Welcome to the Allie on the Run show.
I'm your host, Allie Feller, and this is where I talk with people who are doing exciting things on the run and beyond.
From professional athletes and celebrity runners to the everyday amateur and back of the pack runner.
We are here to celebrate everyone and anyone who enjoys a life on the run.
So, whether you've been running towards something big or away from something that's been holding you back, I am here to hold your hand and help you pick up the pace.
We've got a solo session on tap.
It is just you and me today, because I am here with my trusty notes app and my 2025 Bank of America Chicago Marathon Recaps.
As I look back on my experience in Chicago this year, I feel really happy, really grateful, really proud.
There was the live show with Eric Jenkins.
I got to see so many people I love.
I got to cheer at the finish line on Sunday.
Lots to be psyched about.
And...
It wasn't all high highs.
I had some real low points while I was in Chicago, and it was yet another reminder that I am living in constant duality, experiencing so many feelings and emotions at once.
So if you're into hearing all about it, awesome.
That's what I'm here to do today.
So stick around.
Let's relive... the 2025 Chicago Marathon from my vantage point.
All right, we're going to go day by day here.
And for me, all things Chicago started on Friday before the race.
I was up at 4 a.m. and I swear I looked out the window and there was snow on the ground.
It might not have actually been snow.
It may have just been a heavy frost, but I was not psyched about that.
So got up.
I had packed the night before, had a nice easy breezy flight from Manchester to O'Hare.
Everyone in the airport was wearing running shoes.
Both in Manchester and when I landed in Chicago it just felt like runners descending on the city, and I always love that.
I think it's really fun and exciting.
It feels like this is the community coming together and a lot of people wearing their jackets from other races that they've done and a little bit of nervous energy on the flight.
I could feel that.
So yeah, everything was easy.
My flight was easy.
Easily got a cab to take me to the hotel.
When I landed in Chicago, there were breast cancer ribbon, pink flags all over the airport because yes, of course it is October.
It is Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
A lot of people, people were really sweet.
People were sending me pictures from O'Hare being like just so you know, There's pink ribbons everywhere, kind of like giving me a heads up.
I actually generally don't.
That doesn't that's not a trigger for me.
It doesn't necessarily make me feel some kind of way, especially in October, because it's just everywhere.
I'm already thinking about cancer all the time.
So I appreciate everyone giving me the heads up.
And I mean, you know, the flags in the terminal looked pretty, looked nice.
You know, there's always the question of, OK, you hung the flags.
What are you actually doing?
Are you donating to research?
Are you donating to funding?
What are you doing?
But honestly, whatever.
A pink ribbon is a pink ribbon.
So my big thing on Friday was that New Balance live show with Eric Jenkins, which is already out for your listening enjoyment.
The feedback from that's been amazing.
So that was pretty much what I was really focused on on Friday.
But there were other things for me to do including obviously, checking into the hotel, attending the press conference, which I don't really need to do for my role in Chicago.
I have a media credential so I can get into it.
But that's really the family reunion time.
The press conference is always the first thing I go to in Chicago.
It's on Friday morning at the hotel.
And that's when I get to first see a lot of my people.
So I really look forward to that.
I was in the check in line and I had texted Kira D'Amato saying I was there and she came and I think she was the first person I saw.
She ran and gave me a big hug.
I saw some friends from Abbott that I've gotten to know over the years and was very excited that a room was ready for me at like 10 am.
What a dream.
Or maybe even earlier than that because the press conference was at 10.
So I dropped my stuff in my room and then saw all the pros heading to the press conference while I was waiting for the elevator.
I saw...
Dakota and Montana Popain.
I saw Emily Venters, who was on the show a couple weeks ago, and got to meet her in real life, which was nice uh, Josh and Carrie Cox, who are their agents, and so right away, it's just fun seeing familiar faces, and I had been in a bit of a funk leading up to Chicago.
Um, you know, just life stress, cancer stress, wanting to wear all my fun little weekend outfits and nothing fitting, and that does you know that's tough to deal with right now.
I have gained quite a bit of weight since I started chemo as a result of the steroids that I get during my treatment and the nausea medication that I'm on.
They're all like major weight gaining drugs.
And I see that and I feel that.
And it's not just in my head.
My Usual clothes are not fitting right now.
I don't care about the actual number on the scale, but I get weighed every time I go to chemo and the number is consistently going up.
And I know I'm just supposed to be grateful to be alive, but it is really hard to go through cancer treatment to feel like your body is betraying you and then to have all the physical effects to gain weight, to lose your hair, to lose your eyebrows, to lose your eyelashes.
It is just you feel so, or I feel so, stripped of so many things that make me me.
And you know my body doesn't make me me, my hair doesn't make me me, but it's all a part of me and it's hard.
And so, um yeah, if you're someone who's going through this, or you know someone who is, don't diminish those feelings.
They're very real and it's hard to feel like everything is just so out of control all the time.
So yeah, I'd had a couple you know I'd had some tough days leading up to going to Chicago and I went down to the press conference and right away it's just I felt so warmly embraced with love, seeing a lot of people I know, and it's a lot of the media people which I know.
I always say this, but I really got to know a lot of the media people in this sport when I worked in Eugene at the world championships in 2022.
And.
So I got to see journalists and reporters and photographers and athletes and agents and coaches just all in this room.
My friend Jay Holder was the moderator for the press conference.
He did an amazing job.
I learned a lot from watching him do his job, which was cool.
So they kept things moving at the press conference.
They basically, if you've never been to one, they bring up a select group of athletes from each of the pro fields.
So they bring up some men's and women's wheelchair athletes and then some of the men and women from the pro open divisions.
And they ask each of them one question and then.
All the athletes get off stage.
They go to individual tables where journalists can line up, do interviews, ask questions, whatever they want.
I didn't do any interviews this year.
In the past I'll sometimes pop into some of the Allie on the Run show favorites and ask them a couple questions.
But I really wanted to just kind of get in there, see some people I knew and then get out so I could prep for the live show.
So by way of, you know, whether you consider it name dropping or sharing, I saw Carrie Tollefson.
I saw Lindsay Hine.
I saw Rae Flynn, my agent buddy who I ran the Chicago 5K with last year.
I saw David and Jay and Monty.
I saw Ashley Young, Clayton's wife.
And then the most special moment of the morning for me on Friday was seeing Dina Castor.
And it will never not blow my mind that Dina Castor has become a friend of mine, because Dina Castor is an Olympic bronze medalist.
She is one of the all-time greats in the sport.
She is a legend.
She is also the coolest funniest, most insightful person one of the most insightful people i've ever met.
Like, everything out of dina's mouth is like yep, this is why you wrote a book.
If you haven't read her book uh, you need to read it.
Let your mind run.
Uh, it's amazing.
And i know a lot of people read it before every race.
They do so.
Um, dina is also a swifty, And so as soon as I saw her, she was like oh my gosh, I have something for you.
And I'm like, you have something for me?
Like, why?
Dina and her daughter Piper.
They had gone to Reno Nevada to go homecoming dress shopping for Piper.
And Dina tells me this story about how You know, the night before she had had a dream that I was, in which again, what?
And in the dream, she gave me an opalite necklace like the heart of the ocean.
But it was opalite.
And of course, opalite is a track on Taylor Swift's new album, Life of a Showgirl.
And so she had a dream that she gave me this opalite heart of the ocean necklace.
And then, after her and Piper went dress shopping, right next door was a this is real life now, right next door.
There was a gemstone store and Dina was like, we have to go in.
And they went in and Dina said, do you have any opalite?
And they were like, yeah, we do.
And so.
Dina presented me with a very meaningful card with lyrics from Opalite because, as she said, the song is all about.
You know how things can be hard and sometimes you have to make your own sunshine.
And she was like, that's exactly what you're doing.
I'll cry just talking about this.
Um, and she gave me the most beautiful opalite bracelet and a worry stone that you can hold onto and kind of rub.
And, um, oh, it was just so special.
And so I stood with Dina the whole time during the press conference.
We just kind of stood off to the side watching and, um Yeah, that was for me one of the most special moments of the whole weekend.
And I wore that bracelet the entire weekend and I'm still wearing it now.
It's so special to me.
I got to meet Emily Venter's mom.
She is a breast cancer survivor and so had a really nice moment getting to know her and her family.
And then.
I went back up to my room vibe to Taylor was blasting life of a show girl for a little bit.
Um, saw Gabby Rooker.
I saw Aubrey front the way who is just the cutest ever.
And then I went for a run, first run in a while because of the whole pulmonary emboli.
So I was in Chicago with my doctor's blessing.
I was not able to go to Boulder Thon a few weeks ago, but at this point I've got a few weeks of the blood thinners under my belt.
I got the all clear to fly as long as I have a little pulse ox monitor that I check my oxygen levels on.
And, you know, it's just as long as I don't feel out of breath, I'm okay to do light exercise.
And so I was excited to get out.
I love the lakefront in Chicago.
I mean, who doesn't it's incredible.
I love running there.
And so I went for a run with Mary Wittenberg and.
We started on the lakefront and then Mary was like, let's go this way.
And we ended up running under some like overpasses.
I'm pretty sure at one point we were possibly on a highway.
It was, you know.
A little chaotic, but it was nice.
I mean, it was great to catch up with Mary.
It was great to go for a run, and I felt really good.
I'm sure I made bathroom stops, but overall, we just kind of jogged around for four miles.
It was a beautiful day.
I came back, grabbed a quick lunch with the whole Utah crew, the Run Elite program and Kira Aubrey uh, I think Emily was there.
Connor Clayton.
Um, yeah, I don't know.
I don't remember lunch, but then I went up to my room to get ready for the live show.
And, uh, I was really not sure what I was going to wear.
I was not sure about the wig situation.
So at this point, as I'm recording this, I now have six chemo sessions under my belt.
At the time I had five and the cold capping has just unfortunately not worked for me this time.
My hair has been coming out like crazy over the past like month and a half.
So when my hair is down, it feels really thin.
I can put curls in, but I don't really like how that looks, and I haven't been wearing my wig yet because I don't really go out much like I work from home, and so I feel like I need exposure therapy with the wig, where I just need to get used to wearing it more.
You know it's, it's a wig, it feels like a wig, it's it's a really nice wig, but it's still a wig.
It doesn't feel like me, and so I was back and forth on just how I was going to show up at this live show.
My friend Laura Green came to my room while I was getting ready.
Haven't seen her in a bit.
So we got to chat and catch up.
Kira came by for a little bit.
And then here's my rant.
As I'm getting ready, you know I'm on my phone, I'm checking my emails and I'm getting all of these, like people canceling their tickets through Eventbrite to the show.
And I thought I was going to lose my mind and I shouldn't even check.
And but I do get a notification when you cancel.
And my whole thing is don't get a ticket if you're not going to come to the show.
And I understand that things happen.
Plans change like a flight gets delayed or whatever.
But when it's a bunch of cancellations coming in, I I take it so personally, because the way I look at it is I'm like oh, you got a better offer and we have wait lists for these shows.
And it just bums me out that there's people who would have made time and would have committed to coming.
And so.
Again, I know, I know things come up, but the way that it feels to me when it's an hour before the show is like I got a better offer or I don't feel like going.
And it really bums me out.
If you get a ticket, can you please just come to the show?
And don't get me wrong that it was packed in there.
It was standing room like we filled the space.
But I do still take those last minute cancellations personally and they make me angry.
So, uh, and I don't really look at the names.
Don't worry.
I'm not holding a grudge against anyone specific but um, I don't know.
If you get a ticket to a show, you should go to the show.
And when you cancel it an hour before, that ticket's not gonna go to someone else.
Like people have already figured out their stuff.
Is this making sense?
Yes, just, yeah.
So I was trying to decide what to do about the wig.
I decided to wear it.
I put a little it falls really it like falls in front of my face too much.
And I can't tuck the hair behind my ears because it's a wig and that just doesn't work.
And so I put a little braid on one side, felt good enough.
Got reassurance from Laura that like this was the look.
And so.
New Balance takes such amazing, amazing care of me and my people.
And they sent a car to take me and whoever wanted to come with me to the live show.
It wasn't just a car.
It was like a sprinter van party bus.
And it was just Laura and me.
And so we walk out and the driver's like, is it just the two of you?
Yep.
And we just wanted to drive around the city in that sprinter van.
It was so fun.
It felt very cool.
I felt very VIP.
And so we arrive at the live show venue and there were already people in line at 4 pm for a 530 show.
And I know I mentioned this in the intro to the live show, but I love you guys so much.
This community is just unparalleled.
And so it was really fun to arrive and see people already there.
And I just felt really happy.
Eric showed up with Mac Fleet and Eric just had the best energy.
He actually had pretty chaotic energy at first.
He was nervous.
He was bouncing off the walls.
We did sound check and then my crew started showing up, which was fun.
I had. an awesome group of friends at this show.
The space looked great.
Big thanks again to Molly and the Fleet Feet team for letting us totally take over their venue.
As always, I made a playlist for when the doors open and it was pretty heavy on life of a showgirl songs.
And so.
Playlist was popping off.
The VIP section was growing.
My friend Kristen came.
My friend Julia came.
And it was nice having them in the audience.
And then, As it was time to get ready to start the show, Eric and I had a little dance party backstage.
We're getting him hooked.
He likes Fate of Ophelia, so job well done.
At one point, before they let everyone in, I just like popped my head out to say hi to the people in line and to thank them for coming.
And I really wanted to spend more time just like walking through the line and saying hi, but there wasn't time for that.
And so I just popped my head out.
And when I did, everyone in line started cheering and I was like. have we created a cult?
I worry about this sometimes.
I worry.
I know I call it a community, but I'm, have we started a cult?
Is this a best friends cult or are we good?
I hope we're good.
We're not doing any weird rituals, so I think we're fine, except maybe giving out friendship bracelets.
But that's, that's normal.
So in our little backstage area, Mary Wittenberg, Karen Hempel, Christine Burke, Connor who of course arrived with cupcakes because it was our friend Dorian's birthday had my friend Liz Laura Kira Jay, Clayton and Ashley were there like how crazy is it?
When I was having lunch before the live show, Clayton asked if it was okay if he came to my live show.
Like, are you kidding?
Yes.
Olympian Clayton Young.
It would be fine if you came to my live show.
Would love to have you.
Johnny Pace was our photographer.
Meb was there.
Like, Meb was at my live show.
Dina Castor was there.
Carrie Tollefson.
Like, just...
An absolutely insane crew and to look out there and see all of you and to see my people and just.
Yeah, I mean, I had cried in my hotel room earlier that day and then I got to just be surrounded by so much love and it was awesome.
The show was a blast.
This was one of my favorite live shows I've ever done.
Eric is hilarious.
The crowd was great.
My high of the weekend.
And it feels so grossly self-indulgent to say this.
But I will admit that walking out on that stage and getting a standing ovation was incredible.
That was just an amazing feeling.
And I know I already mentioned this.
I kind of rushed right past that moment because it felt self-indulgent to be standing up there letting people stand and cheer for me.
Like, get off your feet, sit down.
Let's have a fun show.
And I do wish that I had just kind of taken that moment in a little bit more while it was happening.
I've thought back about it a lot.
You just, you all make me feel really loved and it's awesome.
So, yeah, the playlist was hitting.
They played Life of a Showgirl when I came on stage.
You know, the show itself, you've probably already listened to it or you were there.
Thank you to everyone who came.
We had a blast.
And then afterward, Connor and I popped into New Balance, had an after party.
So we went to the New Balance after party for a little bit, but it was really loud in there.
And I felt myself yelling to talk to people.
So I was like, you know what?
I got to get out of here because I am here to do a job which is to announce at the finish line on Sunday.
And I need a voice for that.
We left the party and we went out to dinner with Mac Fleet, Eric Jenkins and Karen Lesowitz.
Lesowitz.
Oh, shoot.
I should have rehearsed it before I said it.
Karen, she's care less on Instagram.
She makes funny videos.
I never met her in person.
I am a Karen fan.
I had so much fun with her at dinner, laughed a ton.
Dinner was great.
And then, of course, just went to bed too late.
That's kind of a theme of these weekends, waking up too early, going to bed too late.
But Friday ended up being a great day.
All the big feelings I was having heading into this trip for all of my own reasons.
You know that's how it works is you get around your people and you get in your element and you do your thing.
And the moments that I have that are hard are pretty much always the moments when I'm alone with my thoughts.
So.
It's probably not a great thing that I'm like just surround yourself with people and stuff these thoughts down.
But yeah, I do a decent amount of that.
So and and I'll be honest, I was just missing Annie a lot this weekend.
I miss her anytime I'm not with her.
Right now she's at school and I miss her.
But yeah, I was missing Annie a lot this weekend.
So that was Friday.
Let's go to Saturday.
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Okay, so Saturday.
One of my Chicago traditions is running the Abbott Chicago 5K on Saturday morning.
I love this tradition.
I love this race.
Every year I've run it with friends.
Two years ago, my first time in Chicago, I ran with Carrie Tollefson and Megan Featherston.
Last year, I ran with Carrie Tollefson, her husband, Charlie, and Ray Flynn.
And it was awesome.
I gave him a friendship bracelet afterward because I was like, Ray, we're best friends now.
Um, and Ray is like a legend.
I mean, his, he's a legend in holds like a million Irish records and now he's an agent to the stars.
Uh, he's someone I really like working with.
I really respect.
Um, but this year he ditched me.
He ran with Jack Fleming from the BAA and they ran quite a bit faster than I did.
Um, This was always just going to be a fun run, a jog.
I didn't know how I would feel if we would take some walk breaks.
We ended up running much faster than I expected.
Kind of just happens on race day.
I wasn't looking at our pace at all.
At one point, actually, I looked down and it said we were running like six minute pace.
And then I was like, oh, right.
GPS watches do not work in Chicago.
We weren't running six minute pace.
We ran comfortably and it was great.
So apparently, apparently.
The day before, Dina had been telling all kinds of people that we were running the 5K together.
She and I had talked a couple weeks ago.
I told her I was doing it, and she was like, let's do it together.
And I was like, no.
Like, Dina, go run your race and go run it fast.
I'm going to run my race.
And she was like, no, we're doing it together.
And who am I to argue with Dina Castor?
No.
And so, so many people were coming up to me being like, oh, you're running with Dina, right?
I was like, oh yeah, I guess so.
So it was me and Dina and Mary Wittenberg and Christine Burke.
And we had our little crew.
We always meet in the lobby.
And it's great because I meet up with Dina.
She is in with all the like VIPs.
And so we always get escorted out to the start with all of the athletes.
Uh, I always feel bad that we're like off to the side.
We've got our own porta potties over there.
It's like an awesome little VIP experience, but I'm also just like don't make eye contact with anyone in the corrals.
Like I feel bad.
Uh, and unworthy over there with like Cole Hawker.
I got to meet Cole Hawker.
He was there.
He didn't run the 5k, but he was speaking.
He, I think like wished everyone good luck beforehand.
So I felt pretty good.
I wasn't nervous about my stomach.
I think I just wasn't thinking about it.
I'm normally nervous about my stomach, but it was just, And so we.
Once the race started, we got into the starting corrals and the four of us took off together.
We were running right behind Diane Nakori, who is the most gorgeous woman to ever exist.
And she's incredible.
Uh, and she was running with Wesley career, funny little story about Wesley career.
So his brother, John career, who won the Boston marathon back in April.
You might've seen the video of Wesley, former champion standing at the finish line.
So excited to greet his brother.
So when we're all down in the hotel lobby before the race, Wesley comes down and he's looking at everyone's shoes and he's like what's going on here?
Like, is everyone wearing super shoes?
And we're all like, yeah.
And he's like, what in the world?
Like, why?
You know, it's just a fun 5K.
He goes upstairs in the hotel, comes back down and he's wearing super shoes.
I was told and I didn't fact check this that he put on that he wore his brother's super shoes, not the one that John was racing in the next day but, you know, borrowed a pair of his brother's super shoes to run the 5k.
And I just love that story.
And so, uh, he ran with Diane, we were behind them for a little bit and it's just like.
These weekends are so fun.
Like if you're into the elite side of racing, the elites are everywhere.
They're in the pack with you.
Like, Diane and Wesley weren't all out racing this thing.
They were just out there running it and running together.
So if you keep your eyes up and off your watch, you just might see some running celebs out there.
So the race was great.
Connor was out cheering my, my one of my best friends, Connor Nickel, who I talk about all the time.
You know Connor, by now.
Uh, Kira was racing it like she was, you know, running it.
I don't know if she was running it as a workout or what she was doing, but I know that she won for the women and I think she was fourth or fifth overall.
So one thing I love about this race is the out and back.
I love people watching on an out and back.
It's one of my favorite ways to race.
And so we got really excited when we saw Kira coming the opposite direction.
We all stopped and screamed and cheered for her.
And it was just fun.
I mean, that course is flat.
And so it's, it's nice.
We, we, We were talking the whole time.
Dina was blasting Life of a Showgirl.
She was playing Opalite from her phone.
So we were those people.
You couldn't really hear it, but we were just having fun.
People were cheering for Dina.
People were cheering for me.
Thank you for the love along the way.
And so it was just really fun.
It's just a nice, a nice way to spend the morning.
A long walk back to the hotel, which I always forget that it finishes further away from the hotel than where it starts, which is right next to the hotel.
So walked back.
We saw lots of friends on the walk back.
We met lots of people.
Thanks to everyone who said hi and took a picture and wanted to hang out with us for a bit.
It's always really nice getting to meet people.
Always say hi.
Like I get DM sometimes from people being like, oh, I saw you, but didn't want to bother you.
You're not bothering me.
That's what these weekends are all about is getting to meet in real life.
So that was nice on the walk back.
Took a nice hot shower, had a quick breakfast.
As part of the Chicago Event Management staff.
As an announcer, I get to eat in the athlete dining area, which I used to be so enamored by.
And I still am.
I mean, the people watching in there is great.
And it's nice.
It's like rice pasta usually there's a grilled chicken, salad fruit.
It's like basic, easy on the stomach food, nothing crazy, but it's free.
So I love it.
I love free food.
I love free stuff.
So I had breakfast with Jay Holder and Carrie Tollefson, went back up to my room, recorded.
I'm just like reading through my notes.
Is this so boring?
Sorry if this is so boring.
I recorded the intro for the live show so I could get that to Tyler, my editor.
I got to see Tristan Van Ord, Tristan Colley, and her little baby belly.
She announced recently that she is pregnant.
I'm so happy for her and her husband, Andrew.
I just love Tristan is the sweetest.
Got to see her and chat a little bit about how she's feeling and how running is going, with a little bump growing.
And then I did a shoot with Sam Ryan, who is an ABC reporter based in New York City.
We work on the broadcast together for New York City Marathon.
And she had asked if I would be up for doing a shoot with her while I was in Chicago.
She was running the marathon.
And so she was in town and.
ABC is doing, you know, it's October.
So ABC is doing all kinds of breast cancer coverage.
And she asked if I would be up for being a part of it.
I didn't really know what that entail would entail, but I said yes.
And so Sam and I met up and Matt Singer from New York Roadrunners, who I love working with.
And we sat in a park and she interviewed me and Sam is so good at her job.
She was not reading off notes.
She was just asking questions and they were really thoughtful.
You know, the cancer stuff is fascinating.
I'm getting better, I think, at talking about it and about deciding what to share.
I did not expect to cry as much as I did.
Thoughts and prayers to the editor working on this piece.
I forget what exactly Sam asked me about, but I started to tear up.
Then I started to cry.
And then I couldn't stop.
I don't know if they have any usable footage.
Sam brought me a bouquet of flowers and was like, congrats on the 5K.
And of course, my response was, thank you for the lovely bouquet.
Obviously, it's a line from the life of a showgirl.
So I mean, I hope the shoot went OK.
It's going to air at some point this month on ABC.
And then she said they're also going to package it up and it'll air during the New York City Marathon broadcast.
So I look forward to all of the people.
Being angry about them cutting to that instead of showing the race.
Hopefully it's part of a two shot or a, you know, picture in picture, whatever they call it.
Uh, so yeah, it was, you know, Sam's amazing.
I just appreciated getting to spend time with her.
And then I took a cab to Second City so that I could go see Laura Greene's game show.
She's been doing these game shows for how long have you been doing them, Laura?
A year, two years?
But I never get to go.
I want to support the people doing them.
I want to, you know, also like I like seeing what other events are like.
What are people doing?
That's cool.
And I feel like I don't get to go to a lot of stuff.
So I'm glad that my afternoon was free and I got to go to Laura's show.
Karen, who I mentioned earlier.
Karen was the opener for the show and she did a really funny five minute set.
And then Laura came out.
I was sitting with Ashley Young because Clayton was in the show.
So it was nice to be with a buddy in the audience.
And it was a great way to spend the afternoon before the marathon.
Like that's why I love going and seeing stand up.
I love comedy shows because.
The only thing you have to do is sit there and laugh.
And so it was fun getting to see Laura do her thing.
The show was great.
It was very entertaining.
Clayton did the worm, which surely you've seen those videos by now.
It was just yeah, it was a really good way to spend an hour of time, like it felt like an hour well spent, and that's something I think a lot and I feel like I say a lot about when I do live shows is.
I just want you to feel like it was a good use of an hour of your time.
I always want you to leave feeling better than you came, whatever that means.
And so it was good to get to be there, and A lot of people said hi to me before and after the show, so it was nice to meet so many people.
Where is my Kansas City crew at?
There was a group of women from Kansas City, and I'm obsessed with them.
They were so fun.
I love seeing people with their running buddies on these weekends.
It was good energy.
And then I went back to the hotel, took an Uber back with Clayton and Ashley, who are the loveliest humans alive.
And I was just grabbing a sandwich from the hotel.
Like it's not a restaurant.
It's just a little, I don't know, shop where you can get sandwiches, whatever it is.
I can't even think of a word right now.
Um, and while I'm standing there, I'm scrolling my phone and I found out that Diane Keaton died, and I was so sad.
I love Diane Keaton.
Um, and then all the athletes were headed to the tech meeting, which they had to walk by where I was.
And I saw I think it was uh Sam Grotwald from New York.
Road runners Dorian Kale, um And Kira might have been with them.
And they were like, hey.
And I yelled, Diane Keaton died.
And all the people in line turned around and looked at me.
I don't know why I remember that.
And I definitely don't know why I put found out Diane Keaton died in my notes from the Chicago Marathon.
But here we are.
So then I just went up to my room and I was like, all right, I'm going to get some work done.
And then I was like, nope, I don't want to be alone.
You know, the comedown, even if it's brief, those comedowns were hitting me hard.
And so I ended up hanging out.
For a while with Kira and Connor, just in Kira's room, we laughed, we gossiped, we caught up.
We played Pips, which is the New York Times game that Connor has gotten me and all of us hooked on.
I suck at it.
I'm so bad.
But we played Pips together.
And it was just nice.
I...
I loved that time like that was.
One of my highlights from Saturday was just hanging out with Kira and Connor and getting to be with my friends.
I was missing Annie.
I was just yeah, I was having these low moments and I needed my people to help me out of them, and they did so.
Um, I did have a little crash out on Saturday after I left hanging out with Kira and Connor and they both went to do their things.
I think they both had dinner plans.
I cried a lot.
I just, yeah, I kind of just... crashed out in my room.
I was alone.
I was sad.
I was missing Annie.
I just kind of like, I just had these feelings of sadness that I couldn't shake.
And I don't share that to be a downer.
I share that because I have all these high highs, but there are really low lows in between.
And Chicago was a big example of that, where I was happy and it was genuine, but I also was struggling.
And that's not to say that all the big smiles are fake.
That's just to say there are moments of deep sadness in my life, and that doesn't stop when I'm on a really fun work trip.
Shut it down for the night and went to bed.
So that was Saturday.
5K, Laura's show, friend time, crying, laughing, sucking at pips.
Big day.
Before we head to race day, let's talk about the fact that this episode of the Allie on the Run show is brought to you by Ufos.
And hey, it's slipper season.
I work from home and as a grownup, that means I have house shoes and house slippers now.
My indoor only shoes and slippers that keep my feet happy comfy, cozy and supported all day long while I'm doing, You know, working and enjoying my long walks from my desk to my kitchen for snacks.
It's not a long walk, but I do it a lot.
Got to stock up.
Got to refill the water.
And I'm wearing my Ufos.
Ufos makes the greatest recovery footwear and they truly have been pioneers in the recovery footwear game.
They're the OGs.
So what's the deal with recovery footwear?
Glad I asked.
These shoes and slippers and sneakers and slides.
They're made with Ufoam technology, which absorbs 37 more impact than traditional foam footwear.
This helps your body recharge and reduces stress on your feet and joints.
I did not fully understand recovery footwear until I tried it.
I thought they were just thick flip-flops.
It's hard to explain in audio form just how good these shoes feel and just how much I like walking around in them.
Marathoners, these are the shoes you want to pack in your gear check bag, because you will be so happy to take off your sneakers and slip into some UFOs.
Take my word for it.
Seriously.
I'm so glad to have UFOs in the Allie on the Run show family.
And I'm excited to keep sharing more about the brand, the products, the people and the benefits of shoes that are designed solely get it.
Sole like your feet solely to help you feel better, bounce back faster and run stronger.
Go to oofos.com, that's O-O-F-O-S.com to keep your feet and body happy.
That's oofos.com to get your own pair of recovery slippers.
Do it.
You're going to be so happy.
All right, Sunday, it is race day, Chicago Marathon Day.
My big responsibility on Marathon Day is I had two jobs this year.
One was announcing at the finish from 2 to 5 pm, bringing in some of the final finishers of the race and then co-hosting with Keri Tollefson the Champions Reception.
This is a reception at the hotel that's in the evening and we bring up some of the winners and the top stories from the day.
The top Americans.
It's a lot of speeches, a little bit of fanfare in a nice room where people dress up and eat snacks.
But obviously the whole first part of the day is just being out there and cheering, which is so fun that I get to do.
So I went for a run.
You got to run on marathon day.
I went for a 530 a.m. run with Mary Wittenberg and Christine Burke.
This has become a tradition at these race weekends.
We saw a beautiful sunrise and I told them that I was sad and I hate telling my friends that I hate feeling like a burden.
And I hate feeling like a bummer and I don't want people to feel bad for me.
But I was I was feeling sad.
I was feeling sad about a lot of things.
And it was just nice to be with those two women who are really good friends and who I can share those things with.
So.
The run was nice, and then I got back to my room, took a shower, and I put on the race broadcast.
That's not what happened because he is still here years later.
He is healthy and he ran the Chicago marathon and his story touched me so much.
I'm going to choke up just talking about it.
His story touched me so much.
And I posted it on Instagram just being like, wow, this is an amazing story.
And jokingly was like, if anyone knows this guy, tell him that I'm inspired.
And of course, all of a sudden in my DMs, I get a video.
What was later in the day?
Get a video back from him and from was it Jessica Bloodgood?
I believe that connected with him and was like hey.
This girl, Allie, saw your story and was really moved and he recorded a video for me.
And it was just like I was sobbing watching it.
So those stories, now more than ever, are really touching because I feel like you know, on weekends like this one, I left being like I really want to run a marathon again.
Like I want to do that.
I want to be like, hey, I ran a marathon while going through chemo.
Not just to be able to say that, but just for me, like I want to be a part of it.
And I'm not going to do that anytime soon, especially right now while we're still working out these blood clots in my lungs.
But I did feel that after this weekend of like man, like I want to be out there, and I don't feel that often.
I'm normally pretty psyched to be on the sidelines cheering for everyone.
But I think, seeing his story and you know, maybe someday maybe there is another marathon in my future.
I hope there is.
I would love that.
So, yeah, I was feeling a lot of different things on race day.
Eventually, I made my way out to the hospitality tent, which is near the finish line.
I love they always have an egg station.
I love either an omelet or a scrambled egg station.
So I loaded up on food.
I sat with Carrie Cox, who is an agent.
Shout out women agents in the running industry.
Mary Wittenberg came and joined us.
And then eventually they tell everyone like, hey, the finishers are going to start coming in.
Please leave the tent and go out to the grandstands and cheer them on.
And so that's exactly what we did.
And me and Mary and eventually Connor was there with us.
We were just out there cheering for runners and it was cool to see history being made.
You know, the thing is, I don't really.
The way that my day shakes out is like I didn't have the broadcast on because I was in the hospitality tent.
And they have it on, like they have the race being broadcast so you can watch it.
But you know, you're just kind of socializing and they're not paying super close attention to the coverage.
But I was checking in on the tracker.
I had a lot of friends running.
Wanted to see.
I feel like everyone had a pretty good day.
Not everyone.
Some people obviously had tough days out there, but Uh, you know, the weather was pretty favorable.
The conditions were pretty good.
It's obviously at Chicago, it's a flat, fast course.
And so, um, yeah, people were crushing it from what I could see on the tracker.
In the section we were in at the finish line, it was Conor Mance mania.
I don't know if they were Nike people or who they all were, but I mean, everyone was just like there was Conor Mance, American record hype.
So we got to see you know, got to see the winners finish, which is always exciting.
The crowd went absolutely insane for Connor Mance's finish.
And of course, it's always great to get to see a record happen, like with your own eyes, to see be right there when he crossed the finish line, and Sam was really cool.
And then um, Eventually he did his little victory lap just running up and down high fiving people.
And I was like, heck, yeah, I'm going to put my hand out.
And I know Connor like he's been on the show and I've met him a bunch of times.
We did a. the panel together at the Boston marathon with shocks.
And so we know each other, but it was really cute.
Cause he was running high fiving people.
And as he high five me, we made eye contact and he was like, Oh, Hey.
And I was like, Oh my God, it's me.
Hi.
It like felt cool to be recognized by Connor Mance.
Um, So, yeah, I was really happy for him.
So Connor got really loud cheers.
Dakota Popane got really loud cheers.
Galen Rupp got pretty loud cheers again.
I think it was a Nike heavy crowd at the finish.
So Galen got loud cheers.
Centro, Matt Centrowich, when he finished, people were excited.
Great race for Natasha Rogers.
The top American woman was happy for her.
So, yeah.
And then my friends started coming in.
Gosh, Rachel Highland qualifying for the Olympic trials for like the fourth time.
Carly Gill.
That's not her last name anymore.
Carly Larios, who's a longtime friend.
She had a great day.
So it was fun.
It was fun seeing some friends coming in.
And then what I loved, there were these three women who were I mean, they were young, probably in their 20s, definitely in their 20s.
And they were incredible.
Their energy.
They were cheering for everyone.
Anytime a woman came in, because when the race starts, the men and you know the men, women and pros all start together in Chicago, which I don't love.
I like when there's a separate men's and women's pro start, but it's fine.
Uh, Every time a woman came through, they were just yelling, queen.
Yes, queen.
Like I was obsessed with them.
And so when I knew I had a friend coming, I would tell them and they would cheer for my friends and they I love them.
And so they were like you know everyone, like how do you know everyone?
And I was like I work in the industry and um, they're like I feel like everyone here like knows everyone, and we're just out here cheering and I was like, oh well, like you're in, you know they're in the grandstands which you can't just access.
They're, you know they're ticketed.
And they said one of the women's dad got them these tickets and they were like hell yeah, we'll go to the finish line to watch the Chicago marathon.
And they were just having the best time.
And I love seeing that.
I love seeing this sport reach people who are just like heck it, you know, like Caroline Moss, who's been on the show, who just loves the New York city marathon.
And it's just all about it.
Like that to me is so fun.
So I didn't want to leave because I loved cheering with these women and I love their energy.
So, um, I didn't get their names.
I don't know where they're from, but they, they were great people to cheer with.
Uh, they made it really, really fun.
Eventually I was hungry.
And so we went back into the hospitality tent and had a great crew in there of people who you know Jay and Carrie, who had just been working on the broadcast.
They came in.
Kira was in there, who was also on the broadcast.
She was on the moto.
Ed Eyestone, also on the broadcast.
I thought he was great on the broadcast.
And he he came in, too.
And so it was fun to talk to him about you know Connor's, Connor's record and how he was feeling, and so it was just.
Yeah, it was nice to be in a good big, fun group eating more.
I definitely did a good job feeding myself on Sunday, and so we hung out for a while.
It was time to do my job.
So again, I went back to my room and I was sad.
There was a part of me that was feeling like and I feel this at all these major events and maybe you do too there's so much going on And I feel like I do what I can and I want to see my people and my friends.
But then there's all these shakeout runs and there's all these other events and there's people who are cheering out on the course.
And I only ever cheer at the finish line in Chicago.
I don't get out on the course and I wish that I could.
And I probably could.
I could make that work, but I don't.
So I don't know.
I think I was feeling like I should be doing more.
I should be out more.
I don't know.
I don't know that it's FOMO.
It's just feeling like I'm not doing enough maybe or I'm not out there enough.
I don't know.
I was in my head about a lot of things this weekend, I guess, and so went back up to my room, felt myself feeling sad, and I was like, oh and now, like a lot of my friends, a lot of them were flying out Sunday night, and so I was kind of like all right, Now it's time for you to get to work, which is also, you know, tough.
I spend the whole morning.
It's not tough.
It's not hard.
This is hardly hard work.
It's fun work.
But I was like, all right, now I go back out and I start my job.
I don't even start announcing until two o'clock.
And so I made my way back out there and I was like all right, you got to.
You gotta bring some life back into yourself, feller.
Wake up, get excited.
And as soon as I stepped out on that stage on the runner's right and I started announcing, It was insane.
People throwing up heart hands, people yelling, I love you, Allie.
Like it was wild.
And it was as soon as I started announcing.
So to the people who shouted me out, just know my job is to cheer for you.
I'm there for you.
And I'm there to cheer in the runners.
But for people to be out there.
You know, showing love my way.
Hate to say it because it's not my day, but man did I need that?
And it was so, so special.
And I announced with a man, his name is Wit.
He's great.
I really like working with him.
He's awesome.
His energy is great.
And he was just like blown away by all of you cheering for me.
So yeah, it was really cool feeling that love and feeling it right away.
So I did take some notes about announcing things to remember.
Almost as soon as I started announcing, a woman came through.
I want to say Angie, was it?
Angie was your name on her shirt.
On her race shirt wrote you've got this, you're doing great.
And I was like that's awesome, like that's so cool and I love that.
Okay, we.
We saw these two people finishing the race and, right before they got to the finish line, sat on the ground to take a selfie with the finish line in the background.
They got whisked away real quick.
You have to have self-awareness.
There are 54,000 runners.
You can't just sit down right in front of the finish line.
I every year, I'm consistently amazed by how many people are filming as they're finishing, which I get like.
Capture the moment.
It's a very special moment, but please be aware of your surroundings.
Like we see people bumping into each other, we see things get bottlenecked because everyone's trying to capture their own moment.
And I get it and I want you to capture that moment.
But please please, please.
You can't come to a dead stop right before the finish line.
Yeah, I feel like almost every runner was finishing with their phones up filming themselves.
And I'm not judging that.
Like, I really am not.
But I just... I want...
I want everyone to just be aware of your surroundings a little bit more.
Um, I, yeah, I felt weepy from all the heart hands.
There were okay.
Tyler, you're going to have to bleep this, but there were a lot of people running with shirts that said ice, which I loved.
Um, I couldn't read that over.
I couldn't announce that like I couldn't as your race announcer.
I don't think that I could yell out ice.
I think I would not be doing myself any favors when it comes to job security.
But I did every time I saw one of those shirts, I like gave a little thumbs up and.
You know, obviously, Chicago is is big in the news right now and ice is there and it's awful.
And I, you know, a couple of people messaged me over the weekend being like, did you see anything?
And I didn't.
I mean I was pretty contained to specific areas like the hotel, the finish line, um specific race stuff.
So I didn't.
But I mean it is a very real thing that's happening in Chicago and in our country right now.
And uh, would have loved to have worn a ice shirt myself on that stage but um, Don't think I could get away with that.
But shout out to all the people who wore those shirts, and more than proud.
It's an absolutely, yeah, it's hard to believe that this is a real thing that's happening.
I'm having a hard time believing it and seeing these awful videos and seeing kids taken from their parents.
It's disgusting, it's awful.
I posted a picture from my morning run.
I believe it was on I forget which morning I saw it, but I posted it was someone had written ice on you know, it was like graffiti and I posted it.
I didn't even say anything.
I just posted that and it is.
It is a statement.
I stand by and someone responded and then unfollowed me, which is fine.
Being like, how can you post that?
The people working for ICE are hardworking Americans.
They're people too.
And I was like, I am not even going to, I'm not even going to, no.
No, no.
So yeah, I don't think I have much more to say on the topic.
You know where I stand.
I believe in humanity.
I believe in the good in people.
I believe that this country should be a safe place for everyone.
And it's awful that that's not the reality right now.
So unfollow if you choose.
I believe in love, humanity, and kindness first.
We are all human.
And yeah, I guess I say we are all human.
So, yeah, I guess the people working for ICE are human, but I don't think they're good humans.
Yay.
There were back to the finish line.
That was a good tangent.
That should that should go over great with people, I'm sure.
I don't care.
There were a lot of people wearing shirts that said cancer survivor.
A lot of people with ribbons on their shirts, a lot of people with things that said, like I beat cancer.
You can finish this marathon.
And that stuff was really hitting me.
I felt.
I felt proud of those people.
I felt happy for them.
I felt envious of them.
I'm like, I want to be that.
Like, I want to get out there.
That's awesome.
A lot of matching outfits, a lot of sparkles, a lot of really cute hairdos.
I feel like these finish lines have become fashion shows.
The marathon is your runway and people are really showing up.
Just a lot of women in matching outfits. head to toe matching outfits, total coordination.
It's very fun to see.
I love it.
I love running as a form of self-expression and obviously I love glitter, sparkles and whatever makes you happy.
I was really cool at one point.
It was probably like maybe 4 p.m.
And all of a sudden I look across in the grandstands and there's Meb Kofleski by himself out cheering because he's he had runners coming in.
I believe there were two runners running for the Meb foundation and he came back out to cheer for them.
Like that guy is such a good human, such a class act.
I thought it was really cool that he came out.
Um, I announced being like because I saw them with their singlets and I was like what better you know, when you're running for the Meb Foundation, to have Meb Kofleski himself waiting for you at the finish?
And they ran over and gave him high fives and as soon as they crossed the finish line, I watched Meb bolt out of there and I know that it's because he was going to find them on the other side of the finish line.
So just Such a good guy.
I loved seeing that.
So, yeah, I only announced for three hours.
It's a pretty short shift for an announcer, whereas wit is out there from the start of the day all the way until 6 pm, which is when they pull the announcers.
But I was done at five because I had to go back to the room to get ready for the champions reception.
But.
All in all, the three hours I spent announcing were good for my heart, good for my soul.
It was really nice to be out there and to get to show those runners some love and cheer them in.
At that point, the crowds have thinned.
There's not many crowds at the finish because it's grandstand seating.
I really wish...
These races could find a way to open up the grandstands after a certain time.
I mean, people do get in, but I just want more people there at the finish.
So the finish line is not quiet.
We try to make it loud, but I just want every runner out there to feel celebrated.
That's what it's all about.
So, yeah.
Announcing, as always, good for the soul and congratulations to everyone who finished this year's Chicago marathon.
I loved seeing you.
So I left around five, went back to the hotel, which fortunately is nice and close and.
Had to figure out what to change into.
And again, I struggled with deciding, do I wear the wig?
Do I not?
I decided to wear it.
There were a handful of times this weekend where people that I know didn't recognize me.
Like we'd be chatting not people I know well, but like industry people, and they'd be like, oh my God, I didn't realize that was you.
And I had a hard time with that of being like, is it because my face is so round now?
Is it because I'm not wearing my wig and you, you know my hair is so thin?
Or is it because I am wearing my wig and you didn't like?
I'm getting a little bit in my head about it and I think that'll pass.
That'll pass with time.
That's just the phase I'm in right now.
Yeah.
So I decided to wear the wig.
I decided to wear a dress.
Went downstairs to the you know again, the athlete dining area, so that Carrie Tollefson and I and Alex Sawyer from Chicago Marathon, who is amazing to work for.
We just went over our script.
We practiced, you know, read through it a couple of times, made some notes, made some edits.
And then Connor Mance came down.
He was part of the champions reception and it was fun to get dinner with him.
He sat with us and ate and it was fun to hear about his day and how he was feeling.
He's just so chill.
Like he was happy, but he was really.
Laid back about it.
He's just he's a good guy.
Talk about easy to root for.
Connor Mance is is a good dude.
And then, yeah, the champions reception went well.
Carrie and I had a good time.
We got to bring people up on stage.
It was just a time to celebrate some of the fastest performances of the day.
And.
I met some people from the Achilles team.
I met the marathon photo team.
OK, my biggest flex of the weekend.
I shouldn't brag about this.
I don't even know if I should tell you this, but I met I was talking to some of the guys from marathon photo.
And the next morning in my inbox were my race photos from the 5k.
They sent them to me.
I didn't have to pay for them, they just sent them to me.
I saved 5995.
I was gonna buy the photos too, because i mean, who wouldn't buy photos of you running a 5k with dina castor?
Um, That's my flex.
I got free marathon photos.
Proud of it.
Shout out to Marathon Photo.
They said they had at the time we talked they had already uploaded or downloaded or whichever way.
You load photos, two million photos from the race, so they are hard at work out there with their photo team.
Buy your race photos.
Don't post them with the watermark.
I feel like that's a big.
I saw that on threads.
People are really worked up about it.
I get it.
If you want to post it, just pay for it.
Support people, it's the right thing to do.
Um OK, so during the champions reception, I'm up on stage and it was really hot.
I my wig makes me really hot.
And I kept picturing myself having my Samantha Jones moment where I rip the wig off and like throw it in the audience because I was soaked in sweat.
I have also been having some hot flashes lately.
But then I was like, no, no, no.
First of all, this is not about you.
Second of all, that wig was expensive.
You're not throwing it anywhere.
But I thought about it.
So the champions reception was nice.
It was yeah, it was a room full of a lot of people that I know and people that I got to meet and just good people.
There's, Partners, sponsors, athletes, coaches, agents, families, kind of everyone's there.
They were serving deep dish pizza, but I didn't have any.
I was afraid of what it would do to my stomach.
So I just ate like plain pasta and chicken, which I didn't go other than dinner after the live show, which was really good.
I didn't go to any restaurants.
I didn't eat anything good.
That's part of it too is like I go on these weekends and I feel like I should be getting out more.
I don't know.
This recap feels like a bummer.
I'm being kind of hard on myself.
I had a good time.
And then, because it's Chicago and there's always at least one night that ends up at the hotel bar, Kitty O'Shea's and the people from the BAA were there.
People from Chicago Event Management were there.
The Roadrunner, New York Roadrunners crew, Ted Metellus was there for a while.
I was with Jay, Dina, Joni.
Okay, so I had a moment with Joni, Jon Benoit Samuelson, legend, after the Champions reception.
We were just mingling and Joni came up to me and was like hey Allie, I've been thinking of you and wishing you well.
How are you doing?
And I was like, you know who I am.
And I've met Joni a bunch of times.
I've run with Joni before but I'm just convinced.
Like Joni meets a billion people but her daughter Abby, shout out to Abby.
If you hear this, uh, they ran the marathon together.
I think they ran three 36 or something just like Joni.
You're incredible.
And I don't know.
It felt cool that Joni knew who I was and kind of knows what I'm going through.
I think, um, Yeah.
So I had a really nice moment and I was like, Joni, is it okay if we take a picture?
I don't usually ask for pictures.
I just let people do their thing.
But I was like, I kind of want a photo with Joan Benoit Samuelson.
So, uh, she indulged me and we took a photo and then she was in the group that ended up at the bar.
Dina, man, Dina Castor can party.
Um, We just laughed like we laughed for hours.
I think by Sunday night, everyone's done.
You know, not everyone because the Chicago team still has work to do.
But like most of us, our professional responsibilities are done.
We can just relax and unwind.
And I decided to have a couple of drinks.
I have. barely had any.
And I was never a big drinker.
But like socially, it's nice.
I like having a glass or two of Prosecco.
It tastes good.
It feels good.
I like it.
And so I decided to have a glass of Prosecco, which turned into two, which eventually turned into a third.
I had three over a long period of time, course of several hours.
So I was like relaxed and having fun and then got in my head about it and was just like you shouldn't even be doing that.
Like all you should be doing right now is stuff that's going to help you live longer.
You have stage four cancer.
What are you doing?
So then I was kind of like mad at myself.
Not terrible, but it was just like.
I'm trying to figure out how to live with stage four cancer.
How do I live and enjoy my life and enjoy these moments while also knowing I had to fly home the next day to go to chemo, and you know it's balance and I probably won't have another drink again for a while.
But like, drinking in any amount is not going to help me live longer, but also it helped me relax and enjoy myself a little bit.
So I don't have an answer here, I'm just talking too much and being too honest.
Um, but that was Sunday race day, a great day.
Congratulations to everyone who ran.
However your day went, be proud of yourself for getting out there um, for being a part of this community, for showing up for yourselves, for showing up for whoever you chose to show up for um.
It is one of my greatest honors to get to be a tiny part of someone's race day.
So congratulations to all.
And let's wrap this up and go to Monday.
So I was a little nervous for Monday because everyone's flights were getting canceled and people were talking about a big storm and a nor'easter hitting the East Coast.
And I was like, I have got to get home.
I have chemo tomorrow.
I know we all have our reasons for getting home, but this felt like a pretty big one.
Fortunately, everything was fine.
My flight wasn't until three in the afternoon, so No alarm on Monday.
I woke up and decided to get out and just go for a little lakefront walk run.
I ended up covering about five miles of walk running.
As soon as I left the hotel, some guy was like, yo, you got to run to the fountain.
The fountain's on.
I was like, all right, I'm running to the fountain, which I'm pretty sure I did last year, too.
So.
Ran to the fountain.
It was on.
It was lovely.
And then I just ran along the lakefront at one point toward the end.
On my way back, I bumped into McKenna Myler, who is a professional athlete.
She's in that Utah group.
She runs for ASICS.
She's lovely.
And I just stopped for a second to like, say, see how she was doing.
She'd had a rough day.
She ran 229, right?
Amazing time, 229.
She made four bathroom stops along the way.
And so 229 is not what she wanted.
And she had a tough day out there.
So We were kind of just debriefing what happened, which she shared on Instagram but um, she kind of overdosed on electrolytes by accident and she was kind of beating herself up about it.
And, um, and she, she's great.
I'm a big McKenna Myler fan and, uh, we.
Ran maybe like a mile or so together.
Just kind of she was just shuffling out her legs and I was doing my best.
So it was nice to get to run with her for a little bit.
And then, I mean, this day doesn't really deserve a recap.
I lounged in my room for a little bit.
I got some work done.
I scrolled a bunch, seeing how people's races went.
And then they provide staff and athlete shuttles to the hotel, which is great.
And I was on the 11 a.m. shuttle, which would mean I had like a lot of extra time at the airport.
But the next one was at one o'clock and that felt like it might be too tight.
So anyway, I'm on the shuttle.
They're usually pretty empty.
There's only a handful of people on them.
I've got my headphones on.
And then who gets on the shuttle but Natasha Rogers.
And Connor Mance, like all the, you know, our two top Americans from the day before.
So you know, I kept my headphones on, kind of just did my thing.
He was happy and she was happy.
And I think they were both tired and ready to go home.
Treated myself to lounge access.
It was like $79 for a day pass and I was going to be there for about four hours.
So I was like, yeah, that's worth it.
The lounge was so crowded.
You couldn't get a seat.
There was not much food, you know.
I wasn't all that impressed, but I worked.
I edited the live show so I could get that uploaded.
And it was nice to listen back to it.
I smiled the whole time.
I hope that you all did as well.
The live show was certainly my highlight of the weekend.
It was.
You know, there were also those other moments the bracelet from Dina Joni saying hi and being really sweet, hanging out with Kira and Connor in the room, like those were.
Those are the moments that were really special to me.
But it was fun to listen back.
This was, like I said, one of my favorite live shows I've done.
And it was just good.
Good. good energy.
That's what I'm choosing to focus on.
The other stuff is still there.
So I flew back, got in you know flight was smooth got in at like seven, drove myself home, had some dinner and then went to bed because I had chemo on Tuesday.
So I'm recording this on Thursday.
It's Annie's birthday as I'm recording this.
She's seven.
And she's at school.
I yeah, I don't know if we'll do a support squad episode for this one.
I'm trying to figure out when we might be able to do that.
My friend Sarah, who's a local friend, she brought me to chemo.
Everything went well.
It was my first chemo not doing cold capping.
Because I'm not cold capping anymore, I'm a little nervous about what things are going to look like going forward.
Right now I have enough hair on my head that it's obvious to me that I've lost a ton, but you know I still have hair like I I'm not.
You know I still have hair and I'm grateful for that.
I don't know now if, without the cold capping, if it's just going to start coming out more.
I don't have plans to shave my head, because right now I'm pretty far from needing to do that, but we will see.
I'm trying to take these things one day at a time.
I know that stopping cold capping was the right decision.
For me, it made chemo days unbearable and I was miserable.
And because this is such a long-term chemo, it just, I couldn't keep doing it.
And there's a little part of me that's like, you quit, you gave up.
People do this, why can't you?
But also I kind of don't care, because Chemo yesterday was.
It was still a hard day, but it was better without cold capping.
And so we'll see.
We'll see what happens.
I will probably be wearing my wig for all the things in New York.
It was wild to me that I would see pictures from these shakeout runs that I had no idea were happening.
It's like, man, thousands of people knew about this shakeout run.
How did I miss that?
I did not know who Brett Chody was.
And then I saw this like massive shakeout that this woman hosted.
And so I went down, I follow her now.
She's adorable.
Uh, but it is so interesting that I feel so in touch with the running industry and with this community.
But there are big events happening on these weekends that even I don't hear about.
So, uh, It does feel a bit like a numbers competition from the activation side of things.
Like everyone wants to have the biggest shakeout.
Like that's the bragging point is how many people were there.
What does it feel like to be one of 2000 people at a shakeout run?
Does it feel like amazing?
And oh, my gosh, I'm in this community.
Is it overwhelming?
I'm curious what motivates people to go to these big events.
Kira and I had really different takes on them because I was like.
That overwhelms me.
I feel like I would just get swallowed up if I went to it alone.
I feel like it would make me more alone.
Like the first day of college, where I felt like everyone already knew each other and everyone already had a friend and a and a network.
And Kira was like no, it's the opposite.
She's like imagine showing up to a big event by yourself.
You don't know where to run, you don't know where to go.
You go to a shakeout run and they've taken care of all the logistics for you and you get to meet people and I was like I love that take.
I mean yeah, so.
I wondered if going to these big events make people feel more or less alone.
I don't know the answer to that.
I'd be curious to hear from people about why you do or don't go to certain events.
I just think it's interesting.
A lot of my big worries...
Did fall by the wayside.
You know, the the body stuff, the appearance stuff, it was still there, but.
It it felt less monumental, so that's good.
Everyone was wearing shocks, headphones everywhere I went.
Everyone had their shocks on or around their neck.
I, you know, I remember a couple of years ago going to an event and being like, oh my gosh, everyone is wearing Gooder sunglasses.
It just felt like it was this big moment where everyone was wearing.
And this year, what I really noticed is everyone wearing shocks along the neck.
Lakefront, uh, at the shakeout runs during the race, just walking around like shocks everywhere.
Um, and you know, they, they are a partner of the alley on the run show.
So I'm excited to see that.
Um, I do have a discount code.
You can find it in the show notes for my episodes or on my newsletter.
Uh, you know, be, be part of the crew, get yourself some shocks.
My favorite moment was walking on stage at the live show.
Again feel self-indulgent to say that, but it was pretty cool.
So I can admit that.
Uh, I wrote, I learned a lot about myself on these weekends.
And that's true.
And that maybe would have been more interesting for me to dive into in this episode than just recapping list by list of where I went and who I saw.
But yeah, I learned, you know, I'm learning about Being alone in these weekends, I'm learning.
And it's like part of me is like, you know, you need to you need to be uncomfortable.
You need to let yourself be uncomfortable.
You need to sit in the silence.
You need to feel those feelings.
And then I'm also just like, no, be with your friends, be with your people, let yourself feel good.
Those sad feelings will still be there in a couple of days.
You can deal with them then.
As always, I don't have the answers.
I don't know if I'm doing things right.
I don't know how much I'm helping or hurting myself, but I am just trying to go one day, one event at a time.
The weekend felt long.
I was only in town from Friday to Monday.
But it did.
It felt like I was there for like two weeks.
I felt like I was in Chicago for a while and yet still haven't tried deep dish to this day.
Have not tried deep dish.
And then the last thing I wrote was, oh, I want to run a marathon.
Not anytime soon.
I don't even know if that will ever be in the cards for me again.
I like to believe it will be.
But that was my final closing thought of the weekend.
Was you all really inspired me to want to get out there?
So thank you.
And how dare you?
I love you.
Thanks for listening.
If you made it this far.
Jazz hands.
Thank you so much for making it to the end of this episode of the alley on the run show.
Thanks for joining me on my Chicago marathon recap.
I feel like I didn't really share anything that I didn't already post on Instagram stories.
I am of course, alley on the run one there.
I have a whole Chicago highlight.
So.
If you're listening to this and you're like, I want to see what that looks like.
It's all in the highlights.
You can tap on through.
Of course, thanks to everyone who came to the live show.
It was awesome.
Loved having you there.
And just to everyone who said hi.
I love when we get to see each other.
It's awesome.
I hope that everyone had a good, fulfilling, rewarding weekend in Chicago.
And I now turn my focus to New York City Marathon.
I'll be announcing all that soon.
Hopefully you can come to the live show.
It's going to be Saturday afternoon.
I can tell you that early afternoon, like 1 p.m.
The information might even be out by the time you're listening to this.
But I appreciate you.
I love you.
I'm AllieOnTheRun1 on Instagram.
I already said that.
AllieOnTheRun.substack is the newsletter.
I'm struggling to get words out right now.
So that's my cue to wrap it up.
Thank you to Ufos and Viore for supporting this episode.
Links, codes, discounts, show notes.
That's where you're going to find all that good stuff.
All right.
Time for me to stop talking.
I love you.
You got this.
You're doing great.
Put it on a tank top.
Thank you for joining me on the run.
