Mad City Marathon - Half Marathon - RunHalf Marathon

My previous PR was 1:29:55, and I did 1:30:10 or something in a half marathon in early April. So my goal was to break 1:29, if I could move, that is. My last 10K was 2 minutes slower than I had planned, so I thought it might take a miracle to reach my goal--I just am not that fit this year.

The course started out relatively flat, had some hills in the middle miles, and then became flat again. My strategy was to hit my goal pace on the flats--no faster--and then do damage control on the hills. My hope was that with this conservative strategy I could do the final 5K a little faster to make up for any losses on the hills.

So, I started out very conservatively. There was the usual triathlete tension near me in the first few miles. If one M-Dot bearer sees another M-Dot bearer, they have to duel regardless of race goals. It's a rule. But, I restrained myself. Everyone is a triathlete in Wiscansan, so I had to let a fair number of people go in the beginning. I even slowed down a little bit on the early uphills, just to make sure I didn't go faster than I should.

After about 3 miles I was doing the same pace as some guy near me, and we basically ran the rest of the race together. My pace up to that point was actually too fast--6:20something/mile. But with him around I decided that I could use him to set the pace and maybe go faster. There were big gaps ahead and behind us, so I either had to run with him or by myself.

In the 10th mile I felt really good for some reason, so I made a move. I was thinking about pushing all the way to the end, but then I felt tired again in the 12th mile and slowed a bit. Fortunately I was able to find enough strength at the end to avoid getting kicked down. My pacer beat me, which makes me glad since he did all the work except in miles 10 and 11. Playground rules, folks.

Overall I didn't feel very bad at any point in the race. No stomach issues, no severe leg fatigue. My legs didn't hurt at all once the race started, which is ridiculous and I don't understand it really. The one issue was that I ate some sport beans about halfway through, and they took like a whole mile to eat! There must have been 20 beans in that little packet! And then I choked on one and thought I was going to die! Next time: GU all the way.

Mile splits:

Mile 1: 6:28
Mile 2: 6:15
Mile 3: 6:20
Mile 4: 6:20
Mile 5,6: 13:25 <--I think my pacer lost focus here. And I was never focused in the first place.
Mile 7: 6:33
Mile 8: 6:33
Mile 9: 6:32
Mile 10: 6:22 <--Tried a little sump'n sump'n here
Mile 11: 6:26
Mile 12: 6:39 <--Paid for my little sump'n sump'n
Mile 13: 6:30
Last 0.1: 0:39

Maybe I should eat more. I only had 100 Calories midway through, but I wasn't going so fast that my stomach wouldn't accept food. Also I should have done better during miles 5 and 6. I couldn't have been very tired at that point.

My hands were full of food and drinks, so I didn't really jog, although I wish I had. I did get a good stretching session in.


I don't know.


Good race, but they have a severe port-a-potty shortage at the start. Post-race goodies are abundant, and they actually go a little easy on the runners with the course. They had the opportunity to take us up some really killer hills on the UW campus, but they were nice and sent the course around them. This made the course mostly flat with some long rollers in the middle.