WE DID IT! I still can't believe it; what an amazing experience! We (Brooke, Ben & Paula) got to our hotel on Saturday night. Due to a small reservation issue, we ended up staying at the Chicago Hilton, which was the official marathon hotel. The big concern was getting a room with 2 double beds ... we all like each other, but 3 in a king bed would've been COZY! We went to the runners' expo & then we went back to the hotel for the official pasta dinner. After that, it was to our room & I fell asleep after taking a benadryl, while Ben watched the World Series (GO CARDINALS!!) & Paula read. We woke up at 6 a.m. & got ready to head over to the race. I got up first -- I woke up before the alarm. I didn't sleep well, but it was just enough to feel human! :) We turned the local news on & found out that it was 30 degrees, but with the wind chill, it felt like 20!!! Yikes. After we heard them talk about how cold and windy it was for about 30 minutes, Paula turned off the TV! We headed over to the marathon at about 7:20; it was CRAZY once we got to the hotel lobby. You should've seen the people! Whew. There were supposed to be about 40,000 runners ... I got an email today that said it was actually about 34,000. Anyhow, it was amazing to be in the midst of all those people -- you can only imagine what it's like until you're in the middle of it. We wore sweatsuits & threw them out into a big pile before we crossed the line. (Just so you know, they give them to the less fortunate) Then, we were off. We did wear shorts in the 30 degree weather in 25 mile an hour winds. :) I think the numbness helped! I did wear something on my ears the whole time -- I threw off my gloves about 3/4 of the way through. It was an AWESOME experience. Not once did I think we wouldn't make it ... there must've been a lot of people praying for us! :) The most amazing part about the race was the fact that there were over 1 million people there as spectators! They were so great. The only thing we would've done differently would've been to have our names on the front of our shirts. People would yell out names as runners came by ... it was like they knew all the spectators. How motivating! Anyhow, thank you to all the people who came out in the icky cold rainy weather to cheer us on! You were great! Okay, I'm still out of town; I'll write more later & post pics. Thanks for all your support! We're over $11,000 now! Bye for now, Brooke