For the third time in the last four years I ran a race on the Fourth of July week-end. Today, it was the Firecracker 5k in McLeansboro, the county seat of Hamilton County.
I didn't have a good race and I'm very disappointed by that. It was only a 5K, so I should have ran it faster. Plus, I've been running a lot this year and had some really good runs in June, although none over 7.5 miles. But, we've had such a rainy, cool year this year that today's humidity, and it was humid, kind of took the starch out of me. My time was 26:37, a terrible race for me, although it wouldn't have been bad four years ago.
Actually, race time temperature wasn't bad, in the low 80s, and the sky was overcast, which was nice. But, I just didn't run well.
The course was mostly flat and went out into the country. The pre-race facilities at the East Side Elementary School were nice and there were about 100 people competing in both the 5k and the walk. There were some very good runners in the race. I came in 39th place.
This was my first time in McLeansboro and Hamilton County, other than passing through it for another race last year. I saw the courthouse and drove around a bit, listening to WMCL Country Classic radio. Former NBA basketball players Jerry Sloan and Jim Burns are from McLeansboro and Doug Collins grew up just down the road in Franklin County.
This is my seventh race of the year. It is my fifth 5K in a row, after starting the year off with a half marathon and a 10 miler. I probably won't run a race for at least a month but when I do, I am hoping to run one or two races longer than a 5K.
I am trying to run a race in each of Illinois' 102 counties and 5Ks are pretty much all that is offered in some of them. This is the only race I've seen in Hamilton County, a county I really wanted to cross off my list, so I am certainly glad I ran it.
With today's race in Hamilton County, I'm up to 62 counties that I've run in. Only 40 to go!