March 31, 2012 was a blustery, cloudy day with temps in the low 40's as Kamil Suran, Chuck Schultz, Holly Bochantin, and many others stood at the starting line in a parking lot, by a big white tent with La Sportiva signs adorning it. Two people in front of Holly and I were wearing back packs and for the first 30 minutes of the race, I heard their continuous story of how the packs were filled with rocks in preparation for a Rim to Rim attempt at Grand Canyon the next month. I will not name them to protect the innocent. But, once I got a clear area, I burst around them and never let them catch up to me again on the 3 10 mile loops at Clinton Lake in downstate Illinois.
Illinois is supposed to be flat, but Clinton Lake's trail features continuous rolling inclines and declines with little flat stuff to run on. The trail wasn't too technical but the hills get uglier each loop. I went around the first loop in just over 2 hours and got with Steve R. from Park Ridge, IL. Steve is an experienced ultra runner who told me of his preparing for the Potawatomi Trail Run two week's after Clinton Lake. Steve was planning to run the 100 mile and I was planning on running 30 at Potawatomi. I enjoyed chatting with Steve for the next 20 miles. He helped keep me on pace and we had lots of laughs.
The trail beat me up a bit, but I still finished strong and happy. Overall, my Garmin showed total elevation change of 11,387 feet. I maintained an average pace of 12:46 and finished in 6:23:53. Holly finished behind me due to some health issues and Chuck and Kamil beat me by a good bit. But, they should, after all they're triple ironmen! The folks from the Lapham Peak Ultrarunners out of Milwaukee took most of the hardware.
The race is well organized and you get a good spread at the end to eat. I was impressed by the volunteers. For an award, you get bit of homemade pottery on a leather loop. I gave mine to my daughter. It felt good to drop my feet into the lakes cold water, but I wish I'd brought some flip flops to protect my bare feet from the rocks!
Clinton Lake 30
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