Last weekend, I was down in Champaign for Illinois Marathon weekend. I was there last year too and I did the Half I-Challenge (5K Friday night & Half marathon Saturday morning) but when they announced that they’d be offering the Mini I-Challenge this year, I knew I wanted to give it a try. I have plenty of other half marathons on the calendar this year, why not go for some other distances? I also wanted to go back because this is a very well run race. Great medals, organized, not too big, etc. Plus I have cousins that live outside Champaign so its a great excuse to see them!
The Good
-Running the 5K with my cousin, Sheila! (She had so much fun that we are planning on doing the Chicago 10K later on this summer together 
)
-5K PR baby!! 
I don’t run 5Ks very often but I went into this planning to try my hardest and be proud of my finish and thats exactly what I did. I maintained the same run/walk interval throughout the entire race and finished strong. My time may be slow to some of you but its progress for me! Next 5K goal: sub 40
-The bling! They had really nice medals yet again this year! Plus I got a third medal for doing the challenge
-No rain!! All week the weatherman was calling for storms on Saturday morning and then it even looked like the skies would open up during the 5K but we managed to stay dry during both!
The Bad
-The weather. Even though it didn’t rain, it was still pretty cold and really windy. Maybe I’m just a wimp but I didn’t like it.
-10K all by myself. It could be worse, right? Mainly this is bad because Becca was suppose to be there too but since she hurt her back, I had to do it on my own. She was definitely missed!
-Post 5K PR soreness during the 10K. Part of my plan to give it my all during the 5K was knowing that my 10K would be less than stellar. The first and last miles of the 10K were pretty rough but I was happy to have finished.
Overall, AWESOME race weekend in Champaign! I highly recommend Illinois Marathon weekend to all! Next race on the schedule: Soldier Field 10 Mile. (Easily in my top 3 favorite races)
Tags: illinois marathon, mini i challenge, race recap
