Today after work Rob and I had to get to Champaign, IL to go to the IL Marathon expo and run the 5K. Tomorrow morning is the marathon so this was a first. When to eat the night before a marathon when you have a 5K at 6:45pm and then won’t be back home until 8:30-ish.

That resulted in Noodles & Company side salad with fat free dressing and regular buttered noodles at 3:00pm. I have no idea if this is the right route, but we usually eat at 4:30-ish the night before a marathon so we will try this and have a light post-5K snack.

We were down to the expo in more than enough time to pick up bibs and shirts.

I managed to spend a couple bucks on headbands at the expo. Then we headed back to the car to wait. I used the time to take pics of our running shirts.
The 5K shirt. General guy’s fit for this one.

The women’s cut marathon shirt.

We made our way to the start line in plenty of time. There were approximately 5,000 5Kers registered.

Other than a delayed start so cops could tow a car on the course the start was smooth. The race course is relatively flat and has minimal turns. We ran easy paced. Just before the finish we saw Ryan and Melisa! We always seem to find them at events without even trying, is like a mini-tradition to spot them. 🙂 Then into the stadium to finish Rob and I hold hands. 🙂

All done!

After the race we got to chat with Ryan and Melisa for a bit. Then we ran into Erin and Mike (who won tonight’s 5K!) so we caught up with them quickly and then got on the road.
The medal was really nice, the middle “I” spins.

Now off to get rest!
Stats:
23:32
7:35 Pace
F 35-39: 4/?