Illinois Marathon Sights and Sounds

Yesterday, I finished the Illinois Marathon in 3:58:55.  I met my primary goal - don't walk, and my 'stretch' goal - under 4 hours.  So overall, I'm very happy with my performance, especially with the many training runs I missed due to the terrible winter weather.

I thought I'd share some of what I saw and heard along the 26.2 miles I ran through Champaign/Urbana this weekend:

Best sign - Barack Obama with a word bubble 'If you bonk, I'll give you a bailout'  For those wondering, Bonk is slang for 'to hit, stroke, collide, etc' (dictionary.com)...referring to the infamous 'wall' at mile 20 - which is where many runners slow, walk, or fall apart mentally

Best overheard conversation - at mile 15 

       - Girl 1: 'I might pour some water on my head

       - Girl 2: 'Really - why?'

       - Girl 1: 'I'm surprised I'm sweating and hot'

       - Girl 2: 'Really?'

       - I wanted to say - you do realize you just ran 15 miles - right?

Favorite words from the crowd - two college guys giving high fives - one looked at the other and said 'I feel so appreciated'

Guy I'd like to have a 'discussion' with now - at mile 18 someone said 'you guys got this - it's all down hill from here'.  Not that there were really any huge hills, but about 75% of the hills were after that point.

Biggest Disappointment - at mile 14 I passed a guy who was walking - he looked so disappointed in himself - I felt bad for him because I felt the same way in the NY marathon.

Biggest Surprise - The medal and shirt are nicer than either Chicago or New York.

One thing I can say now - I have seen parts of Champaign that Deb has not.

One thing I can say forever - I participated in the first annual Illinois Marathon

Favorite Moment - about mile 19, there was a LONG line of traffic waiting for the runners to pass.  about 15 cars back, there was a boy (about 7 or 8) sitting in the window of a mini van looking VERY bored.  I ran over to the car and held my hand out - the kid got this big smile as I approached and gave me an enthusiastic high five then started yelling 'Come on - you can do it, great job guys, etc.....'  I feel like I made his day (or hours of waiting), and he may have helped motivate another runner around me.

Non-Runner I felt bad for - There was a cable truck sitting in one of the long lines of traffic waiting to cross the route - I didn't feel bad for the driver - he's probably paid by the hour.  However, I did feel bad for the person sitting at their house waiting for the cable guy to get there in that narrow (4 hour) window the cable companies like to give!

Favorite Stat - 3,272 Calories burned - let's eat! (per my Garmin)

Geeky Stats (all from my Garmin - which measured it at 26.29 - which is likely due to weaving through the crowd and/or taking the outside of several corners to avoid getting 'slowed' down):

Official Time - 3:58:55 (Garmin was 3:58:56 - 9:05 per mile)

Overall place: 713 out of 1799

Division Place: 70 out of 147

Male Place: 560 out of 1182

Mile Splits:

Mile 01: 9:03

Mile 02: 8:47

Mile 03: 8:45

Mile 04: 8:46

Mile 05: 8:56

Mile 06: 8:57

Mile 07: 9:01

Mile 08: 8:54

Mile 09: 8:51

Mile 10: 8:49

Mile 11: 8:57

Mile 12: 9:08

Mile 13: 8:55

Mile 14: 8:46

Mile 15: 9:02

Mile 16: 9:01

Mile 17: 8:56

Mile 18: 9:09

Mile 19: 9:08

Mile 20: 9:30

Mile 21: 9:08

Mile 22: 9:08

Mile 23: 8:53

Mile 24: 9:38

Mile 25: 9:45

Mile 26: 10:13 (yes - seriously)

Mile 26.29: 2:48

Get out there and run.....