Been a hectic week trying to hold off all the flooding that is going in our parts. Looks like for the second time Serenity (link here) has been completely underwater. It is definitely taking a beating but fingers crossed it is still hanging in there. It will need some pillar work when the water subsides and maybe a couple more coats of protectant. At the moment I have it lashed to some large trees just in case something lets loose. You think you know power until you see the force of angry water. If you recall, last time I promised my next post would not be about birds. Keeping commitments is kinda my thing so sure enough, today’s post is not about our feathered friends but rather a recap of the latest event in the running season.
Last Saturday was the running of the Steamboat Classic in Peoria, IL. I’ve been running this race for sometime now and most of those have been of the 15K variety. Maybe a quick clarification there – the Toughest 15K in Illinois variety.
For those not familiar with the event, they have a 4 miler and a 15K interlaced in the course. We all do the first 2 miles of the 4 miles and then the weak ones turn back and the crazy ones head on up a merciless hill. Do some fairly flat roads up on top, come back down a steep hill and repeat back up that devil spawn hill again repeating that loop until we head back on the rest of the 4 miler course. No sugar coating it, that hill will test your will and your fitness. Fortunately, this Sung, Ryan and I eat this course for breakfast throughout the training season throwing in some Jubilee Park runs to make sure our legs are sufficiently tortured the time race day rolls around. Sung opted out this year, but Ryan and I toed the line on what turned out to be a perfect starting condition for the traditionally HOT Steamboat. To say a temp in the mid 60’s was godsend would still be putting it lightly.
The weather has been pretty kind to us this year .. so far .. which is a bit bittersweet. Training in cool temperatures is nice but sometime you have to pay the piper and get your heat conditioning up so you are prepared for race day conditions. This is especially true with me having experience “the incident” last year when the Heat Miser showed me what it meant to “melt in my clutch”. The goal was to run the race at 9 or under since training this year has been focused on distance at a cost of speed. Once again, my trusty UB was taking pictures for me. It never ceases to amaze me how serious people are at these races. No one forces you to show up.. enjoy it, you trained damn hard to get here
Hit the jump to see how the race turned out!
