Chicago

After nearly 44 years, I've finally made it to the USA. It's early morning here on day 3. For the second night I didn't get enough sleep, just haven't adapted yet to the time zone change.

The weather has been great for travelling, but I'm concerned about it being too warm on Sunday morning for the race. Temperature's of 12-24 degrees are forecasted. Around a high of 19 possibly for the later stages of the marathon. This is certainly higher than I would prefer anyway.

I've registered also for the Toronto Marathon on the 16th as a contingency plan. I don't perform too well in warmer conditions, and the following w/e is forecasted to be cooler. My plan for this Sunday is to enter the race and assess how I am feeling after 1 hour. If okay, keep going, if not jog back and switch to Toronto the following weekend.

Running wise, not much this week.

Mon - 20 mins
Tues - 6 x 1 min's @ a little quicker than 3:20 pace. 12 km's or so all up.
Wed - Rest / Flights
Thu - 6 x 30 sec's @ around 1/2 marathon pace. 7.5 km's all up.

Chicago is a nice place. Has exceeded my expectations. Very clean and plenty to see and do. We did a lot of walking yesterday. I'd estimate over 10 km's. Saw a lot, which included:

- John Hancock Tower;
- Navy Pier;
- Wallis Tower;
- Travelled on the famous Loop;
- Chicago Theatre.

Will post pics when I get back.

Despite actually hating the dizzy heights of tall buildings, I can't resist the temptation to go up them. It's impossible to resist going up what was once the tallest building in the world for 25 years actually. It took me about a dozen attempts but I did finally stand on the sky ledge, but I do confess that I didn't look down.

Off to the expo today & will shortly head out for a 20 min jog.