to see her finish at 2:40, 20 minutes faster then in May!! She said that she felt really good but her knee was getting sore. I'm so proud of both of them for setting PR's (personal records).
Since we were so close to the hotel, Brett and Nancy got to shower and cool down in our hotel room. We also had a late check out so we relaxed until noon. Then we drove to the O'hare Oasis where we rendezvoused with my parents to pick up the kiddos. They had a fun time fishing, making s'mores, playing Mario Kart and just having a good time.
The drive home was not fun. Lots of construction and tired people. The 4 hour trip took 5 but we got home safely and are thankful for that.
Fun weekend and a really good practice run-through for our Akron, OH trip for that marathon on September 26th. Looking forward to that!!!! even if I have to watch instead of run...