- Had a ton of fun in Chicagoland with Orly, Eunice and family (including Buttons, the one of the cutest little balls of fur you'll ever meet). Met the GK group in Chicago ... had the best pasta ever at Portillo's (though I hear there is one in Moreno Valley and another in Buena Park or something) and some great pizza at Giordano's.
- Attended Saturday night service at Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington. The church campus is HUGE! And I thought Saddleback Church in Orange County was big. The service centered on the church's 33rd anniversary, and the message was out of 2 Kings 7:9: "Then they (four men with leprosy) said to each other: 'We are not doing right. This is a day of good news and we are keeping it to ourselves.'" The idea is that God has blessed you with many things (for the Christ followers, that specifically means the Gospel message of salvation through Jesus Christ) ... why keep it to yourself? Read 2 Kings 6 and 7 to get a idea of how that all came about ...
- Race day was great ... great crowds, great course, never ran alone (Lord willing, I'm running Chicago next year) ... until about mile 22 or so, when it felt like someone took a baseball bat and started whacking my quads and right hamstring. I was on pace to finish at 3 hours and 55 minutes until all that happened. While I was initially bummed when I saw a sub-4 hour marathon slip away, I figured, no worries ... the bigger goal of building a home for a family in the Philippines had been achieved, and I was going to finish anyway ... and there are marathons yet to be run. And I'll take the 4:12:33, especially given that it hit 80 degrees that day.
- Orly had a great first marathon! He finished in 5:02:31! Way to go, Orly! Props to John Catanus for pacing Orly from about mile 18 to the finish, even as he was just getting over being sick the week before ... yeah, John, no excuses now, we're signing you up for next year!
- Recovery was/has been pretty good ... a little stiff and sore on Monday, which was a good thing, because my flight from Chicago was a little late into Denver, where I had to catch my connecting flight to Ontario ... and the gates were on opposite ends of a huge, huge terminal ... I just barely made the flight! Whew!
MarathonFoto sure was fast in posting photos ... there were 33,000 runners (out of 45,000 who registered) and to get photos sorted out inside of a week is an awesome feat! You can see my pix by clicking here ... man, looking at what they charge, someone's making a nice living photographing races! :-) You can see Orly's photos here. Sorry ... tried to link directly to his page, but MarathonFoto wouldn't allow it ... so when you get there, select Chicago Marathon 2008 under Select Race, and enter Bisquera for name and 32193 for his bib number.
Now, on to the vids ...
RunChi '08 Pt. 1
Orly and Alan ran the 2008 Bank of America Chicago Marathon on Oct. 12. It was Orly's first 26.2 miler, and he ran to benefit Children's Memorial Hospital in Chicago (still time to contribute to Orly's effort; click on the red text). It was Alan's 9th, and he ran to benefit Gawad Kalinga, sort of like Habitat for Humanity, in the Philippines. This is the Saturday before race day. (Sorry! This segment is a little longer than the others, so it may take time to load. You might want to hit the pause button and let it load up for a little while before resuming play.)
RunChi '08 Pt. 2
This is the morning of the race, of all the little nervous things we did and said. Alan was quite amazed by the number of porta potties they had at Grant Park! Video shot by Eunice, Jo and Peter John.
RunChi '08 Pt. 3
This was the start of the race at Grant Park. The first group you see are the elite men and elite women. About 5 minutes later, the rest of the field, arranged by finishing time, took off.
RunChi '08 Pt. 4
Eunice (Orly's wife), Jo and Peter John chase them along the marathon route on the El ... they catch up with Orly, but Jo can only get video of him from the neck down ...
RunChi '08 Pt. 5
The crew reaches Taylor Street, near UI-Chicago, where Elaine, Eunice and Jo's youngest sister, lives. Watch Jo and Peter John make like marathoners about 1 minute into the segment. Alan makes his only running appearance towards the end.
RunChi '08 Pt. 6
Still on Taylor, the crew is joined by "Team Orly" who not only wait for him to pass by, but cheer on other marathoners, too. This spot was just past 18 miles. When Orly passed, John jumped into the race to pace Orly the rest of the way. Pretty good for someone who was sick most of the week!
Finally ... the finish! Alan finished in 4:12:33 and Orly finished in 5:01:31. Great course, great crowds ... if it were 20 degrees cooler, it would have been perfect ... back next year? To be continued ... :-)
Exactly! Like I said, there are many more marathons in the future ... as I write this, it's early Saturday morning (before sunrise!) after a week of just doing nothing but making up for the lost burgers and fries I avoided in the last few months. (Oh, yeah, and getting caught up in the office, too!) My church has a basketball outreach event in Riverside today (no, not playing ... just playing official photographer/videographer) in a couple hours, so my first run will be Sunday morning ... about an hour, and really easy.
After one more week of recovery (slow, easy stuff of up to 90 minutes), I'll start training again for the P.F. Chang's Rock n' Roll HALF Marathon on Jan. 18. That will include the Pure Fitness Run for the Hungry 10K in Downtown San Diego on Thanksgiving Day. I might run the LA Marathon in February, but only as a training run (just get the mileage in, work the last 10K if at all) for the San Diego Rock n' Roll Marathon on May 31. Another aim at a sub-4 marathon ... and, Lord willing, maybe run a Boston Marathon qualifying time ...
If anyone is in Rancho Cucamonga, I'll be out running the trails starting at Central Park, likely back to a Tuesday-Wednesday-Thursday schedule during the week, between 6-6:30 p.m. ... leave a note in the comments section below if you want to join in on the fun. :-)
This blog will still be updated, but the title will change ... maybe the URL will, too, but we'll see how that goes.
And the most important thing ...
"We always thank God for all of you, mentioning you in our prayers."
1 Thessalonians 1:2
I know it's been a difficult year for many of us with the way the economy has gone, and likely will go for a little while longer. Yet you were faithful to give to a cause, to share a portion of your hard-earned treasure, to help a family you will likely never meet in a country that some of you will never visit. That's one way of sacrificial giving, and I pray the Lord's blessing for you all.
Hope to see you out on the run!
Blessings in His Name, always ...
Alan
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