mjrustand

Wednesday, 22 October 2008

Well, we've kind of been up to a lot in the past few weeks. For starters, I competed in a biathlon a few weeks ago now. It consisted of a 3.1 mile run and a 17.2 mile bike ride. I finished in 1hr 19min (good enough for second in my age class). I was shooting for under 1:20 so I was happy with the time. I actually received a plaque, so that was pretty cool. Julie was unable to come and cheer me on because she was at a music conference in Knoxville, TN for 4 days.

Me and the best bike in the world. Schwinn World Sport, you rock!

Julie and I also visited a bike path they have here in the area. It was an old railroad bed that had been converted to a trail. The place was called tunnel hill, for reasons explained in picture. It was a beautiful day by southern Illinois standards, and we biked for almost two hours (had to get back for our flag football game). The only real exciting thing that happened on the trip were the plethora of snakes on the trail. If you would ask Julie, she would say the pythons were attacking us. Well, not really, but a couple did cross the trail in front of us. We did see one climb into a hole in the cliff side which could be a hibernaculum, but it seems to early for that. It was probably just hunting.

Unfortunately, I had to take the old huffy because of the gravel like consistency of the trail. While the front tire wobbles really bad, and it squeaks quite a bit, it still rolls . . . kind of.

Next up, a trip to the great Kansas City for the half marathon. This makes number one for Jules and two for me. There were between 10,000 - 15,000 people for this race (5K, 1/2 marathon, and full marathon). It made for an interesting start and you were always surrounded by runners. It looked really neat to see a wave of runners going up the hills and rounding corners! They had bands playing on the street corners every mile or so and there were always people around cheering you on. Our names were actually printed on our number tags, so people that we didn't know were cheering for us! It made for a great experience. Julie finished within her goal with a time of 2:27, and I finished within my goal with a time of 1:42. (Actually, Julie's goal was to not die. She succeeded. Just kidding. My goal was to actually run the whole thing and not walk at all. I did it! :) )

I'm finishing up there somewhere. My time says 1:43, but it took me over a minute to cross the start line at the beginning of the race.

Julie is finishing up there somewhere; again same deal with her time. (Julie speaking: Do you see the lady carrying her baby across the finish line? I'm just in front of her. I was NOT going to let a lady carrying her baby cross the finish line before me. So I sprinted past her just in time for the finish. Take THAT!)

Our friends Damon and Flavia. Damon has been my running partner and also ran the race.

After the race we explored KC for a while. We were both really tired after getting 5 hours of sleep the night before, but we felt obligated to do something. It actually is a cool town. The restored areas are nice, and you can see why it's labeled as "The City of Fountains". We found a local coffee shop (Latte Land) and rested over white mocha's. We probably walked about 5 miles that afternoon just shopping and exploring the city. It was such a beautiful day for a race - the bright blue sky speaks for itself!