The swim was not wetsuit legal because of the water temp. It was very windy and cold waiting for the race to start. Getting in the water was actually fabulous because it was much warmer in the water than waiting on shore. I got off to a good start, was sighting well and moving along until bam, I got punched in the left eye by someone who was either very poor at sighting, or just decided to ignore the instructions to keep the buoys on your left! It took a second to figure out what happened and put my goggles back on. After a short distance, I had to stop again because my goggles were leaking like crazy. I dumped the water out, readjusted the strap which had fallen down to my neck, and took off again. The rest of the swim was rather uneventful. My left shoulder is still hurting some, which slowed me down just a bit I think.

Not get punched in the face?

There were 3 races going on at once - a Sprint, Oly, and Half. There was only one transition area, but the racks were divided. It was a bit crowded with people coming and going at different times. I still think this was a good transition.

Nothing.

This bike was flat! However, the thing I noticed about flat Illinois roads is that there is nothing to block the wind, which was very strong at times. I passed a bunch of people, but some of them were in the Sprint. It was hard to keep track of who was doing what. The bike numbers were different colors, but when you are approaching somebody from the back, it is hard to see what color their number is. All in all, this was a great bike ride for me!

This was a good transition. Had to shift the bike next to mine over to where it belonged before I could rack my bike.

Nothing.

I felt good on this run. I have not done many 10k races, but have always wanted to get under an hour. I know it is slow, but that is what I have been hoping for. When I finished, I checked my time and this run was 59:59!! That is under an hour (just barely) but I will gladly take it!!

Had some food (the pizza was great) and waited for the awards ceremony. I got my award from Abe Lincoln!


This was a fantastic race. It was very well organized, Lots of volunteers all along the course. If I were ever in the area again, I would definitely do this race again!