Sunday, July 28, 2013

Capitol Mile

The Capitol Mile is put on by the Wisconsin Track Club.  You run 1.75 loops around the square for a net downhill course. They run 7 different "heats": Elite Women's, Elite Men's, Girls Youth, Boys Youth, Open Women's, Open Men's, and Masters. 

I hemmed and hawed about running this race.  I was downtown at Barrique's working when Barry stopped by around 3:30 asking if I was going to run my division of Open Women's at 4:15.  I had all my running gear in the car with me, but I couldn't decide if I felt like running a mile.  At 3:50, I decided to do it.  I grabbed my stuff, quickly changed and met him down at registration.  Because I hadn't decided to run this, I didn't plan my food intake particularly well.  I ate lunch at about 3pm, and I certainly felt it midway through the race.

There were only 7 of us in the Open Women's division.  It was incredibly small and somewhat amusing at the start when none of us wanted to be right at the starting line, asking each other if they want to be ahead.  This is very different than the Boys Youth group all jostling each other at the start line.

The last time I ran a mile and just a mile was back in high school when I was 15.  The fastest I've ever ran it then was at 8:00.  So I had no idea how to pace myself during this race.  I figured one mile, no big deal, I'll just go all out.  About 200 meters in, I'm running third in the pack and thinking to myself, "holy shit, I'm not this fast."  I pull back.  I turn a few corners and I'm climbing the hill back toward where we started.  Halfway up this hill, I hit the 1/2 mile marker and someone shouts 3:22.  Whoa, still way too fast.  And sure enough, I feel myself lose all gas at this point and some of that lunch shifting itself upwards.  The second half mile, people are passing me left and right, but I've little choice in the matter and nothing left to sprint with at the end.  I come in last.  Still, I finished it at 7:30 for a PR. 

Movin' Shoes Full Moon 5k

"Hot" black shirt.
 We were blessed with a cold spell this last week.  Temperatures dropped to the 70s during the day, and it was often cool enough at night to wish for a light jacket.  These was amazing temperatures for mid-July races.

The Full Moon 5k is put on by the Madison running shoe store, Movin' Shoes.  I've bought the last 4 pairs of running shoes there.  The shoe store puts on a number of races throughout the year including a Frosty 5k and a Elver Park 5k, but this is the first of their races that I've been to.  The race is limited to a field of 500 runners, which is plenty so that I was never alone on the course, but I also never felt crowded.  At only $20 race registration with technical shirt, blinking light and chip timing at the finish, this race is a much better choice in my opinion than the Electric Run.

The race starts at 9pm on a Thursday with packet pick-up over at Olin Park, which is actually about 3/4 mile from the start.  Barry and I parked down there, picked up our packets and t-shirts, hid from the storm cloud for about 20 minutes before we had a nice warm-up to the start.  I debated back and forth about a rain jacket.  There was a looming storm cloud that may or may not hit us, but when the rain never quite materialized before the start, I didn't bother.  It was just a bit too warm for a jacket anyway.  I did wear a hat to keep raindrops out of my eyes just in case.

By 9pm, the sun has set in Madison, and it's fairly dark.  Barry warned me of the speed bumps on the course with stories of when he tripped over one and then finished the race with blood dripping from his elbow.  The race directors provided us with blinking lights to attach to our persons, which I appreciated, but this I also left behind with the rain jacket.  It was darker than I had expected but the race directors lighted the course with blinking lights in the parts where street lights were lacking.

The course itself is beautiful.  We start on the west side of Monona Bay and run around it to Brittingham Park, cutting over to John Nolen and then back down to Olin Park for the finish.  Everybody who's ever lived in Madison knows that the drive around Monona Bay has some amazing views of the Madison Capitol and the skyline, especially at night in the summer when the bay glitters with the reflections of the lights.  The course takes us right toward and past this view.  These kinds of courses were designed as a love letter to Madison. 

Monday, July 22, 2013

Bugline Recreational Trail

This post would be more interesting if it were punctuated by some photos, but I don't run with a phone, so no photos.

I was in Milwaukee this weekend and decided that after weeks of training on the treadmill, it was time to take it on the road.  We had a bit of relief from the heat this weekend: only high 80s as opposed to high 90s.  The Bugline Recreational Trail is in Waukesha County, but the start of it is pretty close to Milwaukee County Line.  I started actually about a mile in on the trail.  It's a gravel stone path with some road crossings.  Every mile was marked with a sign next to a wooden bench.  The path is mostly tree-lined, though there were a few areas where I was under the blazing sun.  I tried to run faster past those areas. Between the mile 3 and mile 4 marker was this stone quarry just beyond the bushes on either side of the path.  The quarry was no longer in use and had this beautifully blue quarry pond.  It was completely unexpected and I was reluctant to turn around about a half mile past the mile 4 marker because I wanted to see what else laid on this path.

I was on the treadmill for most of the last few weeks because of my knee and left foot, and I think the time on the bouncier treadmill surface helped.  I didn't feel any pain on my run.  I was not, however, adjusted to the heat and humidity.  All told, I ran about 7 miles in 1 hour and 15 minutes or so.  My shoes picked up a nice selection of rocks. 
  

Monday, July 15, 2013

Mineral Point Historical Run

I meant to write this post about the Mineral Point Historical Run that happened on the Fourth of July earlier, but I got started and then I sort of just forgot. So I'll do my best to recap.

I wasn't feeling the run at all on the morning of the Fourth. I slept late the previous night and got woken up much too early by chirping birds. Only about 3.5 hours of sleep before Barry picked me up at 6:30am. In my hazy not quite awake state, I managed to put on the proper clothes, but forgot to apply sun block or bring a hat. This was a mistake for July. At first I wasn't too worried since it's only a 5 mile run. I figured 50 minutes in the morning sun shouldn't be too bad. Nope, felt that sun beating down on me about 25 minutes into the run, and I started worry about sun burn.

I had been warned that it'd be a hilly course, but I thought it'd be good training. Unfortunately, only about a mile into the race, I started getting cramps. I began walking knowing that that was the only way I could expect to continue, but then I was kind of just done with the race. I just didn't want to run anymore. Eventually, I manage to convince myself to start running again, and I aimed to just pace with the people around me. By this point, there were very very few people around me.

In most races, I'm usually middle of the pack. I've never been far back enough or in races small enough where I needed to actually pay attention to the route markers. The Mineral Point Historical Run had two events, a 2 mile and a 5 mile. The 2 miler had about 150 participants, but the 5 miler only had about 80. I was occasionally in view of a couple of people, but when corners were quickly turned in succession, I had to follow the route markers or I'd be completely off course.

I came in 52:57, which is still under an 11 minute pace, but puts me in 77 out of 80 people. Poor showing, but I can't complain when I walked nearly half of the course. After the race, I went to bbqs and enjoyed good food with little guilt.

The Mineral Point Historical Run is a very small town race. We didn't even have bibs, just our name written on a slip of paper tucked into a ziplock bag, pinned to our shirts. Registration was expensive for what it was with the lack of food at the end, but it benefits the local Chamber of Commerce.