Quad Cities Half Marathon
Moline, Illinois
Sunday, September 26, 2010

I race walked the Quad Cities Half Marathon on Sunday, September 26, 2010 in Moline, Illinois. The temperature ranged from 50 to 60 degrees with little wind and plenty of sunshine. Half the course used paved roads and half the course used paved bike paths along the Mississippi River. The roads were completely closed to traffic and every intersection was controlled by police officers. Between miles 2 and five there was a ¾ mile uphill, some small up and downs, and a ¾ mile downhill. The rest of the course was relatively flat with two crossings of the Mississippi River. The I-74 Bridge between miles 1 and 2 oscillated quite noticeably as I crossed from Illinois to Iowa. The bridge between miles 9 and 10 that returned the participants to Rock Island, Illinois had metal grating on which a 3 foot wide row of rugs were laid end to end to form a 0.6 miles path which I utilized as I have trouble walking on metal gratings. I only had to pass one person on this bridge and no one passed me. There was another metal grating bridge of about 0.25 miles that did not have a rug path and I had to be very careful as I walked so that my shoes did not catch in the grating. Water stations were located every 1.5 to 2 miles and only 1/3 of them had Gatorade. There were plenty of enthusiastic volunteers manning the stations. There was music at several places along the route and about 6 squads of cheer leaders. Only a few other spectators were located along the route. There was supposed to be a balloon festival during the weekend; however, wind on Friday and rain on Saturday kept the balloons on the ground. During the race 10 of the balloons were tethered at various places along the course which made for an interesting sight. My friend, Dane Rauschenberg, from Pennsylvania who did 52 marathons in 52 weeks in 2006, was the featured speaker at the prerace pasta dinner. The event offered prize money and attracted about 35 elite athletes, mostly from Kenya, Ethiopia, and Russia, in the marathon and half marathon. The marathon winner set a new course record. This was the 13th occurrence of the event. I had done the marathon in 2007. Once again I enjoyed myself.