I ventured up to the great northwest (of Illinois) today so that I could run in the Steve Klooster Memorial Run 5k in Fulton, Illinois.
Fulton is a town of 3,600 in Whiteside County located north of the Quad Cities and across the Mississippi River from Clinton, Iowa. This was my first race in northwest Illinois since I ran the Rockford Swedish American Hospital Marathon back in 1987.
The race is part of the Fulton Dutch Days week-end festival. And yes, for the record, a guy dressed as a "Dutchboy" beat me in this race, although his "wooden" shoes weren't really wooden. Also for the record, Fulton is the hometown of Ronald Reagan's parents and 2011 is the centennial of his birthday, which occurred in nearby Tampico.
This was a nice event with a pretty good turn-out. The shirts were ok and everything about the race was well done. The race went through the downtown area and along the Mississippi River. Although it rained on the three hour drive to Fulton, there was a clear sky at race time with an absolutely perfect temperature in the high 50s for running.
Fulton's landmark is a Dutch windmill along the river and the race went by it. That's cool. We started downtown and then ran on the levee by the mighty Mississippi, going by the windmill. Water levels are high this time of year (as I saw in nearby Albany) but nowhere near as high as downstate.
This was my first time ever in Fulton and Whiteside County, so that made this race worth my while. I made sure to get my picture in front of the windmill.
The course is advertised as flat, although by central Illinois (where I am from) standards it isn't that flat. There were a couple of minor hills in it.
My time for the race was 24:41, good for a 44th place finish. Not my best for a 5K but not bad for me. I had no problems with my knees on this race, which I was encouraged by.
This race makes Whiteside County the 60th county I have run in, as I seek to run a race in every one of Illinois' 102 counties.