the Illinois Version Fat Ass fun run (in McNabb Illinois)

the trip: i met Tony (Anthony Buensuceso) at his house at around 5 in the evening, he had been busy working til 4:00, and i had busy sleeping til about 1:00. after getting pissed off because the Red Robin number online sent me to an automated hotline instead of a real person, we stopped at one on the way out of town to get it to go. to avoid any time at all spent sitting still, we hit up the closest Target for food for the night (Swedish fish, Kashi crackers, chocolate milk, bottled water). as i drove Tony and i got some time to develop our teamwork skills (by having him control the steering wheel and me controlling the speed), cause the fact that i was driving was not gona stop me from fully enjoying my 'apple harvest chicken salad!' 

lookin tasty

thank god for my Magellan (GPS), because finding a town like McNabb would be near impossible. not a person in that town even knew about the race the next day, not even the police did (but more on that later), we pulled into a gas station to ask for directions to the school since my GPS wouldnt find it for some reason -maybe the fact that its in a town of 350 people! the girl, after looking at us as if she had never seen an outsider before, told us that it was down the road a bit, 'its y'ur first right af'er the railroad tracks.' i was starting to get the vibe that this gas station in the middle of nowhere was a scene straight out of a horror movie, and as we left, the guy from jeepers creepers (i swear thats who it was!) pulls up and gives us a crazy look, but its probably just because he had a few bodies in the back of his pickup truck, no biggy.

after finding Putnam County Middle School, where the race was supposed to be starting the following morning, we got the car ready (we planned to sleep in it for the night). it was only after getting comfortable that we realised it wasnt even 7:00 yet. tearing sleeping bags and blankets off of us, we jumped back up front to go where ever the hell we could to kill a few hours. -harder said than done in a town thats too small to merit even its own grocery store. the two places in town to hang out were a bar (which closes at 7:00 apparently!) and a diner. so food it was. as we walked in, the 9 or so people in the room turned in there seats to look at us. i think we were the first people that didnt grow up in McNabb to eat at Moreno's On Main. as we stood there waiting to be seated, a woman at the table in the middle of the room asks "where y'all frum?" without even getting up from her seat. so we sat down as we told here we were from "up north." its ridiculous how quickly you find the South when you drive down the state of Illinois. we were only about 3 hours outside Chicago, but we may as well have been in Alabama -no offense to southerners. Moreno's serves breakfast all day, and ribs, but its most distinguishing characteristic was the mismatched mugs on each table. each was completely different, like they stole one mug from each of the 15 houses in this town and started a restaurant. we both got bacon, eggs, and toast for about 8 bucks for the two of us. after the initial culture shock, the people were pretty freakin nice, although after living in the suburbs for so long, it really gets annoying when people are too nice to you. they asked where we were staying, and i reluctantly told them, "in the back of my car... but I'm an Eagle Scout -so i got the gear -we'll be comfortable enough." so the old man at the table offered to tell the sheriff that we'd be out there at the school tonight so we wouldn't be bothered, apparently he used be a cop. i really didnt think it would be a problem either way, but the guy pulled out his phone before i could tell him no and started telling the person on the other line that a white blazer would be out at the school, and it was just some kids here to run. i do appreciate what he did for us, but i have a red blazer, not a white one. but its fine, we werent planning on having problems anyway.

we loitered around until it was just us and Gramma Moreno, then we gave up on trying to find entertainment in a town of 350 people. so we drove back to the school to get some sleep before the race. as i pulled into the parking lot i noticed a police car, and like any good 18-year-old i was startled for a moment, until i remembered that the old guy had told them we would be there, so i pulled up next to the cop and rolled my window down. "hey, whats goin' on?" i asked him, and he just looked at me with a perplexed look on his face. i assumed that a cop sitting where we planned to sleep meant that they knew we were coming, but it turns out i was wrong. "go ahead and pull in, ill be over in a minute." after calling his station (which is probably just some guy named Bubba sitting next to a phone), he walked up to my window with his flashlight in hand, trying to maintain whatever was left of his authority. "do you both IDs on you?" we did, we are "adults" after all. he ran both of us through his computer and came back to harass Tony about a speeding ticket he got months ago. -at that point the poor cop was pretty much just babysitting us.

the car did get down to probably 10 degrees that night, maybe colder according to Tony. our breath left ice all over the doors and windows. but i wasnt gona get much sleep before a race anyway, so it didnt really make a difference to me.

the course was great, everyone ran a one-mile out and back, then it was up to each person to decide how much they wanted to run on a stretch of the road that was 10 miles out and back. i really enjoyed the fun-run atmosphere.

before the race, we stood around for about an hour and talked to random runners and Bob, the race director. i figured we would be the youngest runners there since ultra running isnt exactly a sport for teenagers, but shortly after we signed in we met Alexis, a 17 year old, and shortly after meeting her, a 12 year old kid walks up to sign-up board. its incredible that a kid that young is getting exposure to the ultra community. (im pretty sure the kid ran 11 miles, which is absolutely incredible.) at about 10:00 Bob called everyone up to take the "mandatory picture" (as he called it) before the race started.



the "mandatory picture"

 in each sleeve of my underarmour, i had a GU packet, a vanilla bean (which is by far the best flavor for regular GU) and a pomegranate-blueberry Roctaine. the cold tends to turn GU into sweet, gummy, cement, so keeping it in my sleeves has been my method of choice so far. other than that, i didnt eat much during the race, there were aid stations at the start/finish line, the 2.5 mile, and the 5 mile. the goal was to get some fluid (90+% water, but some of the random 'drank' that they had as well) at each one and to look at what food was there in case anything looked good. other than the grapes i ate a nutri-grain bar, but that was at the end just to see how it would feel, and i was pleasantly surprised that it stayed down well.

i started with Tony for the first 3 miles or so, until the first aid station. i spent about 3 seconds at the first stop, just long enough to grab some grapes and stash um my hoodie pocket. im not sure what all he grabbed, but it took him a while, and i didnt see him again until after i turned around. he looked pretty dead.

tony, lookin miserable already

the rest of the race was spent walking hills and doing what i could to focus on how my body felt. am i thirsty? hows my blood sugar? does my body feel ok, any pain? unlike a car, you body has no low fuel light, and as a distance runner, youve got to do some interpretation. after the first out and back (11 miles into the race), the course got a lot lonelier, i think most (probly 80% or more) people only ran 11 miles. i shed some clothing and got my second wind as i went back out for my second 10-miler. but i still had some pain, and decided not to push it too hard. from the start, my feet werent feeling right, and my hips still hadnt fully recovered from Huff. i had planned on doing 31 miles, but as i finished up mile 20, i knew that going further might jeopardize my run on the 29th. so as i got back to the start/finish table, i called it a day.

Tony ended the day at about 17 miles, and i called it quits after 21.

the run was absolutely amazing as i look back on it. no race fee! cant beat it. i tried to give Bob a twenty after the race, just to cover me and Tony, but he wouldnt take he it, its just his way of 'giving back to the running community'

the trip back: outside of the horror movie gas station mentioned earlier, there wasnt another one for 24 miles, which wasnt a problem until my engine stopped running on the highway... -but this post is way too long already...