Beautiful 50 degree weather at the start this morning for the Mini-Marathon. Too bad, I had a bothersome ankle that now post-race is developing into an ugly bruise. I thought about dropping out of the race at about mile 6. I didn't want to exacerbate an injury that might prevent me from someday running a full marathon. At mile 7, either the pain has numbed feeling in the ankle or it's subsided, but I no longer felt pain with every step. I get in a couple of good miles and then the pain comes back in and out for the remaining race. Somehow, I finished, and even managed to have exactly the results I expected though not hoped for.
Split times:
5 mile- 44:32
10 mile- 1:35:17
Last 5k- 29:29
Finish- 2:04:45
Overall pace- 9:32
The Madison Mini-Marathon is an excellent half marathon course. There were more than enough aid stations for the weather, and presumably just the right amount if we had had more usual August temperatures. The first couple aid stations were a bit far between, but by mile 4, there were aid stations pretty much every 1-1.5 miles. I hit every one at the beginning and then skipped a few toward the end.
The course itself is beautiful. It hits all the highlights of Madison. We start and end at the Memorial Union, run up Langdon, do a side of the Capitol square, getting a nice view of the Farmer's market, cut down on State Street, go by and around the Kohl Center. Then we run toward and by Union South, get a glimpse of Camp Randall as we head toward the Henry Vilas Zoo. A loop through the Arboretum, then straight to Picnic Point and finishing the last 1.5 miles along the Lakeshore Path, with a terrace post-party.
Other than the short bit by the Vilas Zoo along Lake Wingra, most of the course was nicely shaded. For a half marathon, the Mini-Marathon course is better than the Madison Half Marathon. Overall though, it's also a better organized race: the plentiful aid stations, the corralled start and the pace groups coming out well before the start of the race.
No comments:
Post a Comment