Three races (part 3)

Ever since the inaugural Illinois Marathon/Half-Marathon I've been saying to Joy that I was going to come and do this event with her.  We met when we both studied abroad in Dijon, France in 1987 and have been friends ever since, and we both graduated from the University of Illinois together in 1989:

In 2007 we ran our first race together, in my hometown - the Leuven New Year's Corrida:

So doing the Illinois Half Marathon with Joy has been on my bucket list for quite a few years now, and this year, things worked out!  

Unfortunately (and this is why I don't have any pictures, except the one below after we finished) the weather was terrible.  The evening before, for the 5K, it was perfect.  But we woke up to pouring rain, and a chilly 54 F.  Luckily, there was no thunder and lightning and the race was not called off, as it had been the year before.  So Joy's husband drove us as close as possible to the starting corrals and we tried in vain to stay dry and warm while we waited for the start.

Once we got going, despite the rain, wind and cold, dare I say we enjoyed ourselves?  We did, actually - we talked the whole way, thanked the volunteers along the course (they had it worse than us, we reasoned - they had to stand still), laughed, looked forward to refueling stops, and sloshed along in our sponge-like shoes.  I can tell you, for a fact, that cold and rain is good for one thing - preventing blisters!  My feet were very comfortable - perhaps because they were numb?

The course itself was flat, started out going through campus, wound through Urbana and some beautiful neighborhoods with old stately homes, through a nature preserve, and some newer neighborhoods, and finally back to the University of Illinois campus.  It would have been great to do it on a sunny day, but we both said blistering heat wouldn't have been fun either.

It was a relief, though, when we finally made it to the finish, in nearly four hours, crossed the line in Memorial Stadium and at last, chilled to the bone and completely soaked, were able to get out of the wind and rain.  Patrice, God bless him, picked us up, and we spent the rest of the day curled up in front of a wood fire, proud and happy of our accomplishment:

And we weren't even last:

I'd do it again in a heartbeat (but I'd pray for no rain).

Three races (Part 2)

My next two races took place at the University of Illinois - my Alma Mater!  The first one was a 5K on Friday night - and the best part about it was that my 13-year-old godson agreed to run with me (even if he wasn't very enthusiastic about taking a pre-race picture with his mom and godmother):

I was a little bit nervous about running with him, hoping I wouldn't be too slow and hold him back.  But he had been out of soccer with an injury for a while and assured me it would be okay.  So we set off on the fun course that went right through campus, and past all the Greek houses.  A few sorority girls were out on their lawn watching the runners and one shouted at us, "You're gorgeous!"  I looked at G and asked him if he heard what they said.  He looked puzzled for a minute, and so I told him, "They were talking about you!"  Did I mention he's gotten tall and handsome?

Then we had to run past all the bars and fast-food joints on Green Street - the food smells were killing us!  Finally we were on our way back to Memorial Stadium where the race finished right on the football field - how exciting to run in with all the lights on.  Very impressive!  G sprinted ahead of me (it's one thing to run with your godmother but another to cross the finish line with her, LOL!) and I followed shortly after - in my usual time of 35 minutes.  If nothing else, I am consistent!

Part 3 (the half marathon) coming soon...

So...those 3 races in April I told you about... (part 1)

 A couple months ago I mentioned that I had three races planned in April, which was a big deal for me, not having participated in many organized events in the past few years.

The first one was a 5K in Texas that my sister Christy found would be taking place the weekend I was there visiting.  We both signed up.  In the meantime, I found out that a fellow blogger, Kim, was also going to be in Texas that same weekend, visiting friends with her husband Stephen - and not far from where my parents live!  The race venue was not too far from where Kim's friends, Gina and Steve, live, and so they offered to meet us at the finish of the race.

Christy and I got to the race venue early enough to watch the kid's mile fun run - there were lots of little kids to cheer on.  I texted Kim our bib numbers so they would be able to watch out for us at the finish - we had never met in person and you always wonder if you're going to recognize someone from pictures.  And then Christy and I set off.  The course was an out-and-back around some baseball fields, a lake and a park - the weather was pretty nice for Texas - not too hot, but warm enough to be enjoyable.  And the field of participants was small, very small - maybe 200 people.  I ran at my usual comfortable pace (finishing in 35 minutes as expected).  As I came around a turn towards the finish line I could recognize Kim's posse waiting at the finish, and I started waving.  It was so fun to have them cheer me in!

Once we finished the race we hung out for a bit at the park - Kim, Stephen, Gina and Steve were all great and willing to wait for the organizers to announce age group winners, because, having seen who came in before me, they thought I might have won an age group award.  And Gina and Steve's son Luca was such a charmer!  At first it is a bit strange to meet someone you know through blogging in person - you actually know a lot about each other just from having read posts throughout the years, but you're still technically strangers.  In my experience, though, having met (and ran a race with!) Dutch blogger Fran a couple years ago, you quickly get past the initial awkwardness and the conversation starts to flow as if you'd known each other for years!  Same thing with Kim!

And then - what a surprise - they started calling out age group winners - and I won first place! Everyone tells me I shouldn't say this, but - full disclosure - there were only four people in my age group - LOL!  But I don't care, it was a first for me to win an age group award, and having new friends and my sister there to celebrate it with me made my day!  

And I actually got to stand on a real podium.

More soon about races #2 and #3...