Well, as far as the football game: it was a great 17 minutes of game time. During this stretch, ranging from just before halftime to the first 2 minutes of the 4’th quarter, Illinois completely outplayed Michigan, outscoring them 25-0.
Oh…but alas, games are 60 minutes, and the Wolverines outscored the Illini 28-0 before this stretch and 14-0 afterward and won 42-25. They outgained the Illini 489-256 and ran for 295 yards. But sloppy play and great punting from the Illini (and a 50 yard field goal) helped the Illini make it interesting during the 3’rd and early 4’th quarter.
Early on, Michigan ran all over the Illini and moved up and down the field at will. A fumble and a stupid personal foul..and a missed field goal kept the score from being worse than 28-0.
And when the Illini made a game of it in the 4’th quarter, the Wolverines promptly marched down the field to get a score, then came up with a turnover of their own (deflected pass/fumble) to set up a 1 yard touchdown drive to salt the game away.
About the team: well, frankly I did NOT expect a competitive quarter, so there was that. And next weekend’s game vs. Wisconsin might get ugly; the real test of “progress” will be the two weeks of “at Purdue” and at home vs. Rutgers..and the home closer vs. Northwestern (no hopes for the games at Iowa and Michigan State).
Tracy was good company..we visited the new Butkus statue.
It wasn’t that cold, temperature wise, but blustery due to a very strong, biting wind.
Oh, yes, I did walk 2 miles prior to the game.
Sunday: I had signed up for the marathon and ..well…I lacked the confidence from knowing that one was prepared. And yes, this one has a 6 hour time limit so I knew I’d have to jog some. But I lacked a sufficient number of running miles and I really started to tire at mile 11, so I decided to finish the half marathon instead (2:40:36). I was just under 12 minute miles pretty much all the way to mile 10..then I felt it.
Still, it was fun to walk/jog and participate ..though ironically, I might have done better had I decided to just “power walk for time” from the start. I didn’t feel that bad at the half, but my legs were completely shot.
Ah. The reality is: I have not trained enough to recover from a marathon in a short amount of time; I’ve had enough long walks but not enough total mileage. I cannot handle a slew of 50-60 mile weeks anymore.
Life of an old goat 