Well, we did it! Team Cone (aka The Green Machine) put down 26.2 miles to finish the Quad Cities Marathon with Dad. Why, you ask, would Adam, Jen, Matt and I train (some of us more than others) and put our knees through this?? We were there to support my dad, who was on a mission to run a marathon in every state in the US. Illinois was number 50! (see video below for the story of the journey) Jen has done 5 now, 2 for me, and it was a first marathon for Adam and Matt.
Now, you may be asking the same question as I did: "Why not Hawaii?" Well, the Quad Cities area has so much to offer! We were in America's heartland - the Quad Cities span Illinois and Iowa and include the world headquarters of John Deere tractors! I am now enlightened on the history of farm equipment, from the steel plow to the modern $300K sugar cane harvesting machine.
The Quad Cities rests on the banks of the Mighty Mississippi River and share a population of 400,000. The region is made up of Davenport and Bettendorf in Iowa and Moline/East Moline and Rock Island in Illinois, and surrounding communities.
Really, the quiet small towns (there are actually 5) were perfect for the gathering of family and friends to celebrate Dad's induction to the 50 States Marathon Club. (Yep, there's a club for these crazy people.) The marathon had less than 1000 runners, meaning plenty of elbow room and no lines at the porta-pottys. The course was beautiful, running right along the Mississippi River, through the Rock Island Army Arsenal's beautiful golf course and through the quiets streets with plenty of hometown support (complete with orange slices for Jen). We were even able to walk out 15 min before race to the start line directly in front of the hotel. I appreciate that after some past travel triathlons! Even the weather cooperated - it was a perfect 55 to 70 degree morning. Nice overcast sky (only because I carried my sunglasses the entire damn race). I actually felt ok at the end...much better than my longest training run of 20 miles - in Austin's 100 degree heat! Check out how fresh we look at the finish - HA!
The five of us stayed together the entire race, and finished in 4:41. A nice compromise between the range of speeds from Adam (with probably a sub 3:30 potential) to Dad (now averaging about 5:00). The promise of free beer at the finish got us through those last tough miles, and then we joined mom and the rest of "Cary's Crew" for a celebration dinner.Overall, it was a very nice weekend spent with Mom & Dad, Adam, Jen & Matt, plus a bunch of Dad's running buddies who were there for many of his 50 marathons across the country (aka other crazy people). Now I think I'm retiring from pure marathon running....ready to take on my next set of triathlon challenges!
---Karen
Here's the slideshow I made to show Dad's Journey Across 50 States (about 7:00 minutes)
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