I worked on mental aspects of the run. Whenever I get worried about how fast I'm going, my hr spikes. So I chilled. Passed and got passed by the same few people for lots of the race. Awesome crowd and volunteer support! Loved the high 5's from kiddos along side the road - made me feel like a rock star! Lots of radio stations, bands, and cheer sections welcomed runners. And some really funny posters spectators had made. I 'slow ran' thru h2o stations, never had to pee, ate a gel (chocolate) I had on my race belt so didn't walk/stop at all except to let an ambulance through an intersection. (and when I stopped for that...I could feel the fatigue in my legs as I started back up) Felt pretty good through out the run but towards the last 3 miles, my legs were like lead weights and my quads were aching/almost cramping. I tried kicking my heels back to my butt to release the tension but to no avail...plus, by then, my kick backs were pretty lame anyhow as the overall steam in the engine was running low. One bummer though was I lost my asthma inhaler along the way and didn't realize it til i got home...there goes 38 bucks. I could not seem to find my oomph to pick up the pace at the end going into the finish...but I didn't fall so that was a good thing ;)

do more lonnnnnng training runs to build endurance/strength for when I needed it to add a little kick at the end going into the finish line.

Really crowded at end. Stood forever waiting to get food and out the door (well, like 20 mins). Sweated like a piglet and drank a water. Wanted to MOOOO like a cow being herded with all the people jammed up like that. I got a few cramps in my gut while standing around and for the rest of the day had some stomach pain but not sure if that was from the run or from something my son had (he was barfing later in the day so not sure if we had a little buggish thing going on)


Lack of any sort of speed training. My goal was to finish and run the whole thing. Next year... either I'll work on some speed OR go for the full mary (maybe the 1/2 has made me too light headed to think straight!)


I was not a fan of the 1/2 going off an hour earlier this year (at 7 am) vs 8 am with the full mary. Who wants to eat Arby's at 9 am anyhow? I grabbed a mini muffin. Overall though this is a great race, home town feel, great crowds, great volunteer support, and I recommend it to anyone looking to race in Wisconsin during a beautiful Fall day!