Adams County

The first mile of the Quincy "Bridge the Gap to Health" half marathon was the toughest mile I've ever run. The second mile was tough but it was dwarfed by how hard the first mile was.
The race is held on the Mississippi River front in Quincy, Illinois along with a 5K and a 10K. It was cold, damp and windy today. You start off and immediately head uphill, away from the river. After scaling a two block long hill, you take a right, go a block then turn right again and cross the river into Missouri on a bridge. The idea is cool but the bridge was a veritable wind tunnel today. Between the hill and the wind tunnel/bridge I wanted to quit right there. There are two bridges next to each other, so once you get to the Missouri side, you cross back over on the other bridge. Here, the wind was at least mostly at the back. After re-entering Illinois, there is another hill up to a small bluff around the second mile. The course then flattens out and becomes a really enjoyable, flat run, although today the weather, with some wind and some snow flurries and drizzles, made it a little less fun.
I finished at exactly 2:01, so not quite beating two hours but improving on last week's half by more than five minutes, proof that if you are going to have a race with hills, have them early in the course.
This was the first half marathon for this race. In the past it has been just 5 and 10 Ks. They had a separate shirt for the half marathoners, which is too bad, because the shirt for the shorter races was much nicer. On the shirt for the half marathon, the logo is so small you can't see what race you ran. Say it loud and say it proud, people. I would have liked a few more mile marker signs on the route too. The first one appeared at mile 4 and then 6 and then 8 (maybe 7) before they had one at every mile. Other than that, they did a good job for the first half. They had a nice medal for the half finishers too, which I will treasure.
I really wanted to beat two hours though. As it is, I have now done Adams County, the 14th county I have run in and my third half marathon (McHenry, Sangamon and Adams). If I don't run a two mile race next Friday in Logan county, I am not sure when my next race will be. There are a lot of great races coming up, but I'm out of town on April 26 and May is traditionally a busy month in my family.