Crazylegs 2013

I saw this on a website and I found it amusing. 

Yeah, today was that kind of a day.

I said last year that I didn't know if I'd run Crazylegs again, but nearly every runner I know runs Crazylegs.  It's hard to not join in on the fun.  Plus, there aren't any other races in Madison when Crazylegs is happening.  It is a nearly 20,000 runner race and it draws some of the fastest runners in Wisconsin.  I felt like I had an easier time navigating the course this year than last year.  I thought at first that maybe there were less runners on the course, but Barry pointed out that I was a more seasoned racer and navigating is perhaps easier with experience.  I was still annoyed with those running more than two abreast though. 

Wave Y this year.  Last year I was wave X.

It was warm at the start, about 54 degrees when I left the house and since I was in wave Y, it quickly warmed to the high 60s by the time I started running down Wisconsin Avenue.  I started feeling energized and I was among the first of my wave to get on Wisconsin Avenue.  I ran the first mile in 8 minutes according to the clock.  I even made it up Bascom Hill, but I started to have the familiar feelings that told me this race would quickly go downhill.  Cramps set in after I made it down past Charter St, and I started walking.  I knew that if I pushed it, I'd regret it.  I'd end up on the side of the road, trying to not faint.  I was ready to just walk the whole damn thing. The pain subsided by the time I hit the mile 2 marker, so I started running again slowly.  Mile 2 split was 12 minutes.  I'm averaging 10 minute miles, which I figured isn't horrible, but was a far, far cry from last week's 8:41/mile pace.  I thought I'd just try and maintain this pace, get under 50 minutes and call it a day.

My first Crazy Legs

Crazy Legs is a zoo.

There are tons of people running the 8k race, a good portion of them in costumes, a rocky theme at the 4 mile mark and beer handed out at the end.  It's a race, but one that people seem to do just for the hell out of it.  It was quite different from the Black Earth 10 mile race, which consisted of regular racers, only about 200 people, and minimal hoopla.

The weather sucked on Saturday.  It was in the 30s with rain and biting wind.  As I lined up waiting for my wave to start, I jumped up and down to stay warmed up and watched as the light rain wavered on the verge of becoming icy hail.  I had zero motivation to run Saturday morning.  I was certain that I'd run this 8k as slow as possible.  I had registered as running it in 45 minutes, feeling that that's an optimistic estimate given my Black Earth performance at the turnaround.  I was certain while stretching in the US Bank Plaza that I'd run it in about 55 minutes and thought about moving back in the wave.  Who really wants to watch everybody else pass you anyway?  But I didn't, mostly because the weather was so terrible just standing and waiting that I wanted to get running as quickly as possible.  Truth be told though, I thought about just not running altogether.  I swore up and down that this would be the last Crazy Legs.