RUNNING A MARATHON IN FLIP FLOPS? | 2020 Virtual Chicago Marathon

I am already sore to start this race so time to suck it up and just power through it. We're Lauren and Daniel, travel addicts, small business owners, and now full-time Airstream dwellers. We're on a mission to visit all 50 states in 365 days shopping 100% American made. We'd love to have you join along. Subscribe to our channel for our weekly adventures. It's our hope you'll be inspired to wander local too. If you've been following along on our journey you've seen Daniel run two marathons in the last 30 days. One in the Smokies and one on the Ohio Donut Trail. Yesterday we drove from the Airstream factory in Jackson Center, Ohio to South Haven, Michigan because they're hosting a half marathon which means if everything goes as planned we'll just need to do the course twice. But has anything gone as planned in 2020? Step one this morning is to go and pick up my bike from a local bike shop. Per the normal I'm getting a bike. Now this is my third marathon that I've ridden but we found a great little local bike shop who was amazing and willing to put a bike out for us in advance this morning of when they're actually open so that I can get on the bike in the same time that Daniel was running. So how awesome is that? And it's pretty. This is gonna be a lot better than last week. I can already tell. Oh yeah. Got the t-shirt. Got the bib. Chip timed. This makes this an official race. Pretty super pumped. Don't have to go over any highway overpasses this week or consume large amounts of sugar so that's a win. Going through my typical pre-race rituals. Use a product called Reliev-It gel. This is made by our friend Caleb. He's based out of Tampa. It's his grandmother's sort of secret recipe but I guess it's no longer a secret because I'm telling you about it. This gets rid of the inflammation before it ever happens. I typically rub my legs down in all the areas that would get sore and inflamed in a race and then they don't and that's amazing. The big reveal. Two halves for one full. How are those knees feeling? Well, they're holding up so far. If you've watched the previous marathon videos you may notice that Daniel seems really focused for this one but understand why? Let's rewind for a minute. Oh, nice jacket. Yes, sir. Virtually. Yep, that's right. Another Boston finisher is at this race and Daniel is insane level competitive so right now he's running a seven something minute mile pace which wouldn't be totally unachievable for a full marathon for Daniel as he ran the Berlin marathon last year at a similar pace but this is marathon number three in less than 30 days so it's just sheer stupidity but we've been married for eight years and I know better than to drop a logic bomb. It'll fall on deaf ears. This is gonna be fun. So check out this trail we're running right now. Beautiful canopies. Bright vibrant colors. You're it, Miles. I don't think my calves are gonna make it in 20 seconds. I don't think it's a good sign that he's already had a complaint. So before we go and catch Daniel for the second half of the first half marathon, just gonna point out the fact that he is very serious today. I'm pretty sure he's gonna be insane level miserable on the flip side. How dreamy is this trail? At this point in the race, Daniel and his Boston marathon buddy are neck and neck for first place but I know that Daniel typically breaks away before the last mile to crush competitor's souls if he wants to win which is always so I'm getting pretty concerned about his overall well-being at this point. If he's not breaking away, he is insane level miserable. That was... I just got done completing the first half of the marathon and I'm going a little bit faster than I would have liked to. On a positive note, ran a pretty solid 1.37 half. On the downside, I've got like a blood blister on my toe right now and I might lose a nail so I know it's a little bit more information than you wanted so I'm gonna have to run the second half in sandals considering I've got another full next weekend or a couple weekends from now. I need to take it easy so I'm gonna have a pretty solid first half and the world's slowest second half but you know what? You gotta get it done. No excuses. 13.1 to go. As much as I would love to run the second half, my mind is telling me yes but my body, my body is telling me no. And I'm listening to my body today before it fails me completely. Well, only halfway because you're still gonna make us walk 13.1 miles. That's true, that's true but this is like race walk pace which is not too bad. Plus, we're mixing in with some wine tour action. I mean, it's an adventure. It's what we do. Adventures. And you know what? Once you're watching this and you're seeing us walk a half marathon, just know that you can get out there and you can walk a half marathon and it's okay. You just have to complete the distance. Obviously, I did not sign up to walk the half marathon today so that's fair. Half marathon 2.0. I think this is probably a good moment to note that we obviously didn't learn anything on the donut trail marathon about mixing sugar and running but it sure does make it entertaining. No question the best part about this is going to be that while I get the wine, Daniel's going to continue walking so that means I get to drink more of the wine. Check it out. Warner Vineyards. Refreshing, surprisingly. How are you doing on your mileage? What are you at? 15.6. I think this might be my favorite marathon yet and we're not even a full glass of wine in. I'm pretty happy about that. My feet are a little raw so the sandals are just like cutting right into my skin so that didn't really pan out. Might be a rough second half. Just on my feet. Everything else feels good. We are walking down to Lighthouse that is on Lake Michigan and I think one of the things that surprises me most is how much it looks like an ocean. Kind of looks like we're back at St. Pete Beach today. I think this is the end of this walking trail. So nice. Very peaceful out here. Oh. So now we're two of a pair. I was having too much fun filming Daniel being silly. Didn't notice a small step and nastily rolled my ankle. So now we're both moving at snail's pace for the next 10 miles. This is great. At this point we're only at 17 miles. We are moving so slow but the downtown South Haven area is so cute. Tons of shops, restaurants, wineries. If we weren't on a mission today we could easily spend a nice relaxing afternoon just exploring all the local businesses. We decided to walk to the Walgreens to get Daniel a Band-Aid. There's nowhere to sit down. That's okay. I'll make it work. Easy. Nice sterile environment right next to the cigarette butts. We're at mile 19 and it's time for a quick hydration stop. Officially knocked out to zero miles here at this lovely pier which we've seen already today. That's okay. That's okay. We're on to it. It's even better. Six more to go and then we're done. So we're at 20.5. We are so over this. So we're gonna check out a brewery next because mixing wine, beer, and a marathon is so logical. It seems like a really good idea. What mile number are you at? 21. Time for some hydration. This is definitely the silliest marathon ever. That's okay. From Michigan. I just really want it to be over. Active recovery miles. We've just decided that with five miles left our game plan is just to walk up and down the pier like a gajillion times because it's really pretty and we are so over this. We're at a familiar-like location. This is the lighthouse and we are a little over 22 miles. We're gonna loop back. We're gonna rehydrate because, oh my gosh, I'm so thirsty. Definitely need another beer and then we're gonna keep on chugging along to the fish line. We're at mile 23. We've got three more to go. Here's to having a plan is to go back to the lighthouse which is about a mile away and then we're gonna go do a mile on the trail and a mile back and then we'll be officially done with our Chicago marathon. I'm tired. Quack quack. The only quack here is this guy right now. It's been a few hours. My feet have healed enough. Time to psych it up. Back out the last couple of miles. One mile out. One mile back and we're done. Finished. Virtual Chicago is done. First half was fun. Second half was brutal. You ready to do the next one? I'm ready. I'm ready for the next one. Next one's gonna be New York. I'm gonna crush that one too. Four for four.