great running

I know I missed several days there leading up to this past weekend, including this past weekend. I will attempt to bring y'all up to speed.

I ran Wednesday and Thursday with the thought in mind that I probably wouldn't have time to run on Friday the 23rd. Friday I got up early and drove to Madison, WI. Ok, Stoughton, WI really. That is where part of my family lives. It was the first trip I took to Wisconsin on my own since Finn has been born. Caleb and Finn stayed in Indiana to help our niece, Skye, celebrate her first birthday on Saturday. So I was livin' la vida loca. And by "la vida loca" I mean running a lot and sleeping as much as possible. I used to hit the bars and parties when I would come to Madison for visits....ahh how things have changed. I'm not saying I can't see it happen again, it's just different now for me and for all my friends. But I digress...

Friday I went to look at a few houses with my sister Makenna, parents and friend, Jessie. We found one I really like. Then we went to the Kohl Center to pick up my registration packet for the Crazylegs Classic. They had the timing chip embedded in the bib! That is so awesome, cuz I am always so worried that those timing chips are going to fall off my shoe no matter how many bread bag ties I use and how tight I wind them. I started getting really excited seeing all the other people that were picking up their packets. It made it more real. I checked out the route map they had posted in the Kohl Center. I hadn't seen the route until that moment. It was a great route: Starts at the Capitol Square, down Pinckney and then onto Wisconsin Ave up to Langdon, took Langdon past Frat Row and the Student Union, up to Observatory Drive, down by University Hospital, cut over to Old Univ, and then over to Camp Randall Stadium. Very hilly, but a beautiful route nonetheless. I had Chinese take out with my mom, Dewey, Makenna and my Grandma Parish. I went to bed early Friday night. No run.

I got up around 7amish. I wanted to eat a small breakfast and drink 2 cups of coffee before it got too close to the race. I have found that if I eat less than 2 hours before a race I am asking for trouble. I'm a big geek and I had picked out all my running clothes the night before. Only the tried and true and very comfortable for a race. Don't ever try to wear something, especially new running shoes, for a long distance race. You will be sorry. I did it once with very sore consequences.

I drove up to Madison separately from everyone else. I wanted to get to the square a little early to walk the Farmer's Market that opened only 2 weekends ago. Madison has the BEST Farmer's Market! Then I met my pal, Forrest, at Michelangelo's Coffeeshop. We ran Crazylegs together. We walked up to the Capitol Square where all the other Crazyleggers were lining up for the start of the race. I had never run in this race before but Forrest had. He told me that it would probably take 15-20 minutes after the race had started for us to even get to the starting line. I thought he was kidding. And this year it was even worse. There were over 20, 000 people running in this year's Crazylegs Classic. Unfortunately when I registered for the race they ask you what you expect to be your finishing time for the race. At the time I registered for this race, (sometime in February), I had no idea how fast I would be running by now. I wayyyy underestimated my finishing time. So I was in running heat PP (it goes A-Z then starts with double letters AA...). We didn't even see the start line until more than 45 minutes after the 8K (roughly 5 miles) race had started. You didn't read that incorrectly. So some people had already finished the race and were drinking their complimentary beers (you got 2 beers post race totally free along with awesome oranges and other snacks) before we even began the race. So funny. Next year I will predict I run a 5 minute mile by the way :)P

With that many people running it isn't a problem pacing oneself. You were literally tripping over people to pass them at first. It wasn't until the 3rd or 4th mile that it cleared out enough to safely and quickly pass people. Both Forrest and I wore our headphones. I took mine off around the 3 1/2 mile mark because there were more people on the sides of the streets cheering us on and blaring music from their apartments and homes. Once Forrest and I hit the 4 mile mark we really turned on the speed. One of the houses was playing "Eye of the Tiger" at volume 11. Hilarious! The end of the Crazylegs Classic is truly something to see. You run into Camp Randall Stadium where they play all the Big 10 Madison WI Badgers football games. They have the finish line on the 50 yard line. By the time we ran in a lot of the 20,000 runners/walkers and all their spectators were in the stands cheering us on. That is quite a feeling to have all those people greet and cheer on your completion of this race. Plus our friend, Kat, was hanging over the side of the entry way screaming our names. It was pretty cool. I think I had a permasmile when I crossed the finish line. Neither Forrest or I had our cell phones so finding my parents and Katrina was a little less than easy. We asked this other lost looking dude to borrow his cell phone. Thanks lost looking dude!