Chicago Marathon {2012}

John and I got home from the game Saturday night at 12:15 am...I slept for about 5 hours...then headed downtown with Tom & Colleen to see our girl Alissa run the Chicago Marathon. Alissa was running in honor of Colleen's daughter, Claire. Claire was diagnosed with Rett Syndrome last year. You can learn more about Claire and her crusade HERE.

Colleen is Alissa's best friend from high school. They went to Holy Cross together as well, but Colleen transferred to ND after her freshman year. But because Alissa and I were such good friends, I got to know Colleen well and after Alissa transferred to DePaul, Colleen and I still hung out since we were both still in South Bend. I haven't seen her since Alissa's wedding. But of course, thanks to Facebook, email and the telephone, we've stayed in touch. It was so awesome to see her and spend the whole day with her catching up.

Alissa is AMAZING. She approaches everything in life with 110% dedication. It's safe to saying running is her drug :) She was hoping to qualify for the Boston Marathon with this 26.2 and missed it by only 3 minutes. To put her finishing time of 3:38 in perspective...It took me 3:15 to finish my HALF marathon this year. Needless to say she's super fast and I'm....on the slow side!

It was great to be on the sidelines for a race and cheer everyone on. So many people were running in honor of those who could not. We had a great fundraiser for Claire at Pint in Bucktown after the race...a great way to end a special and emotional day.

Chicago Marathon {2012}