AWESOME! That's the word used by many of our fellow Rotarians to describe Champaign-Urbana's first marathon. I think our hard working Fellowship Committee played a key role in getting our club so heavily involved. Barb Burch reported that the committee met at Fat City on April Fool's Day to discuss plans for the year, but discussion of the marathon soon dominated the conversation. Already signed up to run were Barb, Eileen Prillaman, and Mary McGrath. Mark Ballard and Linda Hamilton had signed up to help. When the group found out that Dave Keeling used to be a runner, they tried to shame him into signing up. He said he would if Jane Solon would. Jane said she would if Christie Martin would. Art said he would if Brook would, and then he called Dan Rock on his cell phone and talked him into signing up. Keeling then gave Jane money to go to the Harley Davidson store to purchase headbands so the group would be recognized.
Keeling gave me the following account of the event, "Rock ran the 5K and got beat by every seven-year-old in the field...he should have entered the 1K event...Art and Brook actually ran more than a 5K as they kept running backwards to find the rest of us...I got carded at the Colonial Pantry trying to buy a quart of Miller Lite during the race...no i.d., no sale. Other than that, it was a pretty boring CWR kind of day." He did quote Steve Whitsitt's famous line, "No one got hurt; no bail money was needed." He went on to say that the after-race tailgate was the most productive part of the day.
Below is my best compilation of the Rotarians who took part.
Marathon: Troy Daniels and Tim Borbely
Half Marathon: Mary McGrath, Peter and Ellen Schmidt, Brian Watson, and Jon Rector. Brian said he used to run longer distances when he was in the marine corps, but now he was just happy to be able to beat (in the race) his wife, Kathy, who ran with him. Jon Rector had a very special day. His two sons ran with him, and they carried the American flag the entire way. Collin is in the army and Jason is a Champaign fireman.
5K: Barb Burch, Mark Horbas, Dave Keeling, Christie Martin, Eileen Prillaman, Dan Rock, Jane Solon, Art Warren, and Brook Wind.
Relay: Don Armstrong
Champaign West Rotary Club
