NEW YEAR'S DAY DASH

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This run took place at Quaker steak and Lube in Middleton on Jan 1. I was not sure if I was going to race, or help out as a volunteer. Then , my mind got made up real quick. I was offered to race in the Quaker Chicken Suit. After being told the chicken record was a 42 I knew I was meant to race on this day.

I donned the suit and ran the one mile kids race as a warm up. Got beat by a few kids. Ran about 6:30. The suit was nice and warm in the cold weather, but it forces you to rebreathe the same air over and over and made me feel tired faster.

I started the 5 mile near the back and started slow. After about the first half mile I started passing people and working towards a new chicken record. In the beginning people were laughing and liked the chicken but near the end, no one wanted to lose to the chicken. In a similar race report, I found this quote from one of the runners: "Mile 4 wasn't so bad, but mile five was dead into the wind, and it felt like the wind had picked up. It was miserable. I saw chicken guy falling apart a bit up ahead, and decided that I had no business losing to that son of a b1tch. So I didn't. I passed him in the last half mile.

I remember speeding up to try to drop this guy but my large head acted as a parachute. I enjoyed the race and had a lot of fun meeting all of the other runners after the race. There were some very fast runners at the front including the girl's assistant cc coach at UW who ran around 6 flat miles.

And it was a new Chicken record. 38:53. Thanks to Race Day Events, Fleet Feet, and Quaker Steak for a great New Year's Day.

Snow Fun Run

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This race was at the old Playboy club in Lake Geneva. It's a 5 miler. The weather/sky was dark and dreary. It was seriously cold at the start and very windy. Picture lot's of runners gathering around each other, trees, small buildings etc. to get out of the wind. The race is not chip timed so those who start near the back are at a disadvantage.

The race started with a gun and everyone was anxious to get moving to warm up. I started too far back and had a slow first mile (6:50) and was passing a lot for the first mile or two and trying to get a good draft off my brother Ryan. The roads were wide, no ice, and very little traffic. Because of the temps- the only non-volunteer spectators were at the finish near the hotel.

After hill leading up to the turnaround, the wind was mostly at our backs and everyone had settled in to their paces. I tried hard to close the gap and draft some more off my brother, but it wasn't happening, and instead I got stuck all by myself for the second half-and watched a nice pack in front of me that was out of reach.

This was my first time at this race, and I didn't realize how long the hill was just before the finish. As I was climbing (and struggling to breathe) I heard cheers for my friend from Sheboygan (and past sausage dance champion) beyond me. I had finished just in front of her at the Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving and hoped to do it again. After cresting the hill, there is a nice decent along the hotel and into the finish. I finished strong and didn't get passed.

Overall, it was a nice winter race and I finshied about 33 minutes and about 1 minute behind Ryan. The party afterwards was great, Ryan got first in his age and a pic with the bunnies, and the Sausage dance champ got second in the dance this year. (See pics above).

Overall it was a great race