Sweet Home Chicago

We're off to Chicago this weekend as thousands of athletes, Sean among them, descend upon the city to chase each other around for 26.2 miles.

Things to do in Chicago:

1. Visit my family. Want a quick ego boost? Move across the country, ensuring you only see your family once a year. Then, schedule a trip home and at the last minute (less than 5 days before your plane lands) call your entire family up and ask them to meet you for lunch. Everyone comes just to see you. If that doesn't fill your dark empty hole of self-pity, I'm not sure anything can.


2. Get lots of Erika time! Erika is living the dream we talked about in college - living in Chicago, in a great area of the city, with a fabulous view.


3. Load up on a weekend's worth of Yelp reviews. Between the Italian restaurant we're going to the night before the marathon so Sean can carbo-load, the bars in Wrigleyville that Erika and I will peruse, and the after-marathon feast Sean will need - I'm hoping to break 30 reviews on Yelp.


4. Run around the city with the Sean's cheering section (there's 7 of us) , trying to catch a glimpse of Sean as he runs the marathon. So far we have stops in Boys Town, Chinatown, mile 21 (or 23) and the finish line. Wonder if they give away medals for furthest run as a spectator?


5. Figure out a way to stop off at Three Happiness, have some dim sum, and not miss Sean as he runs through Chinatown. Maybe I'll ask to be seated by a window...


6. Get lots of Pepe time! So far, I've been able to see him every time I've gone back to Chicago. I want to see how long I can keep that streak going.

Wish us luck - and by us, I mean Sean. He's trained incredibly hard over the past year and despite getting hit by a car and then suffering a broken rib, he's still running the marathon. I couldn't be prouder of him.