Good morning everyone! I hope you all had a great start to the week yesterday! Mine was pretty uneventful, I had breakfast with my parents before they headed out and then I basically hung around and did… nothing (aka blog reading and netflix watching) until Girls On The Run practice and then did… nothing after that! Haha, but I did walk to and from practice so I covered about 4 miles of walking. That might seem like a lot post-marathon but it really shook out my legs and made them a little less stiff.
Other than sore legs, I’m doing great! I know I gave you all a recap of the race yesterday, but I still wanted to share the rest of the weekend with you!
On Friday morning I headed to the expo and I was definitely overwhelmed, everything was huge! Haha. They did a nice job setting it all up.
At the front they were playing video of the marathon, plus a video of the entire course. I’d seen it on youtube but it was 9 minutes long a little daunting… I had to watch it in 2 parts to keep from getting overwhelmed!
The first thing I did was pick up my bib number, with my d-tag on the back (the tag you put on your shoe so they can time you). This was the most exciting part! At first the volunteer helping me seemed to have a lot of trouble finding my number… I freaked out a bit! But she found it and I was ready to go!
After getting my number I headed to the back to get my race bag and t-shirt (they so cleverly place everything so you HAVE to walk through the expo… And then I made my way up and down all the aisles to see everything!
The Nike booth was pretty cool because they had a big wall of everyone’s name who had registered for the race! They were clearly a hug sponsor of the marathon because #OwnChicago (their slogan) was everywhere and their booth was about 20 times bigger than the others.
Obviously I had to find my name! After fighting a few people off, I finally did! (p.s. that’s the cool way to spell Kathryn, just FYI)
I even asked a stranger to take my picture again! That’s the thing I loved about the expo – everyone was taking pictures of themselves! Haha I didn’t feel like a crazy blogger!
I also got my picture underneath the countdown sign! I couldn’t believe it at the time – less than 2 days!
And then on the way out I bothered one more person for a final picture! I was so overwhelmed as I left – I was a part of something HUGE! And the expo definitely showed me that; just how many people were involved in this one event, including little old me!
When I left the expo I decided to use their shuttle service since the L was almost a mile walk. They had school buses set up to take people to 3 different locations downtown. I hopped on one and before I knew it I was in the Gold Coast! It was very convenient. I transferred to a CTA bus and headed north to Bountiful Eatery to meet up with Chelsey and Tina for lunch!
Lindsay had sent me an article about the restaurant and since it was all gluten free, I had to check it out! We all got pita wraps and they were delicious! I’m definitely going back. It was also so great to meet Tina! I’ve been reading her blog forever and was so excited to spend some time with her while she was in town!
After that it was straight to Girls On the Run practice, dinner with my parents and then home to bed!
Saturday was pretty calm, as I’d hoped it would be! I went to the farmers market with my parents, had lunch with them as well as my Aunt Marty and her friend, and then spent the whole afternoon relaxing before dinner at Mia Francesca with my parents, my cousin Allie, who was also running, and her parents and finance. We love going to Mia Francesca because 1) Allie loves it and 2) they have gluten free pasta so obviously I love it!
I had such a wonderful time with my family in town (can’t you tell? I didn’t even think to take pictures!). I was so thankful that they came out to support me! Although it made me feel a little more pressure before they arrived, once they were there it was just all supportive! It meant so much to have them there to cheer me on!
Have you ever been to a big expo before?
Where is your favorite place to eat when you’re celebrating or you have people visiting? (Or you need to carbo load!?)
I went to the expo before my half, but it was mostly disappointing. Just people selling stuff and few freebies. (And I’m a girl who loves freebies!)
BTW you look so pretty with your hair curly! 🙂
This was definitely the biggest expo I’ve been to!
my sister’s name is spelled the right way then! 😉 Smart parents.
Haha we both have very smart parents!
I can’t wait to run a larger race with a big race expo like that!! I can only imagine how excited for racing you got while walking through there. Wow!!
I’m still trying to discover all the great gluten-free restaurants in our city. I do have a favourite bakery though, Thimble Cakes — I’ll be taking people there when they visit from now until the end of eternity. Literally. Those cakes are little bites of heaven.
omg Thimble Cakes is the cutest bakery name! Sounds good!
When we have people visiting I like going out for sushi or Mexican – aka, it’s an excuse to eat one of my two favourite cuisines. 😀
Haha perfect excuse! I always call my brother when I want Mexican, he’ll never say no!
I love race expos! I went to the Boston Marathon expo this year to pick up my number for the 5k the day before and it was so cool! I saw Desi Davila signing autographs and picked up some sweet compression socks.
Oh I bet Boston was a great expo!!
I did wish the expo had more freebies….
The only freebies I got were taste testing Shot blocks and Gatorade chew things… and yes I taste them because I think they’re good…
I went to the New York expo last year. It was fun visiting all of the booths and taking way too many pictures. I felt like I walked into a Disney World for runners.
Haha I like that – disney world for runners!
so glad you had a blast even around the marathon, sounds like some amazing delicious gluten free options!
Haha well I had to do some gluten free carbo loading!
Ahh you tried the restaurant and it was good, I’m going to have to go soon!
I love expos but they can be so overwhelming. Boston was horrible, they put the bibs down this narrow corridor and you had to go to the end to get your shirt. It was a complete mess with people trying to get to the end and back. Chicago does a nice job spreading everything out, I don’t think I even had to wait for my bib last year!
I’m glad you had such an awesome weekend with your family too :).
I didn’t have to wait at all, it was really nice!
There’s an Italian restaurant in my hometown that is special occasion, favorite place, and carbo-load all in one!
Italian restaurants are great for celebrations!
I. LOVE. EXPOS. So much. Seriously, I wish I could go to one every weekend haha. Word amongst those who know is that Chicago has one of the best expos in the country — better than Boston and New York, according to some reliable (i.e.: have been to all three expos) sources.
I spent an hour and a half at the expo on Friday just looking around, and it was ah-mazing. Since I went to the expo last year, I wasn’t quite as fangirly about everything this time around since I had an idea of what to expect, but I still loved it. I was a big fan of the expo’s location, too: last year it was in a hall at the very end of McCormick Place, so you had to walk waaaaaaay farther. No good! It was also just SO convenient to have everything all in one location. I’ve had questions about CARA, my Garmin, getting new shoes, and various races for a long time, and I was able to get all those questions answered in one location instead of traipsing around town/sending 2043982 e-mails. Big fan.
Haha they should have running expos more often!
I love your pictures! There are tons of great Italian restaurants here on Long Island so when I’m craving carbs, there are many options… I don’t know if that’s a good or bad thing haha.
Haha I bet there are a ton of Italian restaurants there, and good ones!
That expo looks huge!!
Yay for meeting Chelsey & Tina-how fun 🙂
Aah you’re a Catherine/Kathryn too! Still think mine is the best way 😉 I would love to do a race big enough to have an expo like this, looks great!
Wow, the expo is huge! I can’t wait to experience one like that someday!
i want to go back to the expo! it’s literally my idea of heaven. so many of my favorite things all in one place 🙂
I loved the chicago expo last year. IT is the biggest one that I went to and SO MUCH fun!