Cindy Lou: Madison Mini Marathon

The big day, what I've been training for! I woke up at 5AM and got ready for the half marathon run. I made sure I filled all my water bottles for my belt pack, packed some snacks for during and after the run, had my iPod fully charged, got my ID for the beer after the run, grabbed my knee strap and woke Joshua up to take me downtown.

I was in the groove, concentrating and focusing to stay calm and not let the adrenaline overtake my body. We get into the downtown area and get stuck waiting to turn to get to the parking lot when...SH*T!!! I forgot my bib number!!! What to do?!? It's 6:35 and the race starts promptly at 7. Joshua tells me to get out of the car and talk to the race officials to see if there's anything I could do and he goes back to our apt which is about 20 minutes away to get my bib.

One person I talked to said there was nothing she could do for me, that maybe I could run unofficially but I could be pulled off the course if someone saw me running without a bib number. She kindly lets me use her phone to call Joshua to get an update of where he was and he was just getting to our apartment and it was 6:45. There was no way he was going to make it back in time. Now I'm freaking out! I made sure to have everything that morning except for the bib number. I'm such a dummy!

The woman calls me over to her after she had been on the phone with someone and she tells me that the timing officials by the finish line may have extra bibs. I run over there and find that others are getting an "extra" bib number. I tell the official that I was an idiot and forgot my bib number and she nonchalantly took my information down and handed me a bib number. Just like that. Phew!

I run back to get into my time group and on the way there, I ran into a softball teammate who was there watching his girlfriend run the 5k. I use his phone to tell Joshua what happened so he wouldn't worry. 2 minutes to start time. I run down the street looking for my time group when the gun goes off. Crap...I'm stuck in the 2:40 pack (how long you think it will take you to run) when I was shooting to start with the 2:15 group. So not only am I in the wrong pack, I never got to stretch my body out. And during races, I like to stretch for at least 20 minutes if not more.

Let's backtrack to 3 weeks ago. As you know, my knee acts up due to an old injury. Well, 3 weeks prior to the race, I tripped up the stairs and re-injured my knee. Because of that, I wasn't able to run as much nor as far as I wanted to during those last few training weeks. I was not as prepared as I wanted to be for the half marathon.

However much my knee was killing me, the first 5 miles were AMAZING! We ran down Langdon Street aka frat row to the Capitol down State Street aka the main street of Madison then to the Arboretum. The Arboretum was lonnnnnnng. And that's when I started seeing people down on the ground. And that's when I had to stop and walk. I wanted to reach 6 miles before walking but only made it to 5. Miles 5 through 8 are a bit hazy. All I remember was that Joshua was at mile 8 to cheer me on!!! That brought a smile to my face and I got a burst of energy after that.

My energy came back down 1 mile later. After the Arb, we ran towards Picnic Point. This was where the turnaround was. Let me tell you, watching people run the other way when you still have to reach the turnaround point IS NOT FUN!! I think it was only a 3/4 mile to the turnaround point but it was the longest 3/4 of a mile I've ever ran. Then when we got to the turnaround point, we had to run the 3/4 miles back again. But now we knew the end was in sight. Only 2 miles to go. We got to run the Lake Shore path by the college dorms. That was bittersweet because I used to walk/run that path when I was in college and living in the those dorms.

There was this older guy that I ended up running with on the Lake Shore path which was nice. I would run in front of him then he would and this went back and forth for awhile then finally he slowed his pace way down and then I didn't see him with a 1/2 mile left. I knew how close I was just by looking to see what building was on my right. I knew that when I saw the library building, the finish line would be right around the corner. When I finally saw the library, I picked up my pace. Oh goodie, just in time to round the corner and go up an incline and I guess that was where Joshua was to cheer me on again but I never saw him. I was focused on the incline then rounding another corner to sprint to the finish line.

2 blocks away from the finish, I was discouraged because I saw the time at 2:16 or something like that and I wanted to finish in less then 2:15. I then look down to my watch and saw 2:13;15. Oh yeah, I did start a few minutes later than the actual gun time. I can still make my goal. I sprinted like I never sprinted before and crossed the finish line at 2:13;42...13.1 miles later. Ahhhh....I feel like throwing up.

Great job Cindy! Aw crap, I never got a meeting spot with Joshua because of the whole fiasco earlier that day. I walked around in hopes of randomly seeing him. I ended up borrowing someone's phone and got ahold of Joshua. He was inside the building, the one place I didn't check. We reunited and he gave me a big kiss and a hug.

After the race, we were suppose to meet a friend who was also running in the race but got the meeting place wrong. But we still hung around the Terrace by the lake. I got my free beer...yay! But I couldn't even drink it. I had 4 sips and that was it. I was starving but same thing, I couldn't eat. I forced myself to eat a burger that Joshua had bought just because I knew I was in the negative for calories after running.

All in all, it was a great day. A bit humid for running but it was cloudy all morning so at least the sun wasn't out to make it even hotter. I did the best I could with a bum knee and even accomplished my under 2:15 goal. I definitely want to do this again next year and I'm hoping that I'll be 100% better to beat my time. If so, I'll be shooting for under 2 hours to finish.