Western Springs Tower Trot 2008

The day started off a bit chilly... one of those days where your not quite sure what to wear. Robin came to my place Friday night, then Doreen met up with us at my place on Saturday bout 7am... 7:30 we headed out. Quick drive cause its not that far. Ran into Jim who up until June 2007 was the Director of Cirriculm at Addison District 4, he looks GREAT, retirement from ASD4 has done him well... we chatted quickly, he told us a good place to park for a quick exit after the race, so we parked and walked to packet pickup.

Not crowded at all, either folks picked up packets ahead of time or this group is just pretty quick and organized. We ran into Mary C who was late meeting us at my place but got to race area about same time we did. So packets picked up, chips on, race numbers safety pinned, we went to start line to hang out. Robin and I did 10K, Mary C and Doreen did 5K, Kevin did both 10K and 5K.

Right on time gun goes off at 8:30 for start of 10K, glad I didn't wear long sleeves because I would have roasted. It warmed up rather quickly that morning. Well very quickly my slow running behind fell into the last place spot of the 10K runners - I didn't really care, I just wanted to complete the distance. Can't imagine how I'm gonna handle a 1/2 marathon cause freakin' eh 6.2 miles felt like forever. But the scenary was quite nice - damn there are some beautiful homes in Western Springs IL. So this other lady and I seemed to leap frog each other for a good 3 miles and along the way we chatted a bit - like me she didn't care we were pulling up the rear, we were just happy to be out there - she is doing the 3 day breast cancer walk in August and mentioned she's been walking but not running a lot.

So finally the finish line is in site... I round the corner and realize hey I might actuall finish before the 1st 5K runners come in (5K started at 9:30) well I guess I spoke to soon cause literally right on my heels (I think he was actually, per Robin, a step or two behind me at the finish) came this kid who had run both races - I think I was ok with being DFL (dead fucking last) until I got out ran in my one race by someone who did both :o) - but hey he had youth behind him. I just did not have it in my legs to do my normal sprint to the finish line, I managed to pick it up a bit but not my usual sprint.

My time per my garmin 1:17 something (don't have it in front of me) - found Robin and we found a spot to wait for Kevin, Doreen and Mary C to come in - this was Doreen's first 5K ever - Kevin raced the 10K and then happily ran with the girls in the 5K - I think, while he pushed them, they were both happy for the coaching and pushing as they both emailed me and asked me to thank him.

We all recovered a bit, with some water, Red Bull and oranges, then headed back to my place where we showered then Robin's Family and Angie/Chad and family joined us for a BBQ. It was a GREAT day...

No terrible aches and pains, but my hips felt a bit tight this morning - so I opted out of biking with Kevin because I have a 4 mile run with 1/2 marathon training group at 4pm today - don't need to push it to much - might try and get in a swim later tonight...