Chicago Marathon

 

Yesterday I completed my fourth Abbott World Marathon Major in Chicago. It was a lot harder than I expected: it was hot and the sun was very strong, and it definitely felt more like summer than autumn. It wasn't too bad in the city, but out in the suburbs, it felt scorching hot.

It is fair to say that I really enjoyed the run—there was lots of support all throughout the course, with music, people cheering, and even free beer!

Looking back, it reminded me a lot of Berlin, in that the most interesting views were in the city section. The neighbourhoods, which made up most of the run, were fun but not as special as the city skyline. I like that the course took different angles of the city so you got to see a lot.

One thing that did suck though, was the start. There were too few toilets, so I was busting and had to stop on the run, which is never pleasant experience. I also found it difficult to locate my starting pen. For some reason, they label them alphabetically, but a couple are not in order, which wasn’t obvious. I had to ask two marshals where to go.

Overall, it was a good experience. If I did it again, I'd arrive in America sooner so as not to be so jet-lagged. I'd also plan my meals better. The race and the city were great; I would come back here again. Special thanks to Kath and Thom for being my best supporters throughout. Now that I said I would never do this again, I am secretly dreaming of Boston, Tokyo and Sydney, the remaining of the 7 Marathon Majors.

Chicago!

We arrived in Chicago on Friday, 10th of October at 2pm after a long flight from Manchester via Dublin. Transfer in Dublin meant we got pre clearance done before arriving in America which was pretty neat. Certainly they were more friendly there than our previous experience in New York.

We were tired after the flight but I had to rush off to the Marathon Expo to collect my number for the Abbot 5k on Saturday morning.

The Abbot 5km was a nice warmup for the Marathon starting in Grant Park and winding around the city, it was such good fun. I spotted The Chicago Bean (Cloud Gate) on the way there and we all headed there afterwards to take some photos. The cloud gate is

a large mirrored structure which reflects the cityscape and anybody standing nearby.

In the afternoon we headed out on the river for a cruise and talk about the architecture in Chicago. That was a lot of fun and very informative offering really good views of the city. 

After which we headed back to the Expo once more this time all together to check out the merch and take some photos. 

New car day

After nearly a month of fighting with Black horse and Tesla I finally went and picked up my new car, a Tesla Model 3 long range.

I travelled to Brent Cross in London to collect as this is an ex demo model. That did mean along with the dealer contribution and discount it was £4250 cheaper. Plus there were some, free extras like it came with mats and a memory stick. 

The drive home was long I made use of the basic autopilot adaptive cruse control and lane assist which was great on the motorway. I also paired up Apple Music for and the satellite navigation.

The seats are really comfortable and I managed the entire trip back to Wilmslow with plenty of range to spare no range anxiety.

Fac51 The Hacienda - Walton Hall and Gardens

Yesterday Kath and I went to our first ever rave Fac51 Hacienda at Walton Hall and Gardens. An outdoor concert celebrating the classics of the Factory records and the Hacienda 

I was slightly too young to have even been to the Hacienda but it had a huge impact on the Manchester music scene and collective memory.

We arrived with an open mind, Kath was working tomorrow so opted to drive there. Walton hall is a bit out of the way near Warrington so no easy train commute (maybe one day if the new Manchester Liverpool line is built, if ever! It turned out there were a lot of middle age people like us the event clearly going for the nostalgia factor rather than attracting the youth audience. 

It seemed like a lot of people must have been in the same boat considering that the bars sold out of alcohol free beer before 9pm. I bought tickets a while ago and opted for the VIP experience. This proved to be a great idea as it was much more chilled out than the main event and had posh toilets rather than porta-potties. We managed to grab a couple of the deck chairs dotted about pointed ourselves at the stage and enjoyed the atmosphere.

The VIP area also had a VIP section at the front which was really fun though some people were super hardcore. 

The line up

• Justin Robertson
• Peter Hook
• Jon Dasilva
• Erol Alkan B2B DJ Paulette
• Mike Pickering
• Danny Tenaglia
• Leftfield
• Orbital

My stand out moment was Danny Tenaglia playing Blue Monday which got a huge crowd reaction. Overall it was a really fun event and lucky with the weather it would have been awful in the rain!

Great North Run

This weekend we headed to Newcastle so that I could do the Great North Run. Driving up after school pickup on Friday we arrived relatively late in the evening. Kath had booked us into the Sandman Newcastle Hotel next to St James Park well placed for exploring the city centre and in good proximity to the start of the run.

On Saturday we headed into the city to explore a little, spending the afternoon at the Great North Museum Hancock. There were a variety of displays from the natural world to Egyptians including artefacts on loan from the British museum. There was also a large Hadrians wall section. Thom had a great time there and I would definitely recommend it for some quality family time. The admission is free (optional donation), we paid only for a guidebook and to see one of the shows at the planetarium.

Sunday was the day of the race. It is the largest half marathon in the world, and you can tell! There were 60 thousand runners and a lot of spectators, so the city was extremely busy. I was in one of the later waves the walk to the back of the start line was very long I had done nearly 10,000 steps before I even started the race.

The race itself was very good. The route was nice and varied. There were flyovers by the Red Arrows, which indecently is the first time I had seen them for years. They were a regular fixture of the Woodford airshow when I was younger but it's been decades since that ended!

There was a lot of crowd support all the way along the course, and every time you went under a bridge somebody would start a chant "oggy oggy oggy, oi, oi, oi". Unlike most races I have done the start was in the city the end point at the sea in South Shields which was nice to see the contrast. It did mean getting back to the city was a bit tricky however they organised it really well having a shuttle bus service which must have transported many thousands of people efficiently to and from South Shields. 

I enjoyed most of the run though a bit like London marathon at it is so busy at times I felt like I was having to dodge and jig to get past people. I would definitely recommend though really felt like you were part of a huge event. 

It was my first time in Newcastle apart from a very quick visit for work once where I saw only a small industrial park data centre not far from the Angel of the North. I enjoyed the weekend, it had a certain charm and the people were very friendly. 

New bike day

I took possession of my new Volt London e-Bike. I managed to bag myself an ex demo model at a significant discount, and free delivery.

Volt send the bike to a local bike shop to be build, who identified that the battery was damaged so I got a new battery included.

My Van Moof X3 has been playing up and I can no longer get parts (they wanted £150 to replaced a stripped screw). So I decided it was time for a replacement I have been dithering for a while but the Volt seemed like a worthy successor it looks the part. I do miss the more upright Dutch position of the VanMoof but the Volt rides better and the motor is more powerful.

Pirate times in Gdansk

We arrive in Gdansk yesterday, the flight was late getting in so we didn't make it to the apartment until quite late Thom and was very tired. The Airbnb we rented was nice in a new apartment block close to the centre with shops and cafes close by. The only issue was it was quite noisy we could here the bleeping from the bridge raising ever hour and lots of people coming and going.

Today Wanda had booked us on a Pirate ship journey down the Motlawa river. Thom enjoyed the ship we had seen one going by from our balcony already so going on was quite a treat. During the voyage we got to know many things about Gdansk. The port is simply vast you can the why it was of stratigic importance. After returning from the pirate ship we headed to the centre of town to have a go on the wheel there. The wheel is 50 meters high so just a touch over 1/3 of the London eye height of 133 meters. Thom enjoyed it thought he said "You can see a lot of city!". Next stop was the Gdansk sign, next to the rive r it provides a nice photo backdrop. Then onto lunch at śliwka w kompot. Finally we had a look aroud the Soldek, thefirst ship build in Gdansk after the war. The Soldek was a bulk carrier, it used to ferry coal and iron ore. Thom enjoyed walking around seeing the engine room. It took 850kg of coal an hour to power the ship! I can't imagine how hot it must have been for the folks stoking the engines.

View from the wheel

Soldek