ST LOUIS MIGRATION

Hello Running Friends,

The Wildebeests have migrated back home from the St. Louis marathon. What a GREAT ADVENTURE ! (Pictures and story below.)

This week's Wednesday and Thursday night runs : MHS @ 5 p.m. near the tennis courts. We'll take it slow and easy.

Since there are weekend races, we are not meeting for our regular Saturday and Sunday morning runs.

This week's races : * 5k Hayes Hustle on Saturday, April 12 @ 9 a.m.
* McNaughton Park Trails in Pekin, IL. on April 11-13. 50, 100, 150 mile runs. (Good luck, Joe Timmsen!)
* 5k Gilda's Run in Bettendorf on Sunday, April 13 @ 8 a.m. (Let's carpool, 6:45 at Farm and Fleet. Please contact me so we have an idea of how many vehicles we will need to take.)

Keep Running ! Keep Smiling !

Teri
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Thank you to everyone that wished us "GOOD LUCK" in St. Louis, it worked... we ALL HAD A WONDERFUL RACE ! Want to check out our results? http://www.gostlouis.org/ I want to say CONGRATULATIONS to Daphne and Mike Donald for completing their first half marathon with VERY IMPRESSIVE times ! And... Noel Spencer, you had a GREAT finishing time for your first full marathon !

Here's our St. Louis story :

We met at Farm and Fleet at 7 a.m. on Saturday, April 5th. There were 6 vehicles (17 Wildebeests) migrating south by 7:20. Bill Ryan joined the group just outside of St. Louis. At around noon, we arrived at the Drury Inn Union Station Hotel in downtown St. Louis. We checked in and met up with Stacey Eberhard and her family who had arrived a day earlier. We went to the expo and picked up our race packets. Dinner reservations were @ 3:45 at Rigazzi's. John Fletcher and Shannon VonMuenster joined us. Yummy pasta dinner ! Picture #1 taken outside Rigazzi's. Notice the green Wildebeest shirts we are wearing... do you want to order one? Cost is $9. If so, let Terry Curry or me know.

Once back at the Drury, we gathered for a group photo in our new Running Friends' singlets. Picture #2 taken inside the Drury. Like the looks of our singlets? John and Joe Barnard (my brothers), owners of "On Time Delivery" sponsored our group. ( Thank you, John and Joe ! Love you dearly ! ) If you would like a singlet, the cost will be $18. Let me know. Our group mingled in the lobby of the Drury for awhile and then headed to our rooms to get a good night's rest.

Wake up bright and early... meeting in the Drury lobby between 6 - 6:15 a.m. for a group gathering to walk together to the starting line (about 7 blocks away). Race begins at 7 a.m. Perfect weather. Hills, hills, and more hills ! Does Teri like hills? HILL NO ! Every half marathoner / marathoner from the Running Friends group had GREAT finishing times. Two Muscatine Running Friends brought home winner's plaques. Pictures #3 - #4 ... Nancy Foxen received 5th place for her age division and Terry Curry received 4th for his. WOW ! SUPER ! Notice the surprised looks on Nancy and Terry's faces... OHHHHH ! (Too funny !) Everyone enjoyed the after party race and slowly made their way back to the hotel.

Some of our Muscatine group left St. Louis soon after the marathon. Others chose to spend another night. Those that stayed gathered together in Terry and Vikki Curry's suite for a champagne toast to wonderful friends and successful race. Shortly after, we walked to Hard Rock Cafe for dinner... Picture #5. Tasty meals and fun conversations ! After dining, Joe Timmsen challenged everyone to "bumper paddleboat"... Picture # 6 We paired up by drawing numbers, no telling who will be your partner in the boat ! (Joe was the wettest by the end of our ride !)

We walked back to the hotel and gathered into Terry and Vikki's suite to search the internet on their laptop for the final results of the St. Louis half / full marathon for the Muscatine runners. ( The night before, while at Rigazzi's, Mario Garcia suggested that we all predict our finishing times. Each Running Friend placed $1 in a pot, the person closest to their predicted time would win the money. ) Kathy Whiteside predicted she would run the half in 1:55:00. She ran it in 1:55:19. Kathy won the jackpot ! Yahoo ! Want to know who came next? Noel Spencer... only 42 seconds off. Third and fourth... Lisa Hughes and Carlos Rondon, less than 2 minutes off predicted times.

Monday morning, we gathered in the lobby for breakfast before leaving St. Louis. A group of us drove to St. Charles to do some sightseeing, shopping, and lunch... Picture #7. (Wearing our well deserved St. Louis marathon shirts.) By the way... St. Charles has a half / full marathon in the fall. Terry Curry ran the St. Charles marathon last year... mostly flat course, not many hills. Kazar says he is definitely migrating again this fall to St. Charles ! Another Wildebeest migration ?

My final note : I want to thank each and everyone of you that joined me in St. Louis. I am truly blessed with wonderful and special friends. I hope you all had as good of a time as I did. I will remember this for the rest of my life. Love... Teri