Well it’s that time.  This Sunday is the Chicago Marathon and I’m all geared up to be part of Team VW!  I’m really looking forward to everything that’s going to happen this weekend.  The Team VW organizers have sent us a few instructions about where to be and when, what to wear, and what to expect.  Oh, and there’s also that whole running a marathon thing going on too.  So here’s a little preview of what to expect between Friday and Sunday.

We’re flying to the Windy City Friday morning.  The plan for the day is to have no plan, meaning just see where the day takes us.  We may go over to the race expo Friday if nothing else strikes our fancy after lunch.  Saturday Team VW wants the whole team to meet at the expo center at 2pm for a group gathering and to meet a special guest.  Gleaning from other emails I realize the I am not that special guest.  Instead it’s like Dean Karnazes, as in the super ultramarathoner who has all kinds of crazy feats to his name (just Google him).  After the Team VW meet up we have dinner plans for some fancy Italian and then off to a good night’s rest.

So yea, after all the Team VW hoopla there’s that marathon business to take care of.  Here are few numbers for you:

• This is my 11th marathon;
• I ran Chicago in 2009 and set a PR (at the time) of 3:28:02;
• My I’ll-be-happy goal for this year’s race is 3:30:00 (8:00 min/mi);
• My I’ll-be-really-happy goal is 3:28:01 (7:56 min/mi);
• My I’ll-be-crazy-ecstatic goal is 3:22:33 (7:43 min/mi);
• Temperatures for the race will be warm (by Chicago standards), starting in the low 60s and getting up to the low 70s