Considering the small field of runners starting in Madison, there were a lot of spectators at the start. I started at a pace that was probably a bit too fast for me (mid 8s) and attacked the early hills a bit too aggresively. If this was a half marathon, I would have run it about right. The problem was that I still had 7 miles of rolling hills to go after that. My goal was to pace out at 9:30, which would have been a solid conservative pace considering the hilly nature of the course. I would have probably been able to do it if I had much in the way of mental discipline. As it turns out, I don't.

Start at a slower pace. I think I may have burned myself up in the first 10 miles with the hills. I walked a number of times in the last 5 miles that I could have probably pushed through if I had anything in the way of discipline.

Water, oranges, and bananas. I could feel the left quad start to twinge in the recovery area. It never cramped, but I could tell that it would have if I went another couple of miles; just like at the marathon in Duluth last year. Gonna pick up some Succeed tablets next weekend and train with them for a few weeks to acclimate and hopefully avoid cramping altogether in June. Let's just say that I did not need to bring my bike for a post-race ride.

After I rested for a little, I met up with tribadger (Eric) and retiretotri (Lori) in park at the finish line to chat while the awards were being announced. The announcer did not call my name. Turns out that I just missed finshing in first place by an hour and 20 minutes. So close! Maybe next time.

I wandered downtown and got a couple of brats as a post-race treat. Yum!


Mental discipline. My legs never gave out, but I never gave them a chance to. Maybe that wasn't such a bad strategy considering this was an aggressive training run for my number 1 race in June. Still, I think if I had pushed myself a little more, I could have shaved the last 4 minutes off my finish time.


This was a very well organized small race. The police support along the course was fantastic and exceeded my expectations. They were at every intersection. Even though the course was basically through the country, there were scattered spectators all along the course. There were plenty of volunteers at the aid stations and at every turn of the course. It was amazingly organized and supported for a small race.

Running a race that is part of a weekend of festival activities is always a good thing. The race was just part of it. The little town of Stoughton was alive with festival goers as we pulled into town and even though they were not necessarily lined up to see the runners come into town, they cheered and encouraged us on all the same.