Road to the Lakefront Runs Through Davenport

Thoughtully composed by Ramble at 8/07/2011 11:09:00 PM

On July 30, I took the running on the road, so to speak. Angie and I traveled to her hometown of Davenport Iowa for the 37th running of the Bix 7. This was by far the largest run I've participated in. Approximately 18,000 people participated in the events surrounding the Bix. It is part of the Memorial Jazz Festival that commemorates the life of jazz pianists/cornetist/composer (and Davenport native) Bix Beiderbecke.

The Bix 7 is a hilly course and of course it was hot and humid on the day of the race.*

The Bix is an "out and back" course that starts and ends with a pretty big hill.
I was starting in the fourth corral back (much to my annoyance). Angie did manage to find me among the crowd however:
I'm the idiot in the yellow shirt in the middle of the mass of humanity.
It took me 4+ minutes to clear the actual starting line when the gun went off. It was amazing to see the masses of runners surging up the Brady Street hill.
After the gun: The massive crowd of runners heading up Brady St. in Davenport.
The course was lined with spectators, plenty of bands and very kind residents who were stationed out on the course with sprinklers, hoses and even a few "slip & slides" (including one really big one at the turnaround spot on the course).  There were no water-related issues such as happened a few weeks earlier with the half-marathon I did in Milwaukee.

My biggest problem was that I started in the back of the pack and had to work my way around people that were more in the "fun run" category than the "running this trying to get a good time" folks like me.** I finally found some room to run around the 4.5-5 mile mark, but I didn't get in under at hour like I had hoped. I did cross in the finish line in 64 minutes, though, so the time wasn't horrible by my goal.

Once I crossed the finish line, I had my finisher picture taken and met up with Angie and her stepdad, Tim.
Very happy to be finished with the Bix 7.
Once I met up with them, they pointed out to me that I had suffered a bit of a physical mishap related to not putting on Body Glide or other protective barriers before the race started. Notice the blood staining my nice Wisconsin Marathon shirt.
Lesson learned: won't be forgetting the Body Glide before a race ever again.
Whoops. 

We didn't stay around for the post-race party as the boys weren't with us and there were other plans for the weekend -- and it was pretty hot and I wanted out of the sun.  This is definitely a race I'd do again, though, despite the heat and the crowd: The atmosphere around the race really makes it worthwhile.


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* - This should not be a shock to anyone familiar with the weather in the Quad Cities the last week of July.

** - Aside from the elite runners at the front and although I am a decent runner, I'm nowhere near that category. 

 

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