Friday AM - I packed up Mr Sharkie and the pooch, and we headed for Madison. The drive wasn't too bad except for the 30 miles of construction on 90. We arrived at our hotel, got checked in and headed straight back out for packet pick-up. Note to self for future travel half marathons - we're out in the boonies because it was the only hotel that would accommodate the pooch - maybe not worth it, especially when there's a metal festival at the concert center next door...
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| Guys? Why am I in this creepy hotel room? |
THE RACE
After a 5:30 am wake up call, I ran the pooch out, then we hit the road for downtown. I had studied and re-studied the parking maps, and had a plan. Unfortunately that was everyone else's plan. It took us about 30 minutes to get parked, but it was free, so score! We rolled up to the starting line with ~ 10 minutes to spare. The pre-race port-potty situation was pretty dire. ~ 20 potties for 5800 runners, so the lines were pretty gnarly.
Start line - there were corrals that weren't terribly well enforced so Mr Sharkie and I lined up between I and J. After a quick national anthem, we were off on time at 7 am!!
Miles 1-3. This race pretty much starts up a hill and then it's rolling hills all the way. We run up to the capital, past an amazing looking downtown farmer's market (um, cheesy bread, anyone??), and then past the Kohl Center and Camp Randall. Pretty nice tour of the University of Wisconsin!
Miles 4-6. THE ZOO!! OK, the outside of the zoo. But there are some beautiful bike trails in Madison. It almost feels like they built the city with biking in mind versus Chicago where they're just trying to cram it in. The course is a little crowded at this point, and the streets are pretty banked, but the weather is perfect!
Miles 7-9. Enter the arboretum. Rolling hills throughout. Pretty. But boring. I guess you could call it pretty boring.
Miles 10-12. Exit the arboretum. Some little kid is handing out popsicles. I totally took a popsicle from a child. I'm pretty sure her mom is going to be pretty mad when she gets home today and she realizes that daddy/daughter were out handing out organic fancy popsicles, but it HIT THE SPOT. I'm sorry ma'am! I owe you $3!! Still rolling hills. Except for the random 0.1 mile out and back in a parking lot.
Miles 13-13.1. I shall call this the trail running portion of the half marathon. We were running along the lake at this point, but it was pretty narrow and crowded. And hilly.
The finish: water, banana, medal, chocolate chip cookie, granola bar, chocolate milk, and popcorn! Really organized, fast moving, and tasty!
The finish-line party: Honestly the only finish line party I've been at that still had beer and/or didn't have an obscene line for beer. We lined up, and were promptly handed our party cup of free Capital City Beer. Not my favorite beer, but pretty darn tasty :)
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| The medal is also a beer opener! |
The walk back to the car: Frustrating. We couldn't figure out how to exit the party, and probably walked an extra mile and a half to get to the car :(
Overall: The is a very well run race. I realized that I still suck at rolling hills. I'm not sure that I would do it again, but I would definitely encourage others to come out for the weekend. Madison is a great place to spend a weekend away from the city!
Next half: Maui Half Marathon!
