Friday
Nikki and I flew to Chicago on Friday evening as we would be staying with Deb and her family Friday night and then driving to Wisconsin on Saturday afternoon. The airport was very uneventful and we were the only two people in the security line. I was randomly assigned TSA pre-check but it really didn't benefit me much at the Cleveland airport. Oh well! Once we had been picked up from the airport we made a quick stop for ice cream and then made it to Deb's house.
Saturday
Deb's husband, Jeremy, was planning to run the 1/2 with us so he ran some errands for the trip while Deb, Nikki, and I headed out to breakfast. After breakfast we went with Deb to watch Andrew (Deb's son) play in his soccer game. Andrew and Ellie (Deb's daughter) were both planning to stay behind in Chicago with friends but Ellie's plans fell through so Deb asked me to text Ellie and see if she wanted to run/walk the half with me. In the end Andrew stayed behind and Ellie came with us. Once we made it to Wisconsin we headed to the expo to register Ellie and pick up everyone else's packets. We didn't stay at the expo to long as everyone was pretty hungry. We enjoyed a nice dinner and a drink and then headed back to our hotel to get some rest.
Sunday
We met in the lobby at 6:00 AM and grabbed some food and then headed out to the race start to try and find parking. We arrived and parked quite easily and then headed inside to use the restrooms before the race start. We also took some pictures while we were waiting as the 1/2 marathon started an hour after the full marathon.
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| "The Girls" |
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| "The Girls" and Jeremy |
We eventually made our way to the start line and Ellie hugged her parents and we went to her corral. She was definitely a bit nervous but I explained to her that we would take it at her pace and whenever she wanted to walk we would walk. I actually had in my mind that we would probably run for 3 minutes and then walk for 1 minute based on the fact that Ellie is on the track team and I knew she could run for awhile.
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| Ellie takes good start line selfies |
We started out slow and when my watch said it was time to walk, Ellie wasn't ready so we continued to run to the first mile marker and then we walked for a short while. I did mention to her that my rule was that she had to walk for at least a minute each time we took a walk break. For the most part we would walk at the start of the next mile and then we would run until the next mile marker or the water stop (whichever came first). Ellie really did an amazing job out there! She listened to everything I told her to do and she did not complain once! That says a lot for a 14 year old who had never run further than 3 miles that morning! Ellie really enjoyed reading the signs and talking with the other runners. There was even an older runner that was trying to get Ellie to race him but she was good and listened to me and didn't wear herself out (and yes she did beat him in the end). As we entered the stadium, we saw Nikki coming back out to finish. Ellie was smiling and seemed quite happy. We crossed the finish line, side by side, in 2:41. Upon our arrival, Deb and Jeremy were standing there waiting for us. I was slightly confused as I thought "why didn't they say anything to us when they passed us on the course". Deb then explained that Jeremy was struggling with his knee and some other issues so they ended up dropping out of the race around mile 5 and walking back to the stadium so they could see Ellie finish. Since this race allowed us to cross Wisconsin off our list of 50 states, Deb will have to "make up" Wisconsin at a later date but Jeremy said he would do it with her! Poor girl still has to "make up" Alabama as she was incredibly sick and couldn't make it.
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| Incredibly proud of this little lady! |
We headed back to the hotel to shower so we could head back to Chicago as Nikki and I had a late evening flight. We made a quick stop to grab some food for lunch and figured we would grab dinner in Chicago before we made our way back to the airport. We made it back to Deb's house and we helped them move some furniture, as they are having work done on their house, and then Deb, Nikki, and I headed out to the cute Mexican restaurant down the street to grab some dinner. The food was delicious as always (yes, I had been there before). It was now time to head to the airport to catch our flight. Let's just say the Chicago airport was much more eventful than Cleveland was. Nikki was lucky enough to randomly get TSA pre-check. I on the other hand had to stand in a very long security line. Thankfully my gate was literally right outside of security but I was definitely cutting it close. It didn't help that right as it was about to be my turn some very important looking airport people brought several people up and let them cut in front of me because "they were going to miss their flight". Needless to say, I wasn't thrilled as I feared I was also going to miss my flight. In the end, I did make it in time but it was slightly overwhelming!!
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| See our state status below! |
Complete a half in all 50 states status: 17 states and D.C. completed
Completed states: Alabama, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and Wisconsin.
While we were in Wisconsin we did discuss our next state. We are definitely leaning toward Marshall University in West Virginia in November but we are hoping to possibly get another state in before then.
Keep running, you're simply the best, and you inspire me!!
