Beautiful day greets runners for half marathon in Batavia

Sue Dziuban's cell phone was ringing as if she was a teenager planning a party. She couldn't walk more than a few yards early Sunday morning without someone asking her a question about what they should do next.

Such is the life of the organizer of the Peapod Half Madness Half Marathon when the event draws 1,300 runners to downtown Batavia.

Dziuban, a St. Charles resident and member of the event's host club, Multi-Sport Madness Triathlon Club, echoed the feelings of most volunteers and runners on hand near the start and finish line at Batavia's Riverwalk by praising Mother Nature for the beautiful, sunny morning.

"Oh my gosh, could we have picked a better day?" Dziuban asked about the race conditions at 52 degrees and virtually no wind. "It's really awesome."

About 1,100 runners competed in the 13.1-mile half marathon through Batavia and Fabyan Forest Preserve, and about 200 runners raced in the 10K course added this year.

"We've been doing it a couple of years in a row and that definitely helps," said Dziuban, whose race day calls and last-minute checking involved having volunteers in the right place at the right time. "Sometimes the runners get to a spot faster than we expected, but otherwise everything has worked out fine."

One runner who was quicker than expected was Ryan Giuliano of Schaumburg, who finished as the 10K winner at 33:17, moments after crews had the finish line and timing tables ready.

Maybe it was the small sign about 100 yards from the finish line proclaiming "Cash Prizes and Frosty Cold Beer Ahead" that spurned runners on, as many finishers were rejoicing with best ever times.

Nick Hird of Naperville was the first to cross the finish line in the half marathon at 1:08.10.

"This was a lot faster than I have ever run here before," said Hird, who is training for the Twin Cities marathon next month. "For the most part, it was as smooth as painful gets."

Suzanne Ryan of West Chicago was the first female across the finish line at 1:22.17, and she was mostly thankful about the weather.

"After all of that heat and humidity, this is what we needed," said Ryan, who used the run as part of her training for the Chicago Marathon. "The course was a little up and down, but a lot of people were out there directing us."

Few runners were as emotional at the finish line as Erika Mennerick of Elburn, who finished the 10K event in 1:10.09.

"This was a big accomplishment for me because it's been a really rough year," said Mennerick, who husband passed away at age 31 last October. "Life throws you a lot of challenges sometimes and this was me digging myself out of the hole my life has been in."

Mennerick started running again last April as a way to relieve stress and called the race "the biggest I have ever run."

Others used the race to continue personal health goals.

Dan Milinski of Chicago started running last October and has lost 106 pounds since then, earning him a spot on some of the Chicago Marathon's promotional billboards.

Milinski was running in Batavia with friend David Wallach of Winnetka, whose blog about running inspired Milinski to take it up.

"This is the third half marathon I have run this year, and it has been a lot of fun," Milinski said. "And I definitely like this weather better than the heat."

For his part, Wallach said he was not training for any specific event, but was running in Batavia as part of his goal to run 500 miles for charities. The Batavia event aids the Batavia Interfaith Food Pantry.

Elena Helyakina of Geneva was the fifth overall finisher for women at 1:27.43. As another testimony to the perfect weather, Helyakina finished nearly a minute faster than her time last year (1:28:30) when she placed second overall for women.

The top finishers from the Tri-Cities for men in the half marathon were Doug Jones of Batavia in 20th place at 1:22:05, and Eric Day of Batavia in 24th at 1:23.29.

The top three finishers in 15 age divisions were awarded medals.