Muddy Monk Nearly Sane 13.1mile race

Our first race in USA! This weekend, we did a half marathon race - Muddy Monk "Nearly Sane" 13.1mile. It was a relatively small race organized by the "Muddy Monk" club, running through Half Day Forest Preserve, IL. It was termed a trail run. but in fact, we were just running on a bike track, so there wasn't any "power-walking" uphill, running downhill and jumping over tree roots as what Hannah and I had expected. However, either way, it was still fun, and the crowd/ atmosphere was very supportive and nice.

We signed out waiver early, collected our super-neon-green t-shirts, our bibs, a 13.1 mile sticker, and headed back to the car to relax and have our coffee. The race started at around 8am, with the organizer shouting through a construction cone because he had left his loud-hailer at home. I couldn't really hear what he was talking about, but it was fine because Hannah knows the running trail well, and it turned out that they did a great job marking the trail!

The day was a bit cloudy, but it was humid. Hannah did not really have a good run as she was plagued with numerous issues - stomach virus, heat, high humidity etc. However, we persisted and finished the 13.1 mile! There might be even some tears along the way :P. As we were resting after the race, watching runners coming through, we started talking to this man (Jerry) who has been running for a big part of his life. He is 70 years old, former military, have knee issues, and still participate in as many races as he can!... Kudos to him.

The best part was AFTER we crossed the finishing line :) Of course, we were there for the race, but there are other important issues as well. We received the medals as we crossed the line, and promptly I headed for the beer! I grabbed one for Hannah and the other (less hoppy beer) for myself. Hannah liked the beer, but I wasn't a big fan of it.. possibly because I do not like hoppy beer very much. The beer was sponsored by a local brewery After I made sure Hannah had settled down with some ice-water (and beer) and some pretzels, I joined the long queue for some Chicago Hot Dog :D.  I was delightfully amused with a sign that says "if you need ketchup for your hotdog, please put it yourself :( " The highlight is the ":("... It is blasphemous to put ketchup on your Chicago hotdog! The hot dog is topped with yellow mustard, chopped white onions, bright green sweet pickle relish, a dill pickle spear, tomato slices or wedges, pickled sport peppers and a dash of celery salt...VERY delicious! Overall, it was a well-organized race, and we definitely look forward to another race with them.