Rock 'n' Roll Chicago: Part 1

Mark and I arrived in the 'burbs of Chicago on Friday night so that we could wake up bright and early and get ourselves to the expo.

I think we took the 7:54 a.m. train into the city. Thank goodness we passed a Caribou Coffee on the way to the station!


The expo: We had to hoof it from Ogilvie to Michigan Avenue to catch the bus down to the McCormick Center, where the expo was taking place. McCormick is huge, and we had to hoof it ... again ... to the end of the place. We walked in and was immediately greeted by lots of logo merchandise that I want to buy but can bring myself to do it. It's against my beliefs that an expo is for two things - picking up your bib and getting free stuff.


Oh, and meeting Kara Goucher!!!

SQUEEEEEEEEEE

Let me tell you ... she is, like, the nicest person in the world. She was doing a Q&A at the expo, and she was just hanging out before she went on stage. Very nice about getting a photo, and I completely spewed that she is an inspiration to me and how I love her pregnant self. She was still very nice.


After the expo, we caught the bus and headed to Michigan Avenue. I looked at a lot of stuff, got frustrated with all of the slow-moving crowds and walked entirely too much. Mark tried to map it out, and he guessed it was 5 miles ... or more.


I was terrified that I had killed me legs with all of our walking so I busted out the Recovery Socks I picked up at the expo and wore them on the train. It was a super sexy look.


When we got back to the 'burbs, we changed clothes and headed out to Macaroni Grill to carb load. I picked whole-wheat penne with tomato-basil sauce, spinach, mushrooms and roasted garlic. YUM!

We stopped for ice cream and headed back "home" to go to bed ... at 8 p.m. Don't judge ... I had a 4 a.m. wake-up call.

Tomorrow: Race day stories!