John and Lisa, the cool people responsible for bringing us ultraRUNNING magazine, were in Chicago for a couple of days and thought it would be fun to have a “family” dinner.  So, they sent out an email to all subscribers in the area (at least all of the subscribers they had email addresses for) and invited us to join them for pizza at La Madia.  This worked out great for Paige and I, especially since it was virtually on our walk home anyway.

Last night was the dinner and it was fantastic.  There were about 15 of us there including our fellow CHUG, Vishal.  John and Lisa introduced themselves, they were awesome.  We chatted while enjoying some wine and got to meet several other area ultrarunners, some who looked familiar and some completely new faces.  We were fortunate enough to sit next to Lisa during dinner.  She is a very accomplished runner, as is John, and it was great to hear stories about various races she’s done and how they got involved with the magazine.  She shared stories about Badwater and hilarious stories about the crazy things she’s had to do to keep her runners moving while pacing them over the last few miles of a tough race.  The food and wine were delicious and the company was awesome.  Thank you so much, John and Lisa, what a great idea!