Madison Marathon - HALF!

Saturday: I am running the Madison Marathon Half Marathon tomorrow morning. The weather had been pretty nice all week. Thursday was extremely windy and warm, but still nice. Back in 2000 when I ran my one and only Marathon, this is the race I chose (albeit organized by a different group). Back then, the temp's were in the low 60's.
The weather forecasters have been taking about the extreme high temp's expected for Sunday all week long. Today we may have hit 73 degrees . . . Maybe! But tomorrow WeatherChannel is predicting a high of 95 degrees. Simple math - that is over 20 degrees higher plus high humidity for tomorrows race. The race organizer have been talking about the possibility of canceling the Full Marathon all week and Friday afternoon made the call. Lucky for me the Half was still on. ;-)

Written Saturday evening - but not posted.

Sunday AM - up at 4:45. Ate my standard breakfast of steel cut oats, with berries and coffee. Got ready and headed downtown. I was meeting up with Jamie, of Running Diva Mom, HERE and Amy, of Running is Cheaper than Therapy, HERE before the start of the race. They were both registered for the Full, but opted to run the Half after the Full was cancelled. We met up, chatted and took a pic.


Jamie, Amy and me. ;-)

Jamie and Amy headed back to their car to drop off and pick up stuff and I headed to bag drop off. We met back up and headed to the porta potties and waited and waited. We waited in the queue that appeared to feed all of the individual lines for quite awhile like good patient race participants and finally decided to walk forward to one of the individual pottie lines and after about 10 minutes finally hit the potties. As soon as we walked the 1/2 block to the Square, the National Anthem was being sung. Hugs with Amy and Jamie. Since they are faster than me, they moved forward, and although I really wanted to run with them - I wanted to run MY race and make sure that I did NOT go out too fast, so I elected to stay put. It took about 6 minutes to hit the start line.
Since all marathoners were automatically registered for the Half, it was a full race, 4,390 runners. The start of the race was crowded and even I had to do a lot of weaving to push past the 3:05, 2:30 and 2:20 pace groups. I settled in near the 2:20 pace group, figuring I could push at the end, if I had anything left!
Much of the course covered the route I bike to work - so it was fun to run through familiar neighborhoods.
Lucky for us the overcast skies remained until around mile 8, this kept the temp's controlled and I did not miss the sun one bit. Of course when the sun did come out we were done running through the tree lined neighborhoods and were headed to an out and back on a local causeway, with no shade!
I kept telling myself to just slow down and keep going. I walked through most water stops and filled up my handheld. About at mile 11.5 I did give in to weary legs and walked for a little, but quickly picked up the pace ( that is a relative term) again and headed towards mile 12. Of course the last 1/2 mile was up hill! I finished at 2:16, for a pace of 10:26.
Here are my splits:
1. 10:00
2. 10:09
3. 9:53
4. 10:22
5. 10:25
6. 10:15
7. 10:17
8. 10:35
9. 10.24
10. 10:15
11. 10.53
12. 10:52
13. 1.28

Clearly a major slow down after mile 7, but that is also when the sun came out! This was good enough for 10th out of 45 in my age group!

I headed back to a spot where we had decided to meet up after the race, and actually ran into Jamie and Amy walking to our meet up spot. Amy ran in, 1:46 and Jamie ran in 2:00.
We walked down to a Cupcake store on State St. and I enjoyed a 'Not so Thin Mint' cupcake and it was GOOD!


Next week is the Komen 5k and THEN the following weekend I will get to spend 36 hours in a van with these two wonderful women 'cause we are running the Ragnar Madison to Chicago relay. We have an awesome team, The Panty Raiders and it is going to be a BLAST - I can not wait!
Until my next post, PEACE and Enjoy the moments!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Lake Monona 20k - 2nd time!

I am starting this post about the 20k as I eat breakfast this morning.  I just went back and read my race report from last year and really REALLY hope that this is not a repeat.  Last year I didn't feel ready for the 20k and I really don't feel ready for it again this year.  I have been running, just not much distance - it has been a month since I ran 8+miles . . . oh well, it is what it is.
I am staying positive and trying to remember to start slow.  My plan is to keep a close eye on my watch and really try to stay to 10 minute miles.  I would be very happy to finish with an avg pace of 10min miles.  And if the running gods are watching over me and feel favorable, I would really like to push that down, especially during the last 4 miles . . . but we will see.

The weather is a concern.  Temperature is a little warmer that I would LOVE - but still a lovely 58  at race time and it should remain around 60 for the duration of the race.  Trust me I am not complaining about the temperatures . . . but what concerns me is the HUMIDITY!  I have a hard time running in humid conditions and the humidity level is hovering around 80%.  Obviously my body has a hard time cooling down.  Since the evaporation process works to cool you down - with the high humidity there is little evaporation going on!  I also have a hard time getting my breath!  I know what I need to do . . . slow down!

So that is the plan - wear a sleeveless top and shorts - keep as much of my body exposed as possible!  Trust me that does not sound good for a 56 yr old.  If I were younger I would just wear a sports bra . . . but not at this age.  Skip my hat - it doesn't look like rain, and it is overcast - so no reason to keep any extra heat on my head!  Carry my hand held with water and take it slow!  Find a pace and keep to it!  And most importantly ENJOY the run!  And definitively stop and enjoy the beer sample around 15k.

Update after the run!

I am done!  I finished the race in 2:05:37 - AVG pace 10:07
1 - 9:50
2 - 9:36
3 - 10:08 - had to stop and retie my car key on my shoe - it was hitting my ankle and driving me crazy!
4 - 9:50
5 - 10:24
6 - 10:04
7 - 10:29
8 - 10:29   - enjoyed a Dixie cup of beer!
9 - 10:06
10 - 10:04
11 - 10:21 - was following a runner and sort of sitting back and waiting until mile 12
12 - 10:11 - just told myself to keep running
.42  - 4:01

Overall - based on my training - I was very happy.  I walked through all water stops, even though I brought my own water - it provided me with the break that I needed.  Miles 7 & 8 were a little slower than I would have liked - but I was just telling myself to keep it slower so that I had enough to finish!

The weather was perfect.  Overcast and under 60 degrees.  The humidity was not a factor!  Yahoo!

Next on the agenda for today is a 20mile bike ride.  I am meeting up with a friend to do the Madtown Maiden Alleycat bike ride.  Should be fun.  There are 6-7 stops along the route where you have to do certain tasks - get stamped - and then continue on to the next stop.  We don't get the maps until 5 minutes before the start!  It should be fun.  My husband joked . . . wouldn't it be funny if you had to run at one of the stops!  NOT!  ;-)

Enjoy every moment.