It was a window of warmth. Runners seized the moment on Sunday in northwest suburban Cary.

Yes, this was way tame by March Madness standards. The sun was shining brightly and there was a gentle breeze from the south. But the hills were still there, challenging every runner through all 13.1 miles of the Hillstriders Running Club's 25th annual half-marathon.

In an event punctuated over the years by rain, sleet, snow and high winds, runners this year were able to run in singlets and focus on staying cool instead of warm as temperatures hit 60 midway through the race. It was an aberration that drew few if any complaints.

"It was kind of nice to have a warm wind in your face," overall winner Bob Cisler said.

And when it was over, Cisler and Gloria Iverson had run way with the men1s and women1s overall championships. Cisler, 33, of Clarendon Hills, and Iverson, 34, of Lincolnwood, both led from start to finish, narrowly missing personal goals, but both headed out for their cooldown runs very satisfied nevertheless. Cisler had hoped to break 1:10, and won going away in 1:10:25.5. Iverson had wanted to go under 1:20, but settled for 1:20:40.5. She also just missed the March Madness women1s record of 1:20:38, held by Laurie Mizener.

"It was good," Cisler said of his basically solo run. "Going out, it was feeling pretty effortless, but I started to struggle a little around seven or eight miles. I had been hoping to break 1:10, but decided to back it off after the big hill before 10 miles. I lost a lot of time on the hills."

Because the race was not (by its organizers' choice) on the CARA Circuit this year, there wasn't as much competition as usual up front. That allowed Cisler and Iverson to throttle down a bit when the hills started taking their toll.

With no women to run with, Iverson stayed with a pack of men.

"I see those guys at every race," she said. "It went well. We were running 6-minute miles until mile 11. After that, we slowed down. The wind was tough, but I'm very happy - and I'm not injured."

Cisler, who finished second last year, improved his time by 22 seconds. Iverson improved by 1:14. Defending men's champion Dan Mayer did not race at Cary this year.

Jordan Dubow, 25, of Highland Park, finished second in the men1s field with a 1:14:39.6 and Sebastian Reyes, 39, of Chicago, was third in 1:16:05.

"The last six miles ere tough," Dubow said. "It was nice," Reyes chimed in. On the women's side, Christen Meyer, 40, of LaGrange, finished second with a 1:26:17, edging Angie Paprocki, 27, of Hoffman Estates, who was third in 1:26:20.6.

Meyer, who won last year1s Lakeshore Marathon, credited her performance on Sunday to 51-year-old Steve Barzso of Addison, who ran with her the entire race.

"It went great, thanks to Steve," she said.

After the leaders, age-groupers, triathletes, runners training for marathons and fun runners worked their way through the unforgiving course. March Madness had added another chapter to its storied history.

A total of 1,018 runners finished the race with few medical problems reported according to race director Mark Francis. The race was delayed several minutes until traffic was clear, but other that that, things went very smoothly, Francis indicated.