I had an opportunity to take a little weekend trip to Illinois. For those who aren't aware, my "weekend" is Thursday & Friday. Depending on how my sleep schedule works out, I can sometimes turn my weekends in to three-day weekends without taking extra time off work. I get off work Thursday morning and, if I'm not working overtime, don't have to be back to work until Saturday evening.
This schedule worked out well for me this past weekend, allowing me to take an out of state trip, add state #17 to my goal of running a race in all 50 states, and get in a little site-seeing. I was then able to make it back home on Saturday in enough time to get a few hour sleep before heading back to work Saturday evening.
On Thursday, after getting off work I headed home and was able to get a short nap. I got my suitcase packed and got on the road just before noon. Even though it was a little early, I couldn't help but notice that the Ohio State Highway Patrol was very active Thursday, with more troopers patrolling the roadways than I've ever noticed before. I got to Bloomington, Illinois Thursday afternoon and located the running store where I needed to pick up my race packet. As I made my way to the hotel I realized that there didn't seem to be much to do in Bloomington, and started to wonder if I'd be heading back to Columbus after my race on Friday morning.
I found the hotel easily and got checked in with no problems. The Hampton Inn was nice, quick to get checked in to and well maintained. Given my travel experiences this past year, I was happy to see this Hampton Inn was more to the quality I had been accustomed to from Hampton Inn.
On Independence Day I woke up in time to grab a quick breakfast at the hotel and head to the Miller Park Zoo in Bloomington for the start of the Park 2 Park 5 Miler. The weather was great running weather. Not too hot, which can obviously be an issue when running in July. The race went from Miller Park in Bloomington to The Corn Crib, a minor league ball park, in Normal, Illinois. It was a nice route, the rolling hills along the route made it just challenging enough to push you without being completely ridiculous with hills. I was happy with my finish, grabbed a couple snacks then took the bus back to the start area and headed back to the hotel.
Even though I was back early I was happy to see that housekeeping had already been to my room. I hate never knowing when they're going to come through in case I want to take a nap or just relax for a while. I got cleaned up and tried to decide if I wanted to go ahead and check out a day early to head home. I went to the front desk and asked the clerk what things there were to do in the area. You know it's bad when the hotel clerk can't come up with much. She did have a visitor's guide though, and I was able to find some things that looked interesting. Not in Bloomington, but not so far away that I would be on the road too much.
Realizing at that point how close I was to Springfield, Illinois, I made a call and found out that the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum and Library was open, even on the holiday. I made the trip down to Springfield and was not disappointed with my choice. A display was set up across the street from the museum featuring items from the Steven Spielberg movie "Lincoln". Several of the costumes worn by the actors and some of the props and sets were in the display. It was interesting to see and hear how much preparation was made by the actors, costume designers and set designers to try and make everything as authentic as possible for the movie.
I then went across to the museum. They had several displays and presentations set up in museum, and for someone who enjoys history as much as I do, it made for a very enjoyable visit.
I also made my way over to the Old Capital Building. Now a museum, it used to be the home to all the state offices for the State of Illinois. A presentation by an actor portraying Civil War General John A. Logan was taking place while I was there, and I was able to catch most of that and hear some very interesting stories about his life, his role in the war and his political life after the war.
Overall a very successful trip, and the fact that I could do it in a weekend was a bonus.
For now my next running trip is scheduled for late August when I head to Virginia Beach for another Rock 'n' Roll Half Marathon and state number #18.
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