Bank of America Chicago Marathon 2013

With the aim to complete all World Marathon Majors by 2015, I booked a trip to Chicago earlier in June to run the Chicago Marathon. Since I missed out on the general entry, I decided to try my luck with one of the International Travel Partners (ITP). The only company that had guaranteed spaces left was Sports Tours International in UK. To run the race, I had to pay USD 700+ which included a 4* hotel in downtown Chicago plus a race entry fee of USD 200+. 

This was going to be my 15th and last race of the year, something that would give some relief to my wife who very patiently had to put up with my crazy marathon schedule throughout the year. Also, since I had consumed plenty of vacation time through the year, I had no choice but to limit the journey to 3 days. By now, I was used to these sort of travels, having endured the pain in the early part of the year during my World Record challenge. 

I reached Chicago O'Hare airport on Friday evening after a 20 hour flight from Doha. The cheapest and most convenient way to get to the hotel downtown was via the train. This was a five dollar ride, which ended up being quite memorable. While on the train, I met a group of runners ( two couples) who were from the west coast and knew their way around Chicago. They were thrilled to find out that I had come all the way from Qatar for the weekend to take part in the marathon. The friendship quickly developed and they went out of their way to find out the exact location of my hotel and guided me appropriately, Not only that, Roland and Ivan came by my hotel the next day to drop off VIP passes for hospitality tent. That's what I call American hospitality at its best. The hotel was just great, very centrally located in the heart of downtown Chicago. I was supposed to share a room with another runner but apparently he cancelled last minute, so I got a private room to myself. 

The next morning, buses were parked outside our hotel to take us to the marathon expo. The planning by the race organizers was impeccable, I collected my race kit, walked around the expo and then later returned back to the hotel to chill.

In the evening, I walked around Chicago to downtown looking for Halloween costumes for my kids. After about 2 hours of walking, I finally found a costume place and bought the required outfits. 

That same evening, I met up with the "Barefoot Bandito" Eddie and his lovely wife Nilda for dinner at Gino's pizza. 

On race day, I woke up quite early at 4am, clearly jet-lagged. I made my way to the VIP tent which was only a 5 minute walk from the race hotel. The breakfast was great and was nice to cosy up in the tent to escape the cold weather outside. To my surprise, I bumped into another Antarctica Marathon Alumni, JC Teresa (a Marathon Maniac who runs about 40-50 marathons a year). 

Around half an hour prior to the race start, we were escorted to the start line by the staff (a privilege reserved for the VIP runners). The atmosphere was electrifying with over 40,000 runners packed at the start line. I was pretty much at the back end (Coral G) and it took me over 20 minutes to reach the start line after the guns went off. The weather was brilliant for running and there were people 10-15 deep along the course to cheer the runners on. Not once, there was a dull moment in the race and I never felt tired. The most amusing thing along the course were the banners people were carrying. The ones that come to mind were"

"Chuck Norris never ran a marathon"
"If marathons were easy, it would be called your mom"
"HURRY, the Kenyans are finishing all the beer"

Race Video: ​http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ShhzsaFewv8

There were so many other banners like the ones above and it kept all runners amused and motivated. Along the course, I met up with Dr. Dribble, who holds the Guinness World Record for completing a marathon in the fastest time while dribbling two basketballs. The entire course was enjoyable and the scenery changed throughout. We ran through China Town, University district, financial centre and downtown parks to finish the race back where we started. As i crossed the finish line, I was awarded the finishers medal and directed to the VIP tent where a buffet and a massage awaited the runners. 

Later that day, I chilled out in my hotel room and then made my way to the airport the following morning to catch the long flight back to Doha. I reached Doha the following day just in time to celebrate Eid with the family!

All in all, it was a great event and I thoroughly enjoyed myself. Perhaps, I will return to Chicago again one day to run it all over again!