Hi Team,
Well, we survived and conquered a busy race weekend. I picked Liz up from work at 1230 on Friday and we made the three hour drive down to Decatur. We picked up our race packets for the Penguin in the Park 5K and checked into our hotel. We got the exact same room that I had last year. Then, it was off to dinner at Red Lobster. We had plans for a movie, but I was exhausted after only two hours of sleep after working all Thursday night.
Saturday morning, we got up early, piled on our layers and headed out for the race. The wind chill was 17 degrees and the wind was blustery. Great weather for Penguins!
We got to hang out with John Bingham before the race, and had a great time talking to him. The race started at 9 and was chip timed for the first time, and this was year six for the race.
It started off with two drastic uphills and then levels off for awhile with a wicked pedestrian bridge just after the two mile mark. It's on a bikepath through a park near Milikin University. The atmosphere was really fun and relaxed as you would expect from a Penguin type of crowd. (I'm slow, get over it!) At some point on the path Liz stepped on the edge and rolled her ankle and twisted her knee that she had surgery on. It had me worried, but it seems there is no real damage. I finished in 27:58 with a pace of 9:01. I can't recall Liz's time at the moment.
They had an awesome spread at the University gym and great giveaways. John gave a talk and posed for pictures with each award winner. All in all, a great time! I stole a poster for the race that was stapled to a telephone pole.
Then it was a long trek home via Chicago to pick up my packet for Sunday's half marathon. We drove something like 320 miles. Ugg! I got home, threw my running clothes in the washer, and slept for a few hours while Liz went to babysit for some friends having an anniversary night out. I got up and had to go to work to place an order, as it was actually my weekend to work and I had to wheel and deal to get off. Then home and slept two more hours and got up and drove back to Chicago.
I parked right outside the entrance to Lincoln park zoo and was one of the first ones there. It was again cold (wind chill 19 degrees) and there was a constant wind blowing right off Lake Michigan. The race started at 8am and the day turned out to be clear and very sunny. The course wound up and down the lakefront with lots of turnarounds and crossing points. The lake had whitecaps and four foot waves crashing on shore and part of the race was diverted a little to avoid the ice from the lakewater. There was on course entertainment consisting of a few people here and there that happened to show up and decide to sing. I heard the worst version of Blue Bayou that has ever been played, by an odd looking couple with a bongo and an electric guitar. Made me pick up the pace.
I used the run 4 walk 1 method again as I haven't really been training much. I finished in 2:19:25 which is about a minute faster than last weekends half. I was a little disappointed in the medal as it looks as if it was made as cheaply as possible, or maybe I was comparing it to the Penguin medal which is really nice.
The shirt was really cheap too!
After the race, I toured the zoo a little to get inside and warm up a little. The race wore me out so I didn't stay long. When I got home, I showered and crashed until I had to pick Liz up from work. Then slept a few and had to work!
Almost forgot, at the Penguin 5K we ran into a WISH couple who had there shirts on and had been on a marathon cruise with John. We are everywhere! I think her name is Pat and her id is WDWFAN followed by a number that I can't remember (9?).
THIS WEEKEND, I AM TAKING OFF!!
We pretty much decided against the WDW weekend and the Bingham cruise next year. (then I read Eva's post~ curse you~ temptress!) We have other bills to pay.
Hope that all of you are well! Mike
Not that the high wind warning is new, it usually will not last 2 days! Will get out with the dogs before noon. The good news is that the high winds bring warmer temps! It will be 70 on Saturday (only to fall to 40 on Sunday). I can barely remember what it was like to have to exercise before breakfast because that is the only time cool enough to be outside exercising!
Anyway, onto April!
