I’ve done a few of these and today, I did another. Iffy weather lead me to drive to the race, walk 1.2 miles before and after.
The race itself: very crowded on the small path; 465 for so crowded on the small riverfront path. Still, the chip helped (47 seconds to the start line) and while mile 1 was crowded, the crowd helped me stay moderate in mile 1 (11:05). which was good for the 74 F, 87 percent humidity, drizzly conditions. More space meant somewhat faster walking in mile 2 (10:41) but I faltered at about 2.8 (small amount of street walking) but even that mile was 11:01. I tried to pick it up and got under 34 by the chip (33:58) and held off Simon and Gail (though their chip times were 13 seconds faster).
Afterward, I was tired. The left glute was achy afterward. Hanging on the playground rings felt good.
I’ve done a number of these (4’th of July..or 3’rd if the 4’th was on a Sunday) and here is my list (looked these up in my old logs)
23 total Independence Days, 24 events, span of 43 years.
1981: 26:53 4 mile (San Antonio)
1982 42:00 10K (Florida)
1983: 50:08 10K (Virginia)
1997: 43:37 10K (Milton, Wisconsin)
1998: 20:40 5K (Peoria)
1999 5:59 road mile (Sat), 21:33 5K (Sunday, Peoria)
2000 47:04 10K (Milton)
2001 50:05 10K (Milton)
2002 49:20 10K (Milton)
2003 1:06:52 (10K walk) Milton
2004 23:31 run (Kyle, TX)
2005: 40:55 5 mile run (Bloomington, IL)
2006 31:11 5K walk (Galva)
2007 31:35 5K walk (Peoria)
2008 31:33 5K walk (Galva)
2011 30:09 5K run (Peoria)
2012 27:46 5K run (Peoria)
2013 27:40 5K run (Peoria)
2014 27:06 5K run (Peoria)
2015 26:48 5K run (Peoria)
2017 30:05 5k run (Galva)
2018 29:23 5k run (Peoria)
2024 33:58 5k walk (Peoria)
Life of an old goat 