The ladybug bit me!

"We've come full circle..."

 

That's what I thought to myself during my 3 mile lunch run today.  Well, that along with, "OW!  WTF?!?"  That's when the ladybug was biting me.

 

Nevertheless...we've come full circle...but...maybe full circle would have really been October 2.  That was last year's marathon. 

 

You get the point.

 

Today is the Thursday before the marathon-- and, the Thursday before the marathon last year, many of us were up super early to show off our Nike decked out selves on NBC, ruin a cooking segment by putting sour cream where it shouldn't be, and to watch me scream when a dead bird landed behind me after hitting the building (poor thing). 

 

That night, Danny Salazar and I represented the Northside and Southside at Niketown as we shared the stage with Nike elites pumping you all up for the big day.  The day we were rallying you up for sure was memorable, wasn't it?  It was a tad warm and we'll leave it at that. 

 

Well, here we are again.  This morning a few of us were up early on NBC to promote this evening's pep rally at Niketown.  In a few hours, we'll be there receiving our surprise gifts from Nike and hearing from their sponsored elites.  You want your gift, right?  So, be there!  And, you should all know now that Nike knows how to throw an event!  It's not something to be missed!

 

This year has been and will continue to be huge...Nike's sponsorship of the Chicago Marathon for the next 5 years (I think the Shuffle too) has proven to be AWESOME.  Our training runs have turned out to be THE place to be because of the great group of pacers, product trials, food, great raffles, all the runners, etc etc etc! 

 

Have no fear, even though Sunday will come and go, Club RunCHI will not cease.  Paced runs will continue out of Niketown on Thursdays and you should keep it penciled in that Nike will more than likely offer free training programs for the Shuffle and Marathon next year as well.

 

From a runner who will turn 2 (in running years) in January, wish me luck in my first official marathon on Sunday--I had a goal of 4 hours, but I'm going to focus on that B goal of finishing for now so I don't get too overwhelmed if the day proves to be too warm.  I wish you all the best as well!

 

See you all out there (and, stay tuned for some possible other updates prior to race day as well)!

--
Ken Chin
Ken@KenChinUSA.com
https://www.active.com/donate/run2008/KenChinUSA