Madison Mini-Marathon & 5K - RunHalf Marathon

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!

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.

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!


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


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!