is anyone interested in doing an all day fun-run unofficial Ultra from Morton to Toulon....following the EP trail to the khellar branch and then up the rock island trail?
 
i figure its about 45 miles one way.
 
Dexter and I did East Peoria -> Wyoming, IL last Nov for the Do YOU run and discussed doing it again to include the Morton to EP and the Wyoming to Toulon legs....
 
Sarah's dad lives there so we can always get a ride back to the peoria area from her since its an excuse to visit her dad....vehicle would fit 3 more people in addition to us two.....we could do more if someone else had a minivan or someone wanted to volunteer to drive us back.
 
there are plenty of stops along the way for food and drink refills
 
I figure we could take our own sweet time and go at a relaxing pace....might be a fun way to do a long run leading up to a 100 or something.   Not sure I'll be able to do the Do YOU if it's Nov-only again so I'd like to do this for some other occasion.
 
no real time frame in mind.....just gauging interest

I definitely would be interested if on a weekend that we have available. My It band seems ok so now frustrated with having dropped at McNaughton. took a week off and hopefully bypassed another major injury. This sounds like fun

Sign me up!

I'd be interested depending on the date.  
 
Waaaaay back in 2001 I ran all of my long runs there while training for the Quad City Marathon.  I still haven't ran the QCM but at the time I thought it would be great to bike from Peoria to Toulon.  I never dreamed I'd ever be silly enough to run it, and then some.

sweet... looks like we'll need a 2nd vehicle for sure!  
 
how does end of July look for most of you?  it'll be warm but surely manageable....
 
I think the longest bit was downtown to Alta....I'm sure we can find a stopping area in there if we really need it though
 
Route distances are roughly as follows:
-Morton (START)
-My House (along the trail in East Peoria) about 5.5miles
-Gas station before crossing the river (2.5mi)
-Rock Island trail by Alta, Last Chance Bar (11ish miles....maybe a tad longer, Google maps doesn't have the khellar branch yet)
-Dunlap (3.8 mi)
-Princeville (6.5mi)
-Wyoming (10mi)
-Toulon (4.6mi)
 
total is 43.9miles (probably closer to 45 for the reason above)
 
it will be an all day affair.  I'd like us all to stick together as a group for the most part, I think we can all travel at a 12-14 min pace on a flat trail like that....that's a good ultra pace, so would be good training.  start at the wee crack of dawn.
 
more are welcome of course!
 
so how does your end-of-July look?
 
 
 

I'll have to check the wife's calendar at home, but I'm game.  I was thinking, when we crossed Prospect on the Kellar Branch there is a CVS about a block north, that would work as a good "aid station".  Also a BP right there...

I do believe I had two pieces of sausage pizza there... yum!  Looks like the very last weekend (30th or 31st) would work for me.  The weekend before that I have my daughter and the weekend before that is our anniversary weekend.  How does that look for everyone else?

July 30-31 works for me.  Only other open July weekend for me is 16-17th.  Would be nice if we had a bike escort...Elaine?