Introducing the Illinois Marathon

I have the privilege and honor next year of having the Illinois Marathon running through my backyard here in Champaign Urbana. On April 25th will be the inaugural run of the marathon and I certainly will take part as long as I’m healthy. The website is not very informative at this point, and I may be able to give you information faster than the site does. Registration opens on June 1st and that’s about the only info they’re giving out at this time unless you want to give them money and be a sponsor. They have plenty of info on that. Which brings me to the point.

The Illinois marathon is a for profit race that is owned by a company that owns the legendary Fargo marathon (sarcasm). Despite this, I expect this to be one of the finest marathons around. One, the people of Champaign Urbana are some of the nicest people you’ll meet. The students support all the athletic events and will certainly show up to watch, volunteer, and run. Secondly, the locals are completely supporting this event, financially and through action. Body n Sole, the local running store, will make sure that all runners within 100 miles know about the event. With a draw or Indianapolis, Chicago, and St. Louis the race could become the biggest spring marathon in the Midwest after Grandma’s.

A few highlights of the course. Flat as a pancake because we don’t even have a hill in CU. The only way you see a hill if they make you run the parking garage. You’ll also get to finish at the 50 yard line of Memorial Stadium. Not quite the Speedway of Indy or running the bases at Wrigley but still going to be a great finish. I have heard rumors that Gatoraid will be the drink if that makes any difference. I’ll give more info as it come. Here’s the website