Little FYI for you....Be VERY careful when you ride, thats if you ride on the streets, as apposed to the trail along the lake.  Cabs/regualr cars/buses/even pedestrians don't care about cyclists.  You probably already know, but when passing parked cars, look at the rear view mirrors to see if someone is in the car.  Many people have gotten tossed bc. of that this year.

Oh yeah, I forgot about the marathon.  Chances are that I will probably be watching it too.  My fiance loves the marathon, yet, shes not a runner.  She used to work for the Chicago Marathon, so thats why.  Yeah, you'll definitely need to come back when you don't have a race so you can really appreciate everything that there is to do over here.