Last day in Chicago. Sigh. I always have so much fun here with my best-est friends! Kate, Meaghan, Pete you all rock!

Got to run with Deon this morning. Another nice morning. I felt pretty sore the whole time, but it was great to run with a friend. Nice Lake Shore route. Lots of runners. Lots of cyclists. I again had bike envy!

Ran 6 miles in an hour. But I was able to run, so I am thankful!

Said goodbye to Kate. Then I had breakfast with Pete. More goodbyes. Quickly packed up and headed to airport via the bus & train.

I was a little fearful of flying back today given my flight in. But I am happy to report that my flight to Atlanta was good. Flight to Richmond was also uneventful! Thank god!

Nathan picked me up, went back to his & Meg’s place. Chatted for a bit, then I hit 95 North. It was already 9pm. Thankfully I had some friends to keep me awake on the drive home. Thanks Alex & Lewis! I also have to thank WaWa. For a gas station, they are a great place to stop at!

I got home just before midnight. Unpacked. Did a load of wash. Fell into bed. I get to cycle in the morning!!!!

Photo by mysza83

Well, the last 24 hours were pretty much a nightmare. Only I was wide awake. Not very fun! I am sure you are dying to hear about it:)

As I mentioned yesterday I drove down to Richmond to attend the kickoff event for http://www.overtheedgeva.com/ & http://twitter.com/overtheedgerv. To do something fun (and a challenge) my friend Whitney and I decided to CLIMB the 30 flights of stairs up the Sun Trust building. It took us around 5 (fun & sweaty) minutes.

After that it was on to the Richmond airport. Well, the story gets really good from here on out! My flight was to leave at 4:30pm, layover in Atlanta, then onto Chicago. Piece of cake, right? Well, not really (maybe it was agreeing with my “no sweet” kick).

First, my flight was delayed. Fine, I can deal with that. Then it was delayed for the 2nd time. Still sitting in a cold airport. I always forget to bring a sweater with me! Finally we are called to board.

Nightmare #1) AirTran system went down so they took our boarding passes.

So I didn’t know the seat I was in. I boarded to the end, so I took the closest seat to me which happened to be business class. The only dream I had!

We taxi out to the tarmac.

Nightmare #2) Engines turn off. Pilot comes on & says we will be sitting for at least an hour. Make yourself comfortable.

Some guy apparently had already been drinking so riddles became our source of entertainment. It was rather funny. Thank god for Twitter. It helped to pass the time!

Then, we went back to the gate-cause, guess why, a passenger wanted to get off. He gets off.

Nightmare #3) We go back to the tarmac lot. Sit some more. Along with more riddles.

At 8pm, pilot said everything was shut down in ATL so we would go back to the gate. No word on when we would get to fly.

Nightmare #4) Stood in line to get our boarding passes. Remember they took them?

Nightmare #5) If we wanted to leave, that thought quickly vanished. The security check point closed at 8:15pm!  Whoa!

Finally around 9:30pm we got the clear to board. Woohoo!!

Got into ATL around 10:45 or so. It was a mad house. Beyond crazy to say the least! I got a little work done then went over to my gate. Helped a women find a hotel room (having a BlackBerry does pay off!). It was now 12:30am. Scanned my boarding pass. Heading down to the plane when…..

Nightmare #6) hm, ma’am, this isn’t your flight. YOUR flight has been cancelled. I walk back. I must have looked really tired or something. The people behind the conter somehow got me on the flights. Only I had to fly on to Chicago without my luggage. Since they didn’t know when the next flight was going to be going out, I just wanted to get to Chicago at this point!

So, on the flight. Feel asleep from sheer exhaustion. Landed at Midway at 2:30am. I did go to baggage claim just in case. You never know!

Stephanie & Kate picked me up! Awesome. Thank you ladies!! Arrived at Kate’s. Practically fell into bed. It was now 4am. Its been a long day! Just happy to be here!

Woke up at 8am to call the airport about re: suitcase. After over an hour on hold (I put it on speakerphone and fell sleep, lol!) I woke back up & contacted some friends & with in 2 hours I had located my bags. YAY!!

After getting my act together (hello Chicago!) Deon took Kate & I to the race expo. I love race expo’s! Then back to Midway to retrive my suitcase. Glad to have clothes again:) Thanks to Kate for letting me borrow hers for today!

Dinner with friends. Now time to crash. 10pm and I am tired. 4am is coming way to soon!

Oh, HAPPY AUGUST!!

Photo by Alex-s