In November, I impulsively decided to enter the 2018 Chicago Marathon lottery.
It’s been a couple of years since I ran my last (full) marathon (Marine Corps Marathon 2015), so I figured, why not?
Also, I’ve recently decided I would try and run all six of the World Marathon Majors — Chicago, New York, Boston, Berlin, London, and Tokyo. I figured this would be a goal I’d work on while continuing to complete my 50 states challenge.
I completed state number 10 of the 50 states challenge this past weekend (wooo double digits!). Thank you, Chicago, Illinois.
What did I know about Chicago before I left? Truthfully, not too much. The last time I was in the Windy City was November 2007 to celebrate a friend’s birthday. It was a short weekend trip. I remember a lot of cocktails and snow on the ground. I don’t remember much else, probably due to said cocktails.
I had heard great things about Chicago — one being how nice it is in the summer. Other than that, I was pretty clueless about the city. My colleague, Erin, lived in Chicago and absolutely loves it. After my second visit there, I can see why. It truly is a beautiful city with great architecture and a vibrant food scene. And summers there are indeed lovely.
Running the States 