2013 Madison Mini-Marathon Race Recap

I first have to say, what a well organized event!  Thank you to all the volunteers, police, medics, pacers, and fireman that came out to support this event.  The race started at 7:00am, holy hell it was early.

I got there super early for me (6:00am) because I heard that parking can be a pain in the butt downtown for this race.  I got right in my first pick parking spot with ease, but I think if I would have waited much longer it would have been a problem.  I did my normal warm-up routine, Kashi cereal at 5 (2 hours before), 1/2 Clif Mojo "Sweet & Salty Trail Mix Bar at 6 (1 hour before).  Then a couple Stinger gummies at the start line.  I think that prep fuel helped, but I might cut out the Kashi next time, or replace it with something a bit lighter.  I had a minor stomach cramp at mile 2.5.

The race started off by the union, I started in corral E.

Everyone was in high spirits, and the weather was absolutely perfect.  At the start it was about 64 degrees.  By chance alone I ran into my friend Glen from the Tuesday night Endurance House run group.  It was really cool, him and his family came out to support us!

The start happened really quick, but it was fun.  Like sheep we were herd into corrals, ready for the start. The first mile I tried so hard to not run fast, tried :-)  I really wanted to do a 9 minute first mile, ended up doing an 8. I looked for my friends Patrick and Cassi in the crowd but there were so many people, I missed them. I continued on, trying to catch-up to the 1:40 pacer.  The race continued to the farmers market on the capital square, then a straight shot down State St.  From there we went by the Kohl Center, and continued down by my work (yes I waved at the building).   After that we ran through the zoo park area, then through the arboretum.  During this point I saw my favorite signs.  1) "You paid for this", 2) "You got the runs", and 3) "There is cookies at the end".  The arboretum was also really beautiful, I wish I had a picture. The crowds were quite amazing, talk about positive energy! We continued on toward the water. To get to said water we ran 1 mile through parking lots with no shade, there was a heavy metal band though. When we hit the water I was so warm! We had to take a right to continue on but straight forward was a dock into the water.  I seriously thought about it for about 30 seconds, buuuut I didn't. Finally we shot up the trail along the water to the finish line right in front of the union.  The crowd was there, screaming cheers of joy, it was awesome!

My chip time was a 1:40:40.  That was an average pace of 7:42, way faster than anticipated.

We were greeted by awesome volunteers with metals, bananas, cookies (the sign was not a lie), water, cheesy popcorn (which I'm eating as I blog), and other treats. YUM!  I started walking down the finish area to meet up with people.  I was really excited my good friend Amelia came out to support me.  It really shows a lot that we can still be supportive of each other :)  I also met up with Kris and Glen from Endurance House Tuesday night run (you should come check it out some time).  Kris also ran it.  It was really great to have friends there, thanks again for coming!  We sat and hung out, listened to music, and just chatted about how we did.

le band

The After Party at the Union Terrace

Final thoughts: I had a lot of fun, and I would totally do this race again in a heartbeat. Very well organized with a great view of the city including: farmers market, state st, arboretum, the lake trail, and an after party at the union. No wonder why it was ranked the #14th best 1/2 marathon in the country (out of thousands). My shoes were also really great, I love Newtons.

Oh, and one more thing (totally took that from Steve Jobs), I got some PRs during this...

1. Longest distance ever: 13.1 miles
2. Fastest Half-Marathon : 1:40:40
3. Fastest 10K : 46:31
4. Fastest 5K : 23:07

Today was a good day!