simple iowa boy in chicago, enjoying life, love and the web.
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A yoga studio in Arlington Heights IL.
ChicagoMarathon
See all posts on posterous with this tag ยปOur route for viewing the Chicago Marathon
We left our hotel in River North at 6:15 and headed for Spot A on the map, where Ben and I dropped off Becci and Jara. From there we headed down Congress to pick up coffee at an open Starbucks (there's an app for that!) on Dearborn in Printers Row.
We made for Spot 1 (LaSalle and Monroe) which was ~ Mile 2.5 in the run. Saw both girls, the elite's and lots of people. Spent some extra time and stopped in my office to get warm because we knew we had 10 miles before they would be back from the run up north.
Next was Spot 2 (Washington and Franklin ~ Mile 12.5 / 20K) and it was packed. It's a water spot so it took some time to get a position to see but we saw both girls again. Managed to get a good picture of Jara.
After that we headed down Wells to Harrison (walked by Gotham City's Police Department). At Spot 3 (Harrison and Halsted ~ 16.5 miles) we saw Jara and then Ben took off for Spot 4. I waited for Bec and managed one picture as she kept going...
I walked down Halsted to Spot 4 (Halsted and 18th ~ 20 miles) and managed to find Ben just after he saw Jara. We waiting for Bec and after seeing her headed across 18th Street.
Spot 5 (18th and Michigan) was at 25.2 miles and packed (had we known that just a 1/2 mile north was wide open we would have gone up there instead). Both the girls came past very happy to be on the last mile!
Ben and I headed for the pickup location at Spot B, but because they had very poor signage at the race site we were stuck at the finish area unable to continue down columbus and had to back track to get to the other side of the fountain. When we made it to the pickup spot, both girls were more then ready to go and we hobbled our way back to the hotel.
The route worked pretty well and just under 10 miles of walking (which explains why my dogs were barking at the end).
The iPhone, once again, proved invaluable. I use Maps & the GPS for walking distance, Starbucks to see which one was open on Sunday, Snapture for pictures, Tweetie2 for tweets and PicPosterous to send in live photos. How did I every get around without it :-)!
