Madison Mini Race Report

The abbreviated version:  I guess I took your advice to heart because I feel like I ran the best Madison Mini Marathon I was capable of running on August 21, 2010.  I finished in 1:53, four minutes off my PR, but given the temperature/humidity and course I'm very happy with the result.  I truly feel like I gave it my all and then some during the last mile, and what more can you ask for?

The long version:  It was warm this morning.  And humid.  I chose to park a little farther from the race start and had no problem finding a space.  I walked over to the race start, did the porta potty thing, and it was time to line up.  I stood just a tiny bit in front of the 1:50 sign (the eternal optimist).  The race started right on time.

Mile 1: 8:03.  A combination of adrenaline and downhill.
Mile 2: 8:04.  More downhill.  We ran down State St. during miles 1 and 2.  A group from the marching band was playing, and there was a big crowd cheering.
Mile 3: 8:27. That's more like it.  The course flattened out and went over a few hills.
Mile 4: 8:19.  Into the Arb.  This was the beginning, flat and easy part.
Mile 5: 8:28.  Still the flat and easy part of the Arb.
Mile 6: 8:49.  Getting into the hillier part.
Mile 7: 8:44.  Hilly Arb.
Mile 8: 8:20.  Turn into a neighborhood and start a looooooong downhill.  Saw Kerri's boyfriend who was waiting to cheer her on later.
Mile 9: 8:51. Some uphill some downhill.  Saw my bosses on one of the downhills.
Mile 10: 8:23.  On the UW campus in familiar territory.
Mile 11: 8:55.  Saw Daniel (this was right by our apartment).  Hitting the wall a little.  The yellow flag was out so I guess it was getting hot.
Mile 12: 8:59.  Um, yeah...
Mile 13: 9:10.  Basically it was all I could do to finish those last three miles.  I'd felt pretty good up to that point, but I was finally out of juice.

Finish time: 1:53 on the nose.  8:37 min/mile average pace.  I think that was pretty decent considering it was 70+ degrees at the start with 90% humidity on a somewhat hilly course where I stopped at every aid station for Gatorade/water (except the first).  I know that's a lot of qualifications, but it's my long way of saying that even though it wasn't a PR race, I feel happy with my performance.

I also want to give a shout out to Jessica, who finished her first race post-baby this morning, to Kerri, who can now wear her 13.1 Bondi Band with pride, and to Jamie, who finished a heartbreaking 43 hundredths of a second behind her sub-2 hour goal (I think it counts!), and to Linda and Heather, whose last names I'm not sure of so I was unable to look up your race results.

And now... since it's Saturday when I'm actually writing this... I'm going to relax.