Day 166 -- Another Race

Today was the Dubuque Benefit Classic. I ran the 5K, although there was also a half marathon. I think I could have run the half marathon, but back when I signed up, I didn't have such ambitions. Anyway, it was just as well, because I wanted to get back up here to do some things with the kids, about which more, later.

I finished the 5K in 22:50, about 40 seconds under my July 4 time. As you can see (that's an actual photo shortly after the end of the race), I was pretty pleased with that. I figure that if I can knock off 20 seconds for every month of training, in five years I'll be able to run the 5K in less than 3 minutes. That should be good to win my age group.

The weather turned out OK. Yesterday, it looked like it might rain, but it held off until this afternoon. So it was cool and cloudy, which was good for racing. I'm sure that the half-marathoners were particularly glad. The 5K course was dead flat, but the half marathon course ran up the hills, of which Dubuque has plenty.

After the race, and after I cooled off, I jumped in the car and ran back up to pick up Mrs. Jogger and the Little Joggers. We piled in the minivan and drove out to the Labor Day parade in a little town nearby. I don't think we've hit this parade every year since we've lived around here, but we've gone more often than we've missed it. It's a really nice parade and a cute little town. The kids came back with a big bag full of Tootsie Rolls and other swag, which may last us a day or two.

After that, since we were halfway back down to Iowa, we popped back over to Dubuque, and went to Eagle Point Park. This is a lovely park with three or four different playgrounds and a frog pond and a view of the Mississippi River. So we spent an hour or so there, and came back up here for a late lunch. So it was a very busy morning, which was just as well, because it kept the Little Joggers from fighting. Now we're home, and they are getting warmed up for WWIII. Oh well, tomorrow they are off to school, where they can't get into too much trouble. And if they do, then their teachers have to deal with them.