All in all, 2011 was not one of my better years for running, as I seek to run a race in all 102 Illinois counties.

If it is November it must be Turkey Trot season. So that's where I was today, in Pontiac for the Second Annual Turkey Trot 5K sponsored by the Boys and Girls Club of Livingston County. I don't know how many Turkey Trots I have run in my day but it has been a few, with the best being a 15K years ago in DeKalb.

I went down to Perry County today to run in the Pinckneyville Fall Classic. I know. I know.

I've always wanted to go to Paris and I got the chance today. Of course, I mean Paris, Illinois, not Paris, France.

Two weeks after running my worst 10K ever, I followed up with what is probably my worst 5k ever in today's Old Settler's Day 5K in Lacon, Marshall County, Illinois.

I traveled down to Mt. Vernon, in Jefferson County today, to run in the 33rd annual YMCA 10K. The race is very good, even if I did not run it well.

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.

If anyone out there knows where Villa Ridge, Illinois is, give yourself a hand. There can't be that many people who do.

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.

It used to be hard to find races in Macoupin County but it isn't this year.

If there is an isolated county in Illinois, it is probably Calhoun County in the southwestern part of the state.

I ran the Clinton Lake 10 Mile Trail Run this week-end, making DeWitt County the 57th Illinois county I have run in as I try to run a race in all 102 Illinois counties.

I Flew with the Eagles today, baby! Well, I ran with the eagles.

Well, 2010 was a memorable year in running for me, as I seek to run a race in all 102 counties in Illinois. In 2010, I ran 13 races in 13 different counties.

Nestled in the far southeast corner of Illinois, where the Wabash and Ohio Rivers meet, is tiny Gallatin County (population 6,900).