Chicago Marathon - The Toughest Feat

Taken outside of Niketown, Magnificent Mile, Chicago

Hello everyone!

Alhamdulillah, Captain and I are safely back in KL already... Didn't have time to blog while we were in Chicago and we were both prepping for the marathon and had so much fun at the expo... So much fun that we went to the expo 2 days in a row!!! ;) Will come back to that shortly... And that we only had 2 days after the marathon so we were trying to spend some time with the windy city as we were first-timers there :)

With only one month to train for the marathon after my 6-week rest, I knew that achieving a PB would be pretty impossible... So, I tried my best to cross-train at the gym and run at the same time in September, even when my left leg was feeling somewhat strained whenever I completed a workout or run... Had to re-set my mind and aim to finish the marathon strong instead... Afterall, I am grateful enough to be given a chance to run at the second biggest marathon in the world this year :)

I have to say that Chicago is such a beautiful city! We ran twice before the marathon and completely fell in love with the skyline and the warmth shown by the people over there...

Captain and I with the beautiful and massive Lake Michigan as our background during our first 7km run...

Us again with the iconic bean after our last 5km run (the day before the marathon)

I'm sure you've seen this famous bean in movies ;) 

Signs were up already :)

Night view of Chicago... Simply amaze-balls! (ala Giuliana Rancic ;))

This time around, both Captain and I were pretty excited about the expo as we were trying to score goodies for ourselves and also for Sukan G, and we also did finally meet our 'friends' in person, the ones that helped make Sukan G possible :)  

The Nike Wall of Names, where all of the 45,000 marathoners' names were printed, and superoverwhelmed to be one of them :)

The event tee and our bibs respectively... Look at the numbers, what are the odds eyy? ;)

Starstruck!!! An American running icon, Deena Kastor, who's currently the record holder for marathon in the States! 2:19!!!

The awesome 'Italian (Shoe) Restaurant' by Brooks... So creative with the spaghetti and the tagline :D

Definitely one of the best expos that we've been to! There were just so many pretty and awesome things for the runners.. It must be pretty great to be a runner residing in the States! And I'm telling you that the Americans are pretty darn good at throwing awesome running expos ;)

So why was this marathon the toughest feat I've ever had to endure so far? I'll tell you why in my next entry ;)

The battle of jet-lag has begin! :P 

Next: iRan and Owned Chicago