Sixteen in Chicago

One of my life goals is to run in every state in the United States. I actually ran in Illinois when Ben and I did our road trip across the country last summer, but today I ran in Chicago and really felt like I crossed this state off the list with a bang!

Meghann, Leslie, Emily, Beck, Jenn, Evan, Theodora and I all gathered in the hotel lobby before anyone else was awake to beat the heat and run 16 miles. Meghann and Leslie are training for Chicago, which is one week before my planned marathon so our training schedules are in the same range right now. It worked out great 🙂

Running is one of the best ways to

1.) Get to explore a new place

and

2.) Get to know new friends.

It was great to talk with fellow bloggers about running, food and life. We definitely all got a crash course on each other and I loved it.

Pre-Run I had some coffee and TJ’s Peanut Butter Filled Pretzels. Since I hadn’t planned on doing a long run this weekend I didn’t have any pre-planned fuel. I brought the pretzels for snacking and picked up a Gatorade for the run last night.

I had to eat quietly in the bathroom as to not wake up my sleeping roomies!

We ran on the Lakefront Trail right on the water (in case “Lakefront” didn’t clue you in). The sun coming up and shining on the city was gorgeous and we stopped for a photo.

Since we were able to pass the time chatting the 16 miles went by super fast 🙂 I really want to find a running group back home now.

I actually had a 16 mile training run on my schedule, but when I realized I was going to be out of town, I just figured it was going to be a loss.  I am very glad that I found this group to run with! They kept me on schedule and I had a blast.

After the run a couple of us bee-lined to Jamba Juice. I used to be obsessed with this place, but have gotten over it since I started making my own amazing smoothies. Since my own smoothie wasn’t an option this morning I was more than happy to return to my original smoothie love.

Then, I headed for the shower since I smelled like I had ran 16 miles in old, sweaty,  used gym clothes. Because that’s what they were.

The smoothie held me over a bit until I could get to the Healthy Living Summit breakfast. They had a build your own cream cheese table and you could do sweet or savory mix. 

I think this is a super cute idea for a brunch party too!

Since I knew Chicago Deep Dish pizza was on the menu for lunch I tried to keep it light with a bagel and some eggs.

Even though I was late to the breakfast I was able to snag a seat next to two of my favorite bloggers – Anne and Katy! Anne has been answering a ton of questions for me and I really appreciate it 🙂

After breakfast Chandra and I had to head to the room to pack up and leave the Congress Hotel. Rumor is it’s haunted and there are some stories going around about it!

Finally, it was time for much anticipated Chicago Deep Dish pizza! I was excited! I love eating local delicacies when I travel 😉

We walked from the hotel to Gino’s East. When I’m not running I love walking around new places too. We stopped for some pictures on the way once again.

Gino’s East Pizzeria!

The decor was super fun and people are allowed to leave their mark on the walls of the restaurant.

The service was really good and our waiter was very helpful and friendly too. Overall, this was a great dining experience! 

The extra super added bonus was great company to share it with. A group of us went to try the infamous deep dish pizza together for lunch. I love eating with food bloggers because they truly appreciate good food and never look at you weird when you pull out your camera.

We ordered a family style salad to start…

But all the focus really should be on these amazing pizzas. We ended up getting one vegetarian pizza…

And one spinach pizza. They take about 45 minutes to be made, but it’s totally worth the wait!

I had a slice of each and really can’t decide which one is better. The crust has always been my favorite part of the pizza so this was an especially amazing experience for me. I absolutely loved it. This was definitely the best pizza experience I’ve ever had.

The crust was thick and delicious without being too heavy. There was something about it that almost had a cornmeal quality. Again, I loved it.

After lunch we had to head back to the hotel to get our stuff and head to the subway. My flight was at 5:30pm and I wanted to get there early to catch up on email and other work stuff.

Unfortunately, the security line was super slow and it wasn’t going to be worth it for me to buy internet for the 30 minutes I had left before my flight. Instead, I ended up getting some ice and icing my knee while I waited. I am sore from the run this morning! I am considering beginning ice baths after my long runs, but I don’t know if I have the courage. We’ll see.

I bought a salad for the flight

and brought along some snacks from my swag bag…

I am currently blogging from 40,000 feet in the air.  There are a ton of people and experiences from this weekend I want to write about, but I don’t want this post to get too long, so I will finish it up tomorrow. 

I am eating these chocolate chip cookies and considering taking a nap. I don’t want to throw off my time zone, but I am super tired and my legs are aching from fatigue. The combination of walking around in flip flops all day after running 16 miles has my body screaming :( 

I can’t wait to get to my own air mattress bed!