So On (to) Wisconsin!!
The Preparation: So at least in preparation for this race I was able to get a full days of sleep. As I mentioned in my first post, my awesome friend Matt drove all the way to Wisconsin so I could relax and catch a few Zzzs. I'm glad he did too because driving through Chicago traffic may be one of the most annoying things ever. So I was definitely better rested for this race. As for running preparation, well, I did a few jogs this week. I'm not really sure how you "prepare" when you just sort of keep going... I know you aren't supposed to "race" this close together but I don't really run as fast as possible so I recover virtually immediately. It just feels like my long run for the week and to be honest I'm partially running all these half marathons so I keep a decent distance up prior to beginning my full marathon training schedule this fall. Anyways, we arrived early and had some time to check out the Dells. We grabbed dinner (well, what I guess was technically dinner but not too healthy nor appetizing to me) at a local cajun restaurant. This was on the recommendation of the owner of a cheese shop across the way. Moral of the story? Never trust cheese shop owners. I almost instantly had an upset stomach and woke up feeling miserable before the race. But we had fun anyways. We went to the local Ripley's Believe It or Not museum and had fun enjoying the cheesy (no pun intended) tourist trap that is the Dells.
Race Day: Waking up this time around was easy. I did have an upset stomach but in honor of the tradition I had an anatacid pill and a rice krispy treat only this time it was Prilosec and a marshmallow dream bar from Starbucks. Thankfully by the start of the race I was feeling better.
We woke up super early (5:30 AM) because I signed up for "day of" packet pick up and there was a warning that you had to pick it up between 5:30 and 6:45. Note that there was also a warning that this would only be available to the first few hundred that signed up for this service. As we drove into town I started to get a little nervous because there was NO ONE around. No sign of a race. Maybe a few cop cars but nothing convincing of a race to be taking place in an hour. Matt even asked me if I happened to have the date wrong. I didn't and thankfully the cops were there setting up for the race. After driving around a bit we FINALLY found where to pick up my packet. Whoever organized the race put the race timers in charge of this task and, although super nice, they had no idea what was going on with the packets. But it's okay I managed to get my bib and shirt (no other fun goodies this time). They hadn't put pins in the bags even, but the timers had some and they promised to wipe 10 minutes off my finishing time for all the hassle that morning ;-). I found out at this point that really there were less than 200 runners total (good thing I signed up early for day of packet pickup) which sort of explained the lack of any signs of a race...
Finally I saw several other runners and we found the start line (yay!). This time we weren't grouped by pace, so I just sort of headed to mid-pack. I was starting to feel really pumped at this point... until the woman behind me told another runner "you know this is a really hilly course" at which point I thought my famous last words of "how hilly could it be?"
The Race: The start wasn't quite as exciting as Cleveland. This might have something to do with the fact that there was nearly 1/100th of the number of people and the megaphone made the person announcing the start sound like the teacher from Peanuts. But we were off! The first few miles were great. I was running a 9:33 pace and I felt wonderful. The temperature was great and there were lots of fun things to look at. I passed a band around mile 1 and lots of spectators. I was thinking this was gonna be a nice, fun run... until I got to about mile 4. At mile 4 the race became super hilly, shadeless, spectator-less, bandless, and the scenery was simply farmland. Now don't get me wrong, it was pretty farmland, but with only 200 runners we were pretty spread out and the sun was quite hot. Add to this the fact that we were just running on roads and dealing with occasional cars (fumes), weird smells (smelled like sewage at times?), and not always the best running conditions (one part of the race was on a road that felt really banked, that was tricky. Another part of the road was covered in all kinds of sticks making it somewhat treacherous. Ok that may be an exaggeration but I definitely had to watch my step).
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| My phone randomly took this photo as a memoir of what I saw for 90% of this race. |
Most people walked up all of the hills (when will I ever learn?). One hill was at a 4% incline which is much harder to run than I imagined it was (I think the treadmills are liars). Somehow I still managed to keep a 10:30 pace through much of the race. Around mile 8 we circled around and began heading back on the "in" part of this out-and-in course. I must not have remembered how hilly it was on the "out" part because I texted Matt around mile 10 to let him know where I was at and he replied by saying something to the effect of "everyone here is saying miles 10-13 are very hilly". And he was absolutely right. Just when I thought the hills wouldn't stop there was another one. Even the last mile was somewhat uphill. I literally felt like I was dying the last 2 miles and thought maybe I'd just have to suck it up and walk but I didn't. In fact this race gave me my first taste of what I believe was someone trying to make sure they "beat me" to the finish. A woman kept looking back and seemed to be tracking where I was at. I noticed if I got within about 10 feet of her she would pick up her speed, or start running if she had been walking. However I made it to the end and even ended up passing her (I guess the hills just finally got to her!) thus completing race number 2!
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| After the race I had Matt drive the course so he could see how hilly it was. This photo doesn't do it justice. |
The Aftermath: The finish line wasn't nearly as exciting as Cleveland, but at least Matt managed to get my complete finish! (Why do I walk like a duck when I finish? Do I run normal? I guess it doesn't really matter...) I definitely did not end my race properly. I sat down immediately, didn't stretch, and didn't eat for another 3 hours. At least I hydrated. I chugged 2 bottles of water. I realized I must have majorly slowed down the last 3 miles. At mile 10 I figured if I ran a 12 minute pace for the last 3 miles I'd beat my Cleveland time - as it were I finished a few minutes slower which tells me I must have been basically walking at the end. However given the fact that this race was hotter, harder (hillier), and had way fewer spectators I would say that overall I ran much better. I kept a faster pace for most of the race and except for some side stitches in the beginning I felt pretty good throughout.
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| My Medal! (and t-shirt) Not as cool as Cleveland's but still a medal! |
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Megan Vessalo #146
2:31:59 (Pace: 11:36)
Song of the Race: "Michigan State Fight Song", Michigan State Marching Band (what? it got me pumped!)
Overall: OK. I really try not to complain about anything that people have put hard work into organizing. I am appreciative that there was a half marathon in a state local enough to drive to and it was overall a good race considering how small it was. However, I wouldn't necessarily recommend this race to other people. I might consider running the Dells again when the marathon is also going on just because I bet more people are around. But overall the organization of this race was just okay and with so few runners and spectators it sort of just felt like I decided to go out for a challenging run rather than run in an organized event. But it was mentally and physically challenging and I definitely felt accomplished when I finished. And I got another medal to add to the collection...
For more information on this race check it out HERE
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