Record or not, it was a beautiful day to get out in the Sauk Valley

DIXON — For the record, the ice rink at Page Park did not completely melt away.

It was a huge chunk of ice floating on a pool of few inches deep of water beneath. But the barrier was still holding.

It was twenty-ninth day of December — a day when temps are normally 33 degrees — but it got up to 63 degrees.

People took advantage of the springlike temperatures to engage in all sorts of activities.

Some were out walking their dogs, swinging at a bucket of balls at the golf driving range, or like three Dixon High School students, squeezing in an afternoon run.

Emma Smith, 16, emerged from Lowell Parkway trail on a four-mile run along trailing after her pacers who were riding bicycles, Keeley Mick, 16 and Olivia Arduini, 14.

“It was really nice,” said Smith, who has been running all winter long as part of her offseason training. “I was not dressed for it. I overdressed. I should wear shorts.”

Mick and Arduini were loading up their bikes. Before serving as Smith’s pacer, they had done two-mile runs.

“We’re getting ready for track,” Mick said.

Arduini said they even spotted their former coach out on the trail.

The book is still open on weather any daily records were broken in the Sauk Valley. The Twitter account for the National Weather Service in the Quad Cities said Thursday afternoon it was still compiling that information for the region. But the online almanac showed that Morrison had a high temp of 64 back in 1984 and the station at Paw Paw registered a 54 back in 2019.