USATF Convention - Part 3

The Convention (day 3)

On Saturday we started with an early morning run.  I had entered the

Market Street

mile race but the injury left me barely able to hobble through the warm-up with Paul and Richard.  They both had a solid run with Richard taking third place overall and second in the 40+ with a fine 4:56; Paul ran his first road race in “a long time” running 5:44. 

Post race posing

USATF NE president and treasurer

Later in the day we headed through (not) scenic East St. Louis and bagged a county high point in Illinois.  After the HP we headed over to a very nice crushed stone path on top of a levee.  It was actually pretty scenic and would have been great if not for my calf and the constant strong winds.

The Convention (day 4)

On Sunday morning we only had the closing session to attend, but Richard and Nancy had an early flight so we were back out on the bike path for a wake up run.  We had plenty of time for a large peppermint mocha at Starbucks (no they don’t come with a pink umbrella!) before heading to the final meeting.  After the meeting it was back to the bike path for a final tour of the water-front.  This time the weather had changed for the worse with temperatures dropping into the mid-40’s and the rain coming down pretty heavily.  For me that meant a long day of wearing wet shoes (I only brought one pair).  Even with the lousy calf and the less than ideal weather it was a blast going to the convention.  I ended up volunteering for a bunch of tasks for this year (despite saying I’d be cutting back) and had a super time hanging out with Richard, Paul, and Jason Bryant.