Manito, Illinois United States Central Illinois Trail Running Alliance 38F / 3C Precipitation

Total Time = 3h 45m 16s Overall Rank = / Age Group = Age Group Rank = 0/

Leading up to this race was a lot of waffling on my part about sticking to the full marathon or dropping to the half. When I signed up for the race and marked "marathon," I did it for all of the wrong reasons! Since then I kept telling myself that I could get the trail miles in to do the full. Others were encouraging me to not change it yet, but to keep it in the back of my mind. Last weekend, the game plan was those of us that were signed up for the full would try it and if we got to the start of the 2nd loop and it wasn't going to work, we would drop. By Tuesday I had decided that my training was not adequate enough to attempt the full, so I swallowed my pride and decided to drop to the half.

This should probably begin with Thursday. Had every intention on running Thursday night when my van tire got slashed as a local high school. By the time we got it changed and home I had missed the entire run and I was in a fit!

Friday I worked all day and then had to pick up the van from the repair shop (had already made plans to get the brakes worked). No problem picking it up, then it was off to take our oldest out to eat for his 26th birthday. Since he was working a split shift our time frame was from 3:15 until 5. We head out to Chili's. He convinces me that it will be cheaper to do their "couple" meal. I had a place a cajun pasta with shrimp (it is Friday during Lent, you know)and a raspberry margarita. He orders a burger and a mango margarita (the drinks were included in the meal). By the time we finish eating and chatting, it was time to take him back to work. Get 3/4 way home and son #3 calls; his car is ready to be picked up,can I please take him? UGH! Turn around and head back into town. By the time we get his car it's time to pick up Timothy and Erica and head out to the sectional basketball game(her twin is a starter). Get to the game and T is all sorts of energetic, so I chase him up and down the stairs and around the concourse. We lost a heartbreaker of a game :( Take everyone home and I finally get to the house (after leaving around 7 am) about 10 pm. That leads to race day.

I set my alarm for 5:45 and sometime I must have turned it off because I woke up with a start at 6:15! Get up,start "coffee," and start the dressing process. Go back to the kitchen about 10 minutes later and the only thing in the coffee pot is hot water :( DOH! I forgot to add the coffee! Rectify that situation and get ready for my ride. Good thing we left early because we seemed to keep missing the turn off. No worries, we have plenty of time! Get to the race site and pick up our swag and bibs. Spent the remaining minutes talking to friends!

There really is no warm-up on a trail race, unless, like today, you count the stand in place and jump up and down like jumping jack rabbit to stay warm and kinda dry before the race.