See Sam Run.

This Sunday was inspirational. Not only did the freezing air pump a little extra pep into one's step, but the Chicago marathon runners took over the city for an amazing accomplishment. Over 35,000 people came to Grant Park on Sunday to start the Bank of America Chicago Marathon at 7:30 in the morning. It was a sight to see. My favorite moments were those when people cheered on complete strangers. While people definitely were there to root for specific runners, I loved that I saw an old lady carrying a sign that said "You can do it runners! Keep going!" Stuff like that just restores my faith in humanity. Although there were thousands of runners from all over the world present, I had some serious patriotic feelings going on. I have no idea why. It just made me go all Lee Greenwood for the whole morning. I even spontaneously broke into the song once or twice.

It was even more inspirational because Karley, Mel, and myself got the opportunity to wake up at 5:15 to cheer on Sam, Karley's fiance, as he ran his first marathon ever. The kid is a BEAST. He ran 26.2 miles in 2 hours and 53 minutes. A sub-3 hour marathon on his first try!! Needless to say, we were all insanely proud. 

Just another day of realizing why I love this city. I'm starting to really feel like this could be home and not just a transient place that I'm stopping through. Of course tomorrow I could wake up and decide differently, so this might just be me romanticizing events like this as usual. But in any case, a good time was had by all, we were inspired to achieve our goals, and I got to reference Lee Greenwood in a blog post. So I'd say a good day.

Annnnnd they're off!

Faithful fans

In his final stretch - this is just after mile 25 and he was still looking good!

With the man of the hour. Good for you, Sam Coco. YOU GO Sam Coco!
(Mean Girls reference....sorry I'm not sorry.)