Madison County

I ran the Highland, Illinois Lions Club five-miler today for my 16th Illinois county and my fifth new county this year. It is actually a biathalon too, but I chose not to do the bike part. Just as well, as it rained heavily all morning and they cancelled the bike race. Instead, they delayed the running race from 8 to 8:30. It was pouring at 8 but, sure enough, at start time the rain stopped. It was muggy though. I made the mistake of starting up front, which put me with the faster runners. One hill, some humidity and a 7:30 mile later I was hurting. Toughed out (for me) the rest of the way and finished with a roughly 43:10 time, well below my goal of a nine minute mile time. With the hills on this annual race, I would consider it a nice challenge for longer distance runners looking for a race. The winner ran it in 27 minutes. The course is scenic when in the city but at least 60% of it is in the country. The beer and brats afterwards were good, with the beer being free and the brats costing. My only regret is that there were no bridges to cross, so I can't say I ran across the Bridges of Madison County.