Madison Marathon - RunMarathon

I definitely must of mis-judged my pace. I stuck with the 4:00 pace group for the first half of the race and my splits were 1:58:30 at the half marathon point and 2:26:04 on the second portion. My goal was just under 4:00 but my muscles told me differently halfway through the race. My hip flexors, gluteals, and gastrocnemious were all in pain and my performance suffered. I felt I consumed the right amount of electrolytes and hydrated properly. I consumed 4 SUCCEED! S capsules each hour, 2 e-gels, 42 fluid oz. of SUCCEED! CLIP2, 7 cups of Gatorade Endurance, and 7 cups of water.

The course was pretty flat throughout the race and the surface was 85% street paved with two small portions of the race being run on trails. On my count, there were only 7 or 8 hills (nothing real steep).

The spectators were awesome and very encouraging.

1. Not start out so fast.
2. Strength train my hip flexors before the marathon.
3. Not wear long sleeves.

I ate a banana and staggered to my car.


Muscle soreness (primarily weak hip flexors).
Long sleeve t-shirt (very hot).
Starting out too fast.


Seeing as how this was my first race of any distance, and I'm only 15, I would say it was a success, but I would have liked to do a little better. As painful as it was I really liked the Madison Marathon.