Madison Mini-Marathon & 5K - RunHalf Marathon


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Madison, Wisconsin
United States
Vision Event Management (VEM)
Total Time = 2h 27m 27s
Overall Rank = 2201/2431
Age Group = 40-44
Age Group Rank = 144/161
Pre-race routine:

Woke up at about 5am to get the body prepared. Took some immodium the day before and also this morning. Didn't want any issues! Had a little oatmeal and couldn't get any more down due to my nerves. Added some gatorade to my water bottle and headed out with my husband and three friends.
Event warmup:

Walked several blocks from the parking garage and really didn't do any warm-up besides standing in the porta potty line! But I found Michelle and her friend there as well! Can't miss the cape! Tried not to pysch myself out and did pretty well.
Run
  • 2h 27m 27s
  • 13.1 miles
  • 11m 16s  min/mile
Comments:

My goal was to finish in 2:30 which I revised to 2:40 based on some recent training runs. I knew my overall pace should be close to 11:26 in order to get to 2:30, so I just tried to keep myself aware of my pace throughout with the garmin, but I didn't want to focus on it too much. I walked when I needed to and tried to make up ground each time I ran. I kept seeing Michelle and her pink cape in front of me and my goal was to keep her in my sights! I did so until about mile 9 1/2 and then I was on my own. My husband came back to run with me at about mile 10 1/2 - he finished at 1:23 and was first in his age group! He ran with me for a while, then was in front of me hoping to encourage me to keep up. I didn't have it in me! When I reached mile 11, I was at about 2 hours and knew I would make my initial goal! My friend Stu was the MC and as I turned the corner towards the finish line, he was screaming my nickname (T-bird) - I picked it up a bit and gave him a nice high five to finish the race!
What would you do differently?:

I would train more and try to push myself more during the last 2-3 miles. I'm never going to be in the front or middle of a race like this, so I was pretty happy - especially considering I just had knee surgery 4 months ago and the most I ran before that was 6 miles.
Post race
Warm down:

I was pretty sore and freezing after the race, met up with my hubby and my friend and got our gear bag so we could add some layers. Enjoyed a muffin and a cold beer!

What limited your ability to perform faster:

Recent surgery, lack of mental toughness and not enough training at longer distances.

Event comments:

The only things I would improve for next year would be the addition of more porta potties before the race and also along the course - I never needed to stop, but if I did, most lines were 5-6 people deep.

Also, the 10 mile mark was way off and I heard another one was as well. Unfortunately, the weather didn't cooperate and we only stayed to hear one song from the post race band at the union. Too cold - wish they could have moved them to the front of the union somewhere since no one stuck around. Overall it was a great race - I attained my goal as did my husband and my friend, Jill. No complaints there!




Last updated: 2009-08-31 12:00 AM
Running
02:27:27 | 13.1 miles | 11m 16s  min/mile
Age Group: 0/161
Overall: 0/2431
Performance: Average
Course: I was a bit worried about the course since everyone kept mentioning the hills. I tried to break it down in my mind so I could focus on each portion of the race and not worry about what was coming next. It really wasn't as bad as I feared and I used the arboretum as a regular training area so was used to that. The wind picked up just a bit towards the UW hospital and before picnic point - not bad though. A few of the mile markers were off - especially the mile 10 marker which on my garmin was only at mile 9.66. Otherwise, there was lots of support on the course and plenty of water/gatorade stops.
Keeping cool Good Drinking Just right
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall:
Mental exertion [1-5]
Physical exertion [1-5]
Good race? Yes
Evaluation
Course challenge Just right
Organized? Yes
Events on-time? Yes
Lots of volunteers? Yes
Plenty of drinks? Yes
Post race activities: Good
Race evaluation [1-5] 4