Rachel and I were hemming and hawing about what to do to celebrate our summer birthdays and decided to go back to our roots (the day we met, we ran 31 miles together), and run a half marathon!
Rachel lives near Madison, has done the Mini-Marathon before and liked it, and it was the day after her birthday. Perfect!
We signed up, and I did NO research about the race, beyond looking up packet pickup times on Friday night, and what time the race started. Rachel knew where to go to get our packets, and where the race started, and that was all I needed to know. Ha, I didn’t know where the course went, if it was hilly, what the aid stations were like, or even what the weather was going to be like (until I woke up that morning).
All that is not to make me sound like an unprepared a-hole, just to point out that beyond crucial logistics (how do I get my bib, where do I go) I didn’t really care about the details because I was just there to have fun running and chatting with Rachel!
And we did! As we do!
We stayed at a hotel near race start and got in to our (surprisingly not filled-yet) corral ten minutes before the start. We ran in to two people Rachel knew walking to the start, which was fun (and a theme of the day)! They had a local a capella men’s group do a beautiful rendition of the national anthem, and we were off, at 7:00 am. It was sunny, 62°, with 100% humidity, and a dew point of 62° when we started. Really, NOT bad for August!
We started by running up an incline toward the capitol building – which is a view I enjoy! – then ran around downtown, through parts of the arboretum, around campus, and toward the lake. Again… I didn’t pay much attention to the course map (I did look for different Buckys on Parade though, you can see one in the photo with us wearing our medals below!)!
We wore “birthday princess” sashes and crowns, cause why not? And that ended up being A LOT of fun – we got so many “happy birthdays!” a lot of “is it really your birthday?” (um… yeah, close enough) and several “is it really both of your birthdays?!” (yes, sure… we’re both Leos?). The crown didn’t move at all, and once I was covered in sweat (by mile .5) the sash stuck to my shoulder perfectly. Ha.
It WAS definitely humid. I could see it in how soaked everyone was (and not just from the sprinklers)! And feel it in my socks! But whatever. It’s August. I felt great, minus needing a bathroom stop in the middle of the race (and feeling like I pulled a chest muscle wiping, what the heck, Kim). And it actually became overcast during the end of the run! Which was AMAZING, and helped us finish strong! When we finished, it was 68°, with 93% humidity, with a dew point of 68°. We finished in 2:20:50 (with our last two miles being the fastest). I was thinking we’d finish around 2:20!
And we did just chat and catch up the whole time! I think Rachel said someone asked her why we didn’t sign up for the 5K (because we hadn’t been specifically training for a half). Well, there is a lot less talk time during a 5K, silly! This is what Rachel and I do – run and talk! And I loved it! We kept saying how nice it was to be doing a race for fun, with no pressure, and no care if it was hot, or we needed to run slower, or walk through water stations or whatever. Not to imply we are always going for fast times and PRs – we aren’t. We know how to have fun – I guess we just like to talk about how grateful we are for it. So, yay! This was the third race I’ve run with Rachel this year! If we don’t fit another in, I know we’ll for sure be meeting for some runs.
A few other thoughts!
- Rachel saw so many people she knew – before, during, and after the race. Fun!
- I had my first post race beer ever, at the post-race party! (I drank about half of it, ha)
- The race had free photos AND had them up within several hours. How cool is that?
- There were SO many aid stations (sometimes, two within what seemed like a mile) and they had fun themes. I enjoyed that. We walked through most of them. (I also enjoyed that)
- The course seemed really flat for Madison.
- I love the race shirt!
- I actually got a few things at the expo for once. And the expo was super simple to get in and out of, yay.
- I definitely thought the race was well organized, and fun. I’d recommend it! Just make sure you get the overcast finish if you run it!
I love your birthday outfits! And free photos? How awesome is that?! The weather really cooperated, too. Sounds like a great day!
Thanks! I know! I love when races do that, and am really impressed they have them up so fast!
Congrats on a super fun race! You guys looked super cute in the sash and crowns too. I love that there are Buckeys in the city to find. And whoa! A post run beer!? Did you like it? What kind was it?
Thank you! It was fun to see the Buckys! I wonder how many the Ironman participants will see!
It was okay! Some light beer from Wisconsin Brewing Company. I told Rachel the good thing about me drinking beer is that it’s not an acquired taste at all so I drink it so slow!
You two look like you’re having so much fun! No pressure, all fun – sounds like a great race experience and a perfect way to celebrate your birthdays!
It was! And I am glad the sun or really hot temps didn’t make it challenging!
Thank you for the awesome weekend! I love running with you and chatting!
I read your 50k recap again – awwwww what a great day!
You are welcome! Thanks for showing me around Madison!
Right?! And it was 2012! LOL. Will we remember?
I love the t-shirt and the medal. Glad you guys had so much fun. What a lovely way to celebrate birthdays and friendship!
100% humidity..you could just scrap me off the floor after a few miles lol. What is the weird dissected alien/animal thing you are posing with?
It was!
It’s Bucky – the university mascot. There’s 85 statues around town, designed by over 60 artists! They’re being auctioned off in a few months, I think.
Sounds like you guys had a great time! I love the sashes and tiaras for a birthday race.
We did! Thanks! I recommend it – it was such a blast!
How did you guys not chafe from wearing a sash for 13.1 miles? Color me impressed! Glad you had such a great time together. 🙂
Ha! I don’t know! I didn’t even put body glide there!
What a fun way to celebrate your birthdays! Your enjoyment of your time together totally comes through in this post 🙂 I was going to ask how it was running with a sash – sounds like it was a lot better than I would’ve anticipated! I’m glad you had fun 🙂 That shirt is great! It would definitely be a part of my Saturday t-shirt rotation if I had run the race 🙂
At first the sash was flapping all over and we thought we were going to have to ditch them! But once we got sweaty, they stuck on nice. Later we said we should have pinned them down!
It’s so comfy too! I wore it Sunday. And Monday. Shh 😉
I love that you planned to have a fun race and then had so much fun with Rachel. It was such a cool and meaningful way to celebrate together! Reading this almost made me want to start running again to have those long runs and conversations with a friend.
We really did enjoy celebrating this way! Do any of your friends there run? Or any of your friends around the globe? It is a really fun way to chat because the conversation has almost your undivided attention!