Hey, thanks, Lisa. I'll call them tomorrow. Someone also told me that you can get an application at Often Running in Normal, but that's a heck of a drive for me!

Anyway, I have not run it, but have wanted to. I live in Wheaton, west of Chicago, but grew up in Bloomington-Normal, and always like to get back. I was looking for a 1/2 Marathon, besides Chicago, that was fairly close.

Have you heard anything about it?

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The road goes on forever
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Thanks, Lisa.

I'm going to go for it, too. It sounds like it's going to be a fast group. I like the cornfields and, of course, the flat course.

Good luck with Chicago. I did it a couple of years ago and it was great. The only problem was the 75 degree temps at the finish. It was a hot race, but really great. Lots of crowd support, too.

Craig

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The road goes on forever
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You're right. Thanks for the info. I can't imagine what they'd do to me if I showed up late AND ran slow!

See you there!

Lisa

quote:<HR>Originally posted by flags:
Hey Mikebro, how was your run at abes amble? It was awful humid out, but not unbearable. I saw where ctomps (Craig) won his age group. Good run craig. I finished 162, 49:03, I am not in shape to run that far yet. OH Well.
If you all are looking for a race on Sep 20, I am having one in Mason City, IL. If you are interested in running it let me know, you can get forms from ivs.org or I can e-mail you one. Prairie Harvest Days 5K. First one and if it turns out well, we may continue it on next year. <HR>

Jim,

Speak for yourself--I found it fairly unbearable. Jeez. When I got back to Champaign, I checked the weather report and it was up in the 90s already.

Anyway, I had a bad time. It was my first 10K in 23 years and something just sucked me dry. Don't know if it was the heat, humidity, hills, or lack of preparation; probably all four combined. I really wasn't mentally prepared for the hilliness of the course, much hillier than runs I do around Champaign. I had been guesstimating a time of around 42:00-43:00 (based on recent 20:10 5K PR), but I ended up at 47:15 (132nd place, IIRC). I felt wiped out by 3 miles and was Gallowalking from there on. I walked through the water stations and for a bit beyond each time.

It was a pretty humbling experience. I think my training has been sucking lately. I've been chickening out of hard runs (I really dislike tempo runs and seem to have been finding excuses not to do them) and I think that's really hurting my race efforts.

The only good things I can find in the experience are that I've finally done a 10K again and that I've left myself what should be an easy PR to beat, once I start training the way I should. And the t-shirt is cool too, one of the few my wife will let me wear to work.

Don't think I can come all the way over to Mason City for a 5K. Champaign-Springfield is a long way and I only did that for the allure of the Abe's 10K. Good luck with your race!

Hey, Jeri. Enjoy your trip to Kewaunee. Macomb is probably your best bet. I can't think of anything that is coming up. You might try the Illinois Valley Striders website, but I think that is more Peoria-oriented, but Kewaunee isn't too far.

http://www.ivs.org/[/URL" target="_blank">

Good luck and enjoy your trip.

Craig

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The road goes on forever
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Enjoy yourself, Jeri. It's supposed to cool off--for a few days--over the weekend. Should be good weather for racing--especially compared to what you're used to.

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The road goes on forever
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Just wanted to check in with my fellow Illinoisans!

Ran Arcola's Broomcorn 5K last weekend. It was a pretty well-organized event! It was my first run after a couple of weeks off to nurse an injury, so I took it easy and felt pretty good. My only complaint was that some of the brick streets were pretty uneven--one woman took a header right in front of me because of it. Alnem was one of the few folks to run the 10K, and took home a lovely broom for being an age group award winner. I spent the afternoon sweeping...

Anyway, it's kind of a fun race because it finishes right in the middle of a pretty large harvest festival, so my friends and I wandered around eating kettle corn and looking at kitsch.

Mikebro, how did the race go? You were drawn for a door prize, BTW, but had already left. So I'm afraid you missed your chance to take home a genuine straw broom...retail value $5.99!

alnem2

quote:<HR>Originally posted by alnem2:
[b]Mikebro, how did the race go? You were drawn for a door prize, BTW, but had already left. So I'm afraid you missed your chance to take home a genuine straw broom...retail value $5.99!

alnem2[/b]<HR>

Arrggg! I need a broom too! IMGhttp://www.coolrunning.com/forums/smile.gif[/IMG]

My race went OK. I finished 15th in 20:06 (I keep "chip time" on my watch, according to when I pass the start line, so my official time is, I think, about 2 seconds slower). I'm getting pretty tired of edging closer to the 20:00 barrier. 20:10, 20:07, and now 20:06. Grrr. Too bad I'm not doing anything about it.

I did improve 1:34 and 16 places from last year, though. But since the 1st, 2nd, and 4th place finishers were in my age group (40-49) and there were two others in that AG ahead of me (ugh--finishing 15th overall but 6th in my AG), I figured I wouldn't get an AG award, so I left after cooling down. (We had to get to our daughter's swim meet anyway, so it was just as well that I didn't win anything.)

The uneven and broken cobblestones bothered me too. I vaguely remembered them from last year, but thought it was in the Hoopeston Sweetcorn race. I'll remember next year.

Hope the Alnems were all happy with their races.

Any Alnems (or anyone else) going to either the Wilderness (near Danville, Sept. 28) or Allerton (near Monticello, mid-Oct, IIRC) trail races? Both are fun races, if you've never been.