Half Marathon # 5: Memorial Day in Madison

Well I have had quite an eventful 6 weeks since my last week. Where to begin?

Well for starters, I met my brother's ferret. She reminds me of a snake with hair and legs. Seeing her run around gave me the shivers. She also learned how to break out of her cage while I was staying at my brother's place. Little bitch...sorry, that was rude. I'll get back to Claire (the ferret) later.

Post-op. Couldn't move my middle finger yet. Woops.

I also had wrist surgery at the beginning of May. I had a cast, a sling, stitches, the works. I took five days off from running. They were 5 very long days. I asked my doc how long before I could start running again after my surgery. He advised me to wait until my cast was off but that I could go for walks and silly things like that in five days. I mentally filed his advice under options to consider (ignore) and did a short four mile run on the Monday after my surgery. I ran consistently over the past few weeks, but the longest distance I ran was only around 6 or 7 miles. And by "consistently" I mean I managed to squeeze in maybe 4 runs a week.

I also adopted a puppy. His name is Anders and he requires lots of attention. Who knew puppies were so much work? He's adorable though...most of the time.

Handsome baby Anders.

So with all that stuff going on, training wasn't my biggest priority this past month. My next race is June 9 in Chicago so I decided to use the Madison half as more of a training run.

My brother lives in Madison, WI and the half marathon and full marathon falling on Memorial Day weekend presented the perfect opportunity for me to pay him a visit. I flew up on Saturday morning. Upon arriving in Madison, I learned that the full marathon was already cancelled because of "extreme weather." Apparently it was supposed to be dangerously hot. After walking around Madison for a while, I also noticed how incredibly hilly it was. My legs were getting tired just from walking. The hills seemed even worse than the ones in St. Louis. Naturally, I was already making excuses for a less than stellar race time.

Posing with the badgers. Duh.

I stayed at my brother's apartment/fraternity house. If you've never spent the night in a fraternity house, I envy you. They are disgusting. Upon arriving, I had the unfortunate experience of becoming acquainted with Claire. She stinks. I had to share a room with her. A room that was not air conditioned. That technology hasn't reached Wisconsin yet (I kid! I kid!). Fortunately, I was allergic to the house so I didn't have to smell much of the resident rodent. But enough about that...

I awoke around 6am Sunday morning for my race. Brother gave me directions to the starting line/Capitol. The race start was only about a 10 minute walk from his place and the weather was absolutely beautiful. I think it was in the mid-sixties. As I was preparing for the race to start, I could not believe how nice of a morning it was and how good I was feeling. Despite feeling more unprepared for this race than most of my previous ones, I put in my new noise-cancelling headphones (thanks, Mom!) and was ready to cruise through the course at a comfortable pace.

Shot of the Capitol from the starting line.

I had more fun running this race than any of my other ones. The weather was great. I felt great. The course ran along the hills rather than up and down them, and had a minimal number of turns. The race went through many neighborhoods with leafy trees blocking out the early morning sun. The crowd support was the best yet. Everyone seemed to be out on their porch supporting the runners. I was even on pace to run this race even faster than I ran St. Louis. Halfway through the race I decided that I was going to try to break 2 hours. Then at mile 8 a girl gave me a banana, providing me with a  very appreciated extra boost of energy. Bananas FTW! The course had approximately 9 or 10 water stations that kept me well hydrated throughout the run. And did I mention my totally awesome playlist? I was in the zone!

Happy Memorial Day, y'all! 'Murcka!

I ended up finishing the race in 2:04.19. The last quarter mile was a steep uphill slope that totally kicked my arse. This time was my new fastest official time to date. This race was the most fun race I have run. Having my dad with me on previous races and my friends' support in STL was great, but this actual race was the most enjoyable. As in, the running part, not everything surrounding the run. I would love to run the Madison half again next year.

The rest of my trip was also fun. I went to lunch with brother's girlfriend and fraternity brother (my brother can't function unless he gets a total of 12 hours of sleep). We spent the rest of the afternoon enjoying the weather and drinking beers on the porch. Claire joined us for a bit. Her presence added some excitement as my brother tried to throw her on me. We finished off the night with some competitive shuffleboard. I can now add "Shuffleboard Player Extraordinaire" to my resume.

In a week and a half I will return to the Midwest to run my June race on June 9th in Chicago. This race is going to be the one where I officially break the 2 hour barrier. I hope. Wish me luck!

Five down and seven to go! Thanks for your support!