PR at the Madison Half Marathon

It has been a tough year to run a marathon. The cancelation of the Madison Marathon, due to severe temperature (predicted to be in the mid 90s), was the third Wisconsin marathon to be canceled in the month of May. First it was La Crosse on May 6th, which was canceled a few hours before the start as a result of lightning and thunder. Then the Green Bay Marathon on May 20th (mid-race) because the medical staff was overwhelmed with runners fainting, collapsing and being severely dehydrated. The Madison Marathon staff and Board of Directors made the right decision, as the majority of the participants have not adequately trained in hot humid conditions. Sure, a few experienced athletes would be able to hydrate and run a smart race, but the majority would have put themselves in a dangerous situation.

Fortunately the half marathon was on my agenda and I was not disappointed with the decision (though it did affect my overall place).

Bearing the morning heat, roughly 5,000 runners made their way to the Capital to begin the half marathon. The race started promptly at 7:12am with temperatures hovering right around 70 degrees, which is definitely manageable for most athletes providing that the volunteers at the aid stations would be on top of their game.

I was able to maintain a somewhat consistent pace (more so than CrazyLegs). Below are my splits:

Mile 1: 5:30

Mile 2: 5:31

Mile 3: 5:30

Mile 4: 5:41

Mile 5: 5:08

Mile 6: 5:45

Mile 7: 5:45

Mile 8: 5:50

Mile 9: 5:47

Mile 10: 5:46

Mile 11: 5:58

Mile 12: 5:57

Mile: 13: 6:00

Time - 1:14:39 (5:42/mile) - Personal Record by 44 seconds!!

Place - 7th overall, 3rd in the M20-24 Age Group

The family! Kurt, Kathy, Trish and Jess. Thank you for waking up at 4:00am to watch me run!

Running a PR is great, and I am definitely excited that I was able to accomplish the aforementioned endeavor, though I know there is always room for improvement. I did identify three factors that I am fairly certain will facilitate a faster race next time.

Laura, my "Official" Photographer :)

1) Hydrate early in the race. By mile 11 I could tell that I was dehydrated and had trouble maintaining a fast pace. My face was hot, my head hurt and I was a little delirious. I finished the race without taking a single cup of water or Gatorade... I have done it before so I knew I could do it again, though not in these temps.

2) Start slower, get faster. Getting out too fast escalates the heart rate too quickly, which in turn burns more carbs (long-term energy storage) than fat (quick-use energy). By hitting the 6:00/mile pace for the first few miles instead of the last three, I would be using more efficient storages of energy and not running into any "walls."

3) Different shoes. I used the Asics Hyper Speed 4 - they work for track workouts and shorter races, though when used for 13 miles on solid concrete, they don't do so well. The lack of cushion and constant pounding was painful and bothered me for the latter half of the race.

Kudos to my roommate, Luke, who accomplished a huge feat of running 13.1 miles in under 2 hours! (1:56:40 to be exact) For someone who only ran 7.6 miles prior, he managed to throw together a very remarkable time.