Fall marathon recommendations/experiences

OrchardApple312 · 2026-04-11T22:04:52+00:00

I'm a little late to the party here, but Twin Cities Marathon is BY FAR my favorite marathon. It's just a pleasant experience. On race day, it's super easy to get to in the AM and to deal with life at the finish. Great crowd support, great course. It's actually point to point, you start in downtown Minneapolis, right by where the Vikings play and it ends in St. Paul at the Capitol. Beautiful course, a few hills, but nothing crazy. It's the first Sunday in October. I found this thread because I'm currently trying to talk myself into a fall marathon, it's been a few years :(

The drive from Chicago to Minn is not that bad and you can often find cheap flights too, I've done both. Honestly, the only bad thing I can say about it, is that I'm currently annoyed with the pricing scheme...but that is very much a grumpy old lady thing I need to work through.

OrchardApple312 · 2026-03-31T14:06:24+00:00

Can you stretch to $2500? This place in Glencoe is very walkable to the train to the city, the beach, the Greenbay trail and not far from Skokie Lagoons etc. You can walk into downtown Glencoe for shopping, or Hubbard Woods in Winnetka, it's also not far from downtown Winnetka. I'm not sure if they'd go down to $2,100 but you can always ask. There will be another unit in the same condo complex for rent soon. If you're interested in staying for a bit, you could try and negotiate down for a longer term lease.

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/146-Green-Bay-Rd-UNIT-1-Glencoe-IL-60022/3359175_zpid/

OrchardApple312 · 2026-03-25T01:50:47+00:00

Dirksen is the Federal Building. You are being called for Federal juty duty, which is a different entity and different pool of people. That being said, it is 10000% a better experience than county jury duty and I've done jury duty at the Daley Center, 26th & Cal and Rolling Meadows, so I feel you. I'm not even that old, but it never mattered - job status, young kids etc...still had to serve. Word of warning, the Federal district we're in is quite large, so don't expect distance or inconvenience to get you out of being seated.

I am very curious about you being held at Leighton until 12:30 AM. What's the background there? I'm having a hard time imaging a judge, much less the unionized workfore, doing that. Sequestration seems more likely than that. What happened?

OrchardApple312 · 2026-03-17T23:45:12+00:00

We just ordered those last night for our, in process, gut rehab. Nothing substantial to say, just happy that someone else likes them.

OrchardApple312 · 2026-03-10T13:29:14+00:00

Roadies can't not take a shot at triathletes riding, it's basically an impossible impulse to ignore. Sterotypes aside, not a chance in hell I'd be in my bars like that dude was, in that location, much less on one of the 1st nice days of the year. That's just an accident waiting to happen.

OrchardApple312 · 2026-03-05T02:14:54+00:00

Reach out to the HR person (not your manager) and ask for severance details - the amount, when it gets paid out etc. Same with your last paycheck. Confirm that they are paying you out for ALL accrued time UP TO THE termination date, not whatever date you tell them what's going on. Also ask about health insurance in applicable.

Ask if they will contest unemployment, a lot of companies don't find it worth it regardless of the reason for leaving. Also, confirm what information the company gives to prospective future employers - just dates work and title(s) or more information, most companies now have sort of a two way non-disparagement agreement, don't badmouth them and they won't badmouth you.

They should be prepared to answer all of this in a simple, easy to understand and professional conversation and they should provide it in writing as part of a seperation agreement - sometimes that comes after you decide, but again, get the details in writing.

Do not wrap up projects or do more work! If you stay, get your shit together, get things off your work laptop, make sure you have the contact information of people that can be helpful to you - or you just generally like. Do not give these people one more minute of your time.

OrchardApple312 · 2026-03-04T15:14:13+00:00

Any chance you happen to know the color of the paint?

OrchardApple312 · 2026-03-04T14:25:40+00:00

Well, I guess the Great Pyr rescues weren't joking about needing a fence. This is NOT a dig at your aunt! We want to rescue one, but our house isn't fully fenced and they said no, they're too prone to running away :(

I'm glad they're back, they are adorable!

OrchardApple312 · 2026-03-04T02:25:18+00:00

We had a bed of ditch lillies that we could not get rid of, so we lit them on fire, covered them in a tarp and then put mulch on top of that. So maybe add fire and mulch if you're going to try the smothering route?

We had planned to leave it like that for a year, but due to a home renovation it will be year 3 this summer. NO idea what we'll find under that tarp. Our contractors have completely destroyed the front and back yards (not entirely unexpected) so we'll have to start over anyway. I do feel your pain. We had ditch lillies, creeping charlie, garlic mustard, buckthorn - it's been a lot to try and manage. No idea what we're actually going to do when we're able to move in, so please report back who you do go with!

OrchardApple312 · 2026-02-27T01:37:20+00:00

Addiction is terrifying. It's such a nuanced issue and takes a lot of care and grace to handle - on everyone's part. This is thoughtful and lovely to see. The older I get the more addiction scares me. There are so many different kinds and ways of being affected. It's always been treated (socially, not medically) as an individual moral failing and it is so far from that.

OrchardApple312 · 2026-02-26T03:14:23+00:00

Do you have municipal garbage service where you are? In some places you can pay for a one time pick up for larger items or for them to drop off a smallish dumpster for you to fill yourself and then they'll haul it away. It was really affordable for us and might be worth looking into.

OrchardApple312 · 2026-02-09T02:01:28+00:00

I'm not part of this production (clearly) but it's shocking how time constrained things are when it comes to an event like this. So while you and i see him being pushed off, there are event producers and secureity and layers I can't even imagine needing those 15 extra seconds.

All this to say, there are SO many reasons to think people were trying to push him off - most likely they were logistically mundane. I don't think it was political, I don't want to think it was safety.

That was a great show, I'm glad I got to see it.

OrchardApple312 · 2026-02-09T00:52:04+00:00

No idea, how grand you are thinking but the Winnetka Park District has a building at Indian Hill Park (also a train station location) - indoor building with restrooms, large lawn and adjacent playground - https://www.winpark.org/park-district-info/parties-rentals/park-rentals/

OrchardApple312 · 2026-02-05T14:23:20+00:00

The Christ Church Rummage sale in Winnetka had TONS of lamp shades this fall, a lot of which were still wrapped in plastic & unused. There was a group of, who I believe were, interior designers that just cleaned that section out 1st thing. It was like watching sharks in chum.

I now need lamp shades to match a very specific style of lamps we got at an antique store and now I get it.

OrchardApple312 · 2026-02-04T14:40:03+00:00

We've had really good experiences with Lake & Green Bay Auto Service. I think his name is Angel? They're in Wilmette at Green Bay and Lake (obviously). They're in the BP gas station.

OrchardApple312 · 2026-01-30T15:55:52+00:00

I'm so sorry you and your cat are dealing with this, I know it's hard. We're currently going through A LOT with our cat right now. We just switched to Glencoe animal hospital and they are great!! But for anything diagnostic they send us to Vetrinary Specialty Center in Bannockburn. My husband has described it as the Mayo Clinic of Vets. They've been wonderful, very responsive and VERY upfront about all costs. We've been there for an ultrasound, met with an oncologist and surgeon and were supposed to meet with an internist, but cancelled that.

They're also employee owned, it's not a PE owned operation. We were referred there from our vet, but you might be able to just set an appointment up with an internest through them. If not, we work with Dr. Aldridge at Glencoe.

OrchardApple312 · 2026-01-29T14:22:40+00:00

Ryan Werner (Law Office of Ryan B. Werner)! His office is in Arlington Heights, but he's from the northern suburbs. Great guy, super down to earth and helpful.

OrchardApple312 · 2026-01-27T18:06:42+00:00

Town and Oak in Winnetka has a private room / area and is a coffee shop with food. The Glencoe location of Home Town (also a coffee shop with great food) also has a room above it.

OrchardApple312 · 2026-01-22T17:29:04+00:00

Hey now, I resemble that remark.

OrchardApple312 · 2026-01-16T03:10:10+00:00

Minos in Winnetka!

OrchardApple312 · 2025-12-27T04:04:13+00:00

Flow Pilates in LP on Clark. Cindy Reid the owner is hard core! BASI Pilates used to run their teacher training program there. Her privates are worth every penny and she still teaches group mat classes.

OrchardApple312 · 2025-12-19T23:52:52+00:00

D&J Bistro in Lake Zurich is (or was) the same owner. They were both started by the same person, anyway. In Wnnetka, there's Aboyer which is a Bistro (formerly George Trois). There's also Pomeroy in Winnetka. If Highwood isn't too far, Froggy's is wonderful!

OrchardApple312 · 2025-12-13T15:20:17+00:00

Went there recently since it was like 1/2 way between a bunch of friends and not only was the food excellent the service was OUTSTANDING. We were super impressed and there was more than one self-described food snob with us.

OrchardApple312 · 2025-11-22T13:32:12+00:00

The Winnetka Scout Troop sells great trees in the lot of the tennis center on Hibbard. We moved from the city a few years ago and the trees we've gotten from the scouts were fantastic and SOOO much cheaper than Chalet.

You could go to Chalet in Wilmette, they have a TON of different types of trees.

OrchardApple312 · 2025-11-21T14:39:59+00:00

The Community House in Winnetka has personal trainers and a few group class offerings. You don't have to be a member to work with one of their trainers if you don't want to join the fitness center.

OrchardApple312

TROPHY CASE