Whew! What a day! It was a rainy, overcast morning (and it still is gross here, actually)...but the race was a ton of fun!
Jillian ended up coming with me...she originally had 4th of July weekend plans, but ended up having a change of plans due to a variety of factors. She drove to Bloomington last night (she lives in Peoria) and picked up Biaggi's takeout for the two of us on her way to my house. We gorged ourselves on delicious pasta (me, GF of course!!) and Chilean sea bass (her) and chatted for a while before hitting the sack around 11:00 (a bit too late considering we had to get up at 5:45 am, but we are just little gabbers! ;)).
Jeremy had been planning on running with me, but was totally tired out from working on our basement-finishing project (he had worked from basically 8am-9pm at least on both Thursday and Friday this week on framing the basement by himself)...Jillian took one look at him last night around 9:30 and said, "You're not going to feel like running tomorrow are you?"He agreed...and she suggested that, instead of registering herself the next day that she just use his race number. He was far to glad to oblige!! ;) So, he slept in this morning while Jillian and I dragged ourselves out of bed at 5:45 and got ready.
We left around 6:15 am and drove to Fairview Park in Normal where the finish line of the race was...and waited for a shuttle bus to Miller Park where the start of the race (and packet pickup) was. There was a large group of runners waiting for the bus when we arrived at the park and we ended up not being able to take the first bus that arrived due to it filling up. The shuttle took FOREVER to return...we waited for 20 minutes or more in the cold drizzle. Apparently they had only ONE shuttle going back and forth. What the heck?! We got to the packet pickup just a few minutes before 7:30am (which was supposed to be race start time...but it ended up getting delayed a bit) and of course all of the size small shirts were gone, so we were both stuck with XL's. This, of course, brings me to one of my BIGGEST irritations with races: why does it seem like all that are ever left are XL shirts?! Are there really THAT many people who run that are XL?! I mean, COME ON!!!!!!
I got 269th place overall (out of 545 entrants) and 9th in my division (out of 32) with a time of 43 minutes, 12 seconds. My pace was 8:38, which is pretty consistent for my previous races this year (regardless of distance, it seems).
After the race we met up with our friends, Veronica and Christina, for some breakfast at CJ's. YUM! I had a delicious, filling and fatty omelet with Swiss cheese, turkey, spinach, and mushrooms...YUM!!!!
It was a fun day, all in all :). I am glad Jillian ran with me...and I know Jeremy is glad too, since it let him off the hook! It was also AWESOME that Jillian's knee didn't give her any trouble (she has a long history of competitive running and has had knee issues, unfortunately). WOO HOO!
Here's wondering now if I'll get up to join the Lake Run Club for our 9 mile run tomorrow morning at 6:30!! ;) I really need to...I will do my best to rest up (I think a nap is in order!!) and hope to join them bright and early for a nice run!
HAPPY 4th OF JULY!!!!!
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