Volunteering at IVS Half Marathon



Handing Jess her finishers medal!

 The Illinois Valley Striders held their annual half marathon yesterday in Peoria. The race was more than memorable, not just for the treacherous hills of Springdale Cemetery but for those that lost their lives 10 years ago on 9-11. The race which is held in lower Glen Oak Park and does two loops around Springdale Cemetery started with the 300 plus runners singing the National Anthem. Apparently they couldn’t get the tape/sound system to play the Star Spangled Banner so the runners chimed in and sang instead which turned out to move some to tears. And from what I hear was the highlight of the event and the one that people were talking about the most. I’m so proud of the Central Illinois runners and honored to be amongst you! There were also police and military on hand volunteering at the event as well. In fact I witnessed a member of the military handing out water and Gatorade to runners as they crossed the finish line.




I was also there but instead of running the course I was volunteering. I only began training for my Vegas race on Tuesday and figured it was best to sit this one out. But being a Team RC member I felt like I owed it to everyone to be there so I put on my Team RC shirt and came out. I tell ya it was odd to be on the other end and boy did it make me wish I was running. But it was awesome to be able to see each one of my friends cross the finish line. It was more of an honor to place their finishers medal around their necks and be the first to congratulate them. After the race everyone joined in a pot luck lunch complete with burgers and hot dogs. Door prizes and awards were announced as well. I’ve decided I’m running the relay race next year. As much as I enjoyed being a volunteer it really made me yearn to run.



Congratulation to all the runners to all my Sole Sisters- Jess, Jenn, Marianne, Toby, Heather, oh my there are so many of you I cannot name you all, you know who you are, Congrats on a GREAT race! Congrats to my friend Jill for placing second in her age division, John who ran a great race with little training (your crazy man) to Brad Henz and his partner Maggie on their overall relay championship and to every single runner that laced up their shoes and ran what is one of the toughest courses there is! I’ll see you next year on the course.



And if your looking for another great local race check out the Morton Pumpkin Festival race this weekend, that one I’ll be running in!