I Flew with the Eagles today, baby! Well, I ran with the eagles. Well actually, there were no eagles but I did see a hawk as I ran in the fifth annual Fly with the Eagles Half Marathon in Marion, Williamson County.
I've wanted to do this race for a while and I picked a good year to do it. Starting time temperature was 34 degrees and the temperature at the finish (2:04 later) was 41. The wind made it a little cold early but by the end I was probably overdressed.
The race is held in the 44,000 acre Crab Orchard Natural Wildlife Refuge, a beautiful place near Shawnee Forest in deep southern Illinois. I didn't see much wildlife today, other than said hawk, but there were a few fisherman ice fishing.
The $25 entry fee is a real bargain for a half marathon, moreso because of the very nice hooded sweatshirt that each runner received.
The organizers made it clear early there probably would be no personal bests for this race because a large part of it goes through trails in the Refuge, which today were muddy and ice and snow covered. The remainder of the race was on roads in the Refuge. Overall, the course was pretty flat but with the snow and ice, a personal best wasn't going to happen for me.
Still, I would have liked to have beaten two hours. I ran a 1:56 last September in my last half marathon. But, the course and this being the first race of the year kind of nixed that hope. A 2:04:20 is not my worst half ever though and, quite honestly, I was surprised that my time was that good today.
This race makes Williamson County the 56th county that I've run in, as I try to run a race in every one of Illinois' 102 counties.
I'm off to a good start in 2011 and I hope to run at least another 11 races this year.