2008 Chicagoland Inline Marathon -July 26

[WonderGirl]

For those with time and wanting to take in the awesome city of Chicago here are a few links to useful information.

Tourism -
http://egov.cityofchicago.org/city/w...meEnumValue=41

Save $ and see stuff:
City Pass - http://www.citypass.com/city/chicago.html

Go Chicago Card - http://www.gochicagocard.com/

There are Metra stations near the race location MD-W (not walking distance) and $5 unlimited weekend passes on the train to/from downtown. http://www.metrarail.com/
Train ends at Union Station downtown across the river from Sears Tower, which you can go to the top of for a great view.

Group of us are going to play Saturday night and be zombies the next day for IndySpeed. Just as it should be.

~Renee

[JustAMom]

Thought I'd add one or two add'l websites worth visiting. There is a Special Values Card that can be printed for various retaurant, attraction, etc discounts:

http://www.meetinchicago.com/meeting...s/default.aspx

Also, a taxi fare calculation site:

http://www.taxifarefinder.com/main.php?city=Chicago

[Jessica]

I just got the confirmation email from Peter but I have a question regarding the waves. I assumed it would be a mass start, but it looks like you guys are sending us off in waves this year.

-7:45 a.m., Roads will close and no one will be able to access the course unless they are on skates
-7:50 a.m., Report to respective Marathon or Half Marathon Start line
-8:00 a.m., Elite Marathon wave start
-8:01 a.m., Age Group Marathon and Half Marathon Start

My question is this - are the elite guys and girls being sent off together or separately, and are they allowed to skate together?

[tdellaringa]

Jess, I believe there are no separations based on gender. Major will correct me if I am wrong, but we've seen that kind of thing in the past end up making the women simply time trial, which is no fair (and no fun). Cross drafting will be allowed, again AFAIK.

I believe the only differences are letting the elite and age groups start separate, as well as the marathon and half-marathon (which actually have different start locations I *think*).

[Jessica]

Ok cool - thanks for the clarification

[speedysktr]

Greg/Tdell-gless and I will be driving up and expect to hit the city limits around 4-5pm. Any known areas to avoid or shortcuts that would be smart at that time of the day? Thanks.

[tdellaringa]

All depends on where you're coming from - what's your path in? I assume you're staying at the host hotel?

[speedysktr]

cincinnati, not the host, but nearby

[The Major]

Speedy,

That's about the worst time of day, especially on a Friday. If you go through the city you'll hit bad traffic on I-90 heading toward O'Hare Airport. Even the tollway west of O'Hare at the time will be crowded. If you can get in earlier it would be much better. After 3:30 it's going to be rough which ever route you take until about 6:30. Once in a while for no good reason traffic won't be too bad but I wouldn't count on it. My advice would be to go to Gibson on Rush St. for a nice steak dinner. It will cost about the same as a set of wheels for each person but it's worth it. Just don't fill up on the martini's or stare too much at the eye candy. In either case you could go blind.

[tdellaringa]

Yeah at that time of day, there's no good alternate routes. The sooner you could make it the better, or just resign yourself to sitting in traffic and entertaining yourselves. I leave at 3pm on Friday's from work, hitting the I-90 west, and it's always jammed even then.

[speedysktr]

Thanks guys, I gotta talk to my date and tell him we
need to shove off a little earlier. I'll skip the martinis
prior, but afterwards...
<ahem>
...well, I have a reputation to uphold, don't I

[Jessica]

[kufman]

Does anyone know if you have to enter Elite for the marathon in order to do the 100m Sprints? I am not so sure I can finish the marathon in under 1hr30, but I do have a pretty good 100m sprint

[BWI-Sheldon]

Good luck all of you SL'ers, make me proud.