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| AFC 1/2 in 2012 |
I ran the AFC 1/2 two years ago and I like trying new races, so Madison it was! My friends from work, Renee and Rita, are from that are of the country so I convinced them to come run the race with me.
Renee and I got into Madison around noon of Friday and checked into the Doubletree. I booked this hotel through the race and picked it because if it was close to the start/finish and downtown and it also had a free airport shuttle. Renee and I were really excited about the fact that we each got our own comfy beds (that we didn't have to share with our 6 ft+ husbands) and we could watch all the chick flicks and TV shows we wanted!
After settling in to our hotel we headed to lunch at Dotty Dumpling's Dowry. I think I found the perfect pre-race food: fried cheese curds and beer!
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| Renee and yummy fried cheese |
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| New Glarus Spotted Cow |
After our carb loading we headed toward the UW campus to pick up our packets at the expo.
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| Go Badgers! |
The expo was small compared to others I have been to because it is a small race (less than 4000 finishers). I did manage to get Nick a hard earned gift.
After finishing up the expo we decided to take it easy the rest of the day so we headed back to the hotel to relax and watch some TV before dinner. We went to The Old Fashioned for more fried cheese curds (I liked the ones from lunch better) and then back to the hotel to for more relaxation. Pitch Perfect was on HBO and Renee had never seen it so we watched it before bed. Unfortunately, I forgot there were some vomit scenes (Renee is VERY vomit phobic) so I had to mute the TV and tell her when it was ok to watch again.
She was very aca-unhappy with me for not warning her.
Before going to bed I always organize my running clothes, gear, and food. I pulled out my charger so I could top off my Garmin watch and realized that I had not actually brought the watch. I alway run with my Garmin but figured I could use the Map My Run on my iPhone to check my pace and time during the race.
We woke up a little before 6 am to get ready for the race. Earlier in the week the weather report was calling for 40 to 50% chance of rain, but by the time the weekend rolled around it was down to about 20%. When we woke up there was no chance of rain and it was about 65 degrees and overcast.
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| Beautiful morning on Lake Mendota |
Rita has been having some ongoing foot problems and so she was slumming it in my corral for this race. We got in the corral about 10 minutes before the start and enjoyed the music they were playing to get the crowd excited. This is probably the first race I have heard heavy metal played. I really enjoyed the Metallica!
Pretty soon we were off. Rita went out a little faster than I wanted to so I slowed up and went my own pace so I didn't kill myself in the beginning. In the first mile we got to run by the Wisconsin capitol building and farmer's market.
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| A neon road leading to the capitol |
Shortly after passing the capitol we hit the mile 1 sign so I decided to check my pace on the Map my Run app.
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| stupid technology |
The App was disabled for use in the background and was showing that I had only run 0.4 miles at this point. Well, I guess I was going to just have to wing and run whatever pace felt good and use the mile markers clocks to get a rough idea of how I was doing.
The first four miles were through town and neighborhoods. There were a few little hills, but nothing too bad. After that we spent the next few miles running by Lake Wingra and through the UW Arboretum. This part of the course was great. There was beautiful scenery and the clouds kept the temps down.
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| Lake Wingra (near the Zoo) |
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| UW Madison Arboretum |
There were some really talkative girls that were running near me for the entire race. No matter what I did, I always seemed to be near them. At the 10K marker I heard them discussing how far a 10K was. At one point they were trying to do the math to figure it out and one of them said that 1 mile=2.2 km. That one made me laugh. But seriously, they would not shut up. Things that annoy me during a race: talkers, people that shuffle their feet, weird breathers, and people that play music without headphones (seriously, no one wants to listen to your crappy music).
In case it wasn't clear the first time:
Around mile 8 is when we exited the Arboretum and things got serious. The morning clouds were gone and the sun was beating down and we were now running through neighborhoods without as much tree cover. I was less amused with running at this point and stopped taking pictures, which is too bad because I didn't take any photos of some really great signs that had been posted along multiple sections throughout the entire course, but some of the highlights we could remember:
Puke and Rally
Paint is temporary. Internet results are permanent.
You have great stamina, call me!
Why do all the good ones run away.
You are kind of a big deal.
You are NOT almost there.
I really like the last one. Nothing pisses off a runner more than someone saying "you are almost there" when you still have a couple of miles or even a 1/2 mile left.
Notice on the map to the that at mile 9 it says "Cemetery Hill begins, Enjoy!" Although I had looked at this map several times, I never noticed it. Probably a good thing because this hilled SUCKED! It was steep and long and hot and not enjoyable. The fans there probably saw the worst of us runners. I was pretty happy when it was over.Despite the crappy hill I was making good time based on the mile marker clocks, although I didn't really know what my time was since I didn't know how long I crossed the start after the clock started. Although I was starting to feel miserable, I didn't want to slow down because I thought I could get a good finish time...so I tried to keep a good pace (not that I really knew what it was).
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I struggled a little around mile 11 and 11.5 because of the heat but once the course hit Lake Mendota it was shaded and much more scenic.
As the finish got closer I really wanted to push myself in case a was close to (some unknown) goal time. I also read in Runner's World and Meb Keflezighi's book that it is good to up your pace at the end of a training run and figured that was just a training run so I figured why not at mile 12. I was passing more and more people up and then I really cranked up the pace for the last 1/2 mile. Apparently there was a little bit of an uphill at the end, but I didn't notice it because Renee was there cheering me on.
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| Almost at the finish, I can't believe I happy I look! |
Crossing the finish line felt great, but not as great as drinking the chocolate milk they gave me. The medal was pretty sweet too.
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| It is also a bottle opener! |
This race gave the best food/drinks!
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| popcorn and beer! |
It was great to just relax along the lake and enjoy the scenery after the race. I would say this is probably my favorite finish line that I have been to. Renee and I hung out on one of the docks and soaked in the sun for a bit before heading back to shower.
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| Rita, Lisa (Rita's sister), Renee, and I |
After the race I finally got to look up my results to see how I had done and holy crap I got my 2nd best time ever in a half with 2:07:34! Although it didn't break down every mile, I went faster my last 3 miles than my first 5 and I am guessing that my last mile was probably my fastest! Woo hoo!
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I texted my dad and Nick about my exciting results and got back really supportive texts from them!
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| Such a sweet husband! |
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| Thanks dad! |
After freshening up we headed toward the farmer's market to get some lunch and buy some delicious Wisconsin cheese.
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| Madison has the best farmer's market! |
We then had a few hours of relaxing in bed while watching TV followed by dinner at the Great Dane Pub with Rita and her family.
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| recovery beverage |
After eating we hurried home so we could enjoy a good old fashioned chick flick, The Devil Wears Prada. Renee and I definitely took full advantage of our husband free time in Madison!
So now I am back in Atlanta and starting week 17 of training. This is when it gets really real. Tuesday I have to run 10 miles, Thursday I do a 55 minute tempo run, and Saturday is my first 20 mile run. I would be lying if I said I wasn't nervous. I am also a little worried because the low temp for Friday night is 73 with a high on Saturday of 94. This could make for a bad run, but I will do it not matter how miserable I am because I have to. The marathon is less than 8 weeks away and there is not slacking on training. There is still time to donate to my fundraising efforts for Team Paws, you can do so here.
That's all.
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