Chicago Marathon

This weekend P and I went to Chicago to run the Chicago Marathon (with an awesome cheer team that we sadly missed!). It was 34 degrees and I didn't pack a single piece of warm weather gear. Thank goodness for expos. My goal was to finish under 4 hours. I finished in 4:16, no thanks to a pre-race meal of ramen at the Slurping Turtle. I should have known better. In fact, I did know better but the huge bowls of delicious miso ramen and red bean macaroons were so freakin tempting. P (who decided last minute to run), paced me for about 17 miles and then we split. So aside from not meeting my goal time (there's always the next race), it was a great course and amazing crowd. I'll definitely be running Chicago again.

What else did we do beside run? We ate a shit ton of food. We had Italian at Volare (HUGE portions of pasta and so reasonably priced. I got the spinach fettuccine with bolognese), hot dogs at Portillo (get the Italian beef dog or Italian beef sandwich), pizza at the original Uno's, red velvet pancakes at The Bongo Room, and of course the miso ramen at the Slurping Turtle that gave me problems on marathon day. 

                

Aside from eating we wandered around Wicker Park and made it to the Signature Room at the Hancock Building. The views are amazing if you are willing to wait in line to go up. It goes pretty fast though so if you're not in a rush, I would recommend it. Drinks, of course, are expensive, including seltzer. 

We also did the architecture tour on the Chicago River, which, despite the touristy-ness of it, was pretty f-ing cool. I heard about it from my friends who are from Chicago and recommended it. It's a cool way to see the city and learn about the history of the buildings. I always have a blast when I'm in Chicago. It's just too bad it's so damn cold there.