Crazylegs Classic - Run8k

I should be happy as I went 1:31 better than last year. That said, I know I could have gone faster (see below). My plan per coach Mark was to treat the first mile as a warm up, run consistant, and save it so the last mile was the fastest. The first mile did not feel like 7:37, I was totally surprized to come up on the marker as fast as I did. Felt awesome. Second mile I held back a bit and still felt good even though it contains a pretty good hill. (race highlite was what I think was a father-son pair at the top of the hill, dad yelling at son telling him to keep running, son walking and as I passed starting to dry heave) As soon as I hit marker 3, I was feeling beat. Not dehydrated, not tired, but beat. The goal of going faster than I did last year kept me going in this race in spite of my legs feeling tired and feeling unenergetic. I was running hard for mile three, backed off the effort a bit in mile four when I saw my HR in the 190's, and the last mile got everything I had.

Remember to bring a gu and bottle of water to take 15 minutes before the start. Not have two beers the night before, not stay up until 1:30 a.m. the night before.

Walked around on the field in Camp Randall until my HR got to the 130's, then got an orange, banana, and a few bottles of water. Stretched and went to meet up with friends.


Made some choices that didn't help with the run and forgot to bring gu to the start line. As for the choices, I was with the GF in Lake Geneve for the weekend, where she was a guest of honor at a Rotary convention and was giving a presentation on her trip to Brazil on behalf of the Rotary. Stayed up too late socializing with the significant others of her travel partners while the GF worked with her fellow travelers to prepare their presentation. Didn't want to be antisocial so I hung out with them instead of going to bed. I turned down many a beer but allowed myself a couple. I drank lots of water during the day and after the beers so I don't think I was dehydrated, but definately could have benefitted from more rest.

As for the gu issue, don't know how much this actually effected me as this isn't a particularly long race. It was part of my plan though so mentally this threw me a bit.


Fun race. Over 15k participants this year. Easy check in, only hassle is checking in one place, starting another, and finishing in a third. Probably walked another 3 miles due to this. The weather was fantastic, sunny and warm, mild winds. The band this year, The Mighty Short Bus, was awesome. Great party in Camp Randal after the race, including free beer. Had a couple and again that probably wasn't a great idea as it probably contributed to the headache I had a few hours later (I drank three bottles of water before beer though!).

Not an A race for me so I'm not bummed about it but I know that the social stuff going on this weekend impacted my performance. Was hoping to finish strong but I'll have to keep working on the mental aspect of my racing too.