Chicago Marathon

This year’s Chicago Marathon was much cooler than the last two with a start time temperature of 33 degrees – a far contrast from last year’s starting temperature of 64 degrees, which eventually warmed up to the mid 80s and 2007’s high temperatures in the 90s eventually causing race officials to close the course.

The Marathon
As was the case last year, I was mainly interested in seeing the men’s and women’s elite fields. The race started earlier than last year at 7:30 am. Once the race began, the Ultimate Sports Wife and I walked over to the 7.5 mile mark on Addison St. in between Lake Shore Dr. and Broadway St. since it was too cold to wait for them very long. The men ran by at the 35 minute mark while the women showed up at 43 minutes.

The main story line of the day was whether the 2008 Olympic gold medalist Sammy Wanjiru could set a world record with such cold temperatures. Wanjiru did not set the world record but did set a course record by one second – running the 26.2 mile course in 2:05:41. He also became the youngest runner with three World Marathon Major wins (the Marathon Majors consist of Chicago, Berlin, Boston, London and New York City).

Chicago Marathon

This morning we headed over to watch the Chicago Marathon. Once the Elite runners started the race at 7:55 am we left the house and walked over to the Northwest corner of the course at Addison St. and Broadway St. Since our corner is between mile marker 7 and 8 we figured it would take “the elites” about 30 minutes to reach us. Thus, we stopped off at Starbuck’s for some coffee since we had time. Around 36 minutes after the race started the elite men ran by us. At 44 minutes the elite women ran by. Then as you would expect, the masses descended upon us.

As with any marathon, the main reason you are watching is to see your friends take on the 26.2 mile odyssey. Of course, with 45,000 people running and 30,000 completing the race it can be difficult to spot your friends. Thus, a strategy needs to be implemented. One of our friends, whose husband was running in the race, bought a Hannah Montana balloon so her husband could spot us. That worked as he found us before we even saw him.

After the race we went out for brunch. What better way to end an early Sunday morning.