The Day Before - Expo & Pasta Party

This past Saturday, the day before the Chicago Marathon, was filled with a lot of fun, excitement, and nervousness.  Angela, Olivia, and I headed downtown to meet Michael, Drew, Patrick, and Josh to take the free shuttle bus to the Expo at McCormick Place.  Right when we got inside, we ran into Carly and took a group picture!

After getting our bib numbers and t-shirts, we all spent some time exploring, grabbing free samples, shopping, signing the #OWNCHICAGO wall.  We also met up briefly with Mac, Kevin, and Jason.  AND some fellow UDXC alum, Kelly and Allie were working the Sweaty Bands booth, so we got to pause for a picture with them.  I'm glad I have so many running friends  :)

There were about a million gazillion people at the Expo, so it was hard to move and keep track of everyone that we came with.  But eventually, we all met up and made our way back home on the shuttle.

Some of the free stuff I got included: a cowbell, a poster, sunglasses, samples of various energy chews and drinks, and a water bottle.  Angela and I also teamed up and bought 2 pairs of running socks each because they were buy 3, get 1 free.

By about 3pm however, I was nowhere near as excited and energetic as I was a few hour earlier.  I think all the noise and chaos of the Expo got to me and gave me a killer headache.  I got back to my apartment and had about an hour before people would be over for the pasta party.  I needed to clean up a little more and get ready, but instead I just sat in the dark and tried to make the headache go away.  I tried to eat some peanut butter on toast, but threw that up within 15 minutes and then threw up again right after my parents arrived to help set up.

My mom thinks I just made myself really nervous and worked up over the whole event, which is probably true.  But people started to arrive, so I kept taking Tylenol and tried to help set up and mingle.  I couldn't eat much of the pasta, but bread seemed to be good.  And I had made a pumpkin cake (pumpkin bread, but baked in a cake pan and covered in chocolate frosting) that I was able to eat.

So that is the reason I was so hungry by the time I got to the starting line and needed to eat half of a bagel during the marathon.  I did eat a bowl of Smart Start and half pack of GU Chomps the morning of the race, but that wasn't doing the job.

I was glad so many friends were able to come - work friends, running friends, Dayton friends.  And especially thanks to my parents for buying/bringing all the food!...even though my dad was not having fun hanging out with a bunch of 20-somethings.

Other attendees not pictured: Mom and Dad, Mac, his parents, Rachelle, and Christopher

So it was a busy, nerve-wrecking day.  I was sure I was going to wake up Sunday with the same horrible headache and not be able to run well because of it.  But I kept downing the Tylenol, was able to get to sleep around 9pm or so, and woke up in the morning feeling great!