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Illini Cool Complete

Greetings everyone.  Going to try and get a post out, but the campground I am currently at has horrible WiFi – so not sure how this is going to go.  At worst case I’ll have the post written and will upload whenever we find a spot with sufficient connectivity.  Seemed appropriate to go ahead and finish up the two parter started with the previous post – yep, the second part of the Illini Marathon I-Half Challenge.  Unfortunately, only the easy part was completed the night before – the big race was the following Saturday morning with the holding of the 150th Anniversary of my Alma Mater.  I forgot to mention that in the previous post, but you might have been wondering what that extra bling was dangling down from the finisher’s medal.  They added a mini 150th medal on to the 5K AND the Half Marathon medals.  You can see it right side up in the half medal on the left side of the swag shot below.
Illini Half I-Challenge - Half Marathon and 5K April 20, 21st 2017

Now that is the cherry on top for a medal whore like myself (Linda’s term, not mine hehehe).  Not only do you get THREE medals for finishing both races, two of them have extra bling – score!  I kind of left you hanging in the last post wondering how things were going to turn out.  If you recall, my 5K plan didn’t go as planned due to perfect running conditions and a snafu with locating Linda after the race that ultimately left me in pain far surpassing anything a hard night of burpees has ever left me with.  That Friday night was rough.  Lather on some Bio-Freeze, Tiger Tail the hell out of the calves and upper thighs hoping to break up the knots enough to be able to bend the legs and hopefully hold my weight.  This process was repeated time and time again until standing didn’t bring tears to my eyes.  One more hit of Tiger Balm on the last remaining spots before getting some shut eye – it was going to be an early morning.  4:50am alarm woke me to the brisk morning and good news on the legs front.  They were still stiffer than ideal and tolerable levels of pain, yet no reason to complain too much.  The body is an amazing healer as long as you keep it well oiled.

Illini Half I-Challenge - Half Marathon and 5K April 20, 21st 2017

Hit the jump to read more about how the race went!

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