Black Earth 2011

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Today was the Fleet Feet Madison Birthday Brick.  Every year, Fleet Feet organizes a ride from their store to the Black Earth 10 and 2 mile and back.  The weather is consistently windy going out and tail wind coming back. 


Fleet Feet Van with everyone's belongings



Our bikes parked during the run

Because my legs were sore from soccer last night at Keva, I decided to only run the 2 mile this year.  It was a good choice.  Friends that did the 10 mile said it was the windest they could remember.  This run costs only $5.00 and leaves for the elementary school.  There is really only one turn on the whole course aside from the turnaround. 


Getting ready to race

The two mile was fun.  I went out hard with the tailwind and not knowing which runners were running only 2 with me.  It was definately a postive split.  After the turn at the one mile, I ran straight into the wind with no one to draft.  I looked behind me and saw a big gap which made it hard to run the second mile as fast as the first.  I ended up first overall-which if you know anything about this race is not real impressive.  All the fast runners do the 10 miler. 

It was fun as usual.  Ride out was windy but we pace lined most of it.  Ride back was a breeze and the cake at cupcakes waiting for us at Fleet Feet helped keep the pace brisk.  Great day. 

Centurian with Dave Scott's signature on it. 

Milwaukee Great Lakes Expo Run 5k

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My first running race of 2011 took place at the Great Lakes Multisport Expo.  There was a 5k and 10k and I chose to race the former.  Although it's winter, I have been doing a fair amount of swimming, biking, and running, mostly indoors.  The weather on race day was chilly but not too windy.  I felt pretty good although a bit tired from staying up late the night before with people we met at the expo including a man who was one of the original Hawaii Ironmen.  He had some great stories to share.

After jogging to the start line (about 1/2 mile from the Expo), I ran into my friend Bill who does a lot of races and recently beat me at the Madison Mud Run.  I told him I owe him one for the Mud Run and he shouldn't be surprised to get an elbow at the finish as I sprint past.  He smiled.

After the gun went off, I sat tucked in behind Bill for the entire race.  I know he is very good at pacing so I decided to run off his pace and then see if I could beat him at the end.  This worked well for most of the race.  Near the end, I saw a sign saying 3 miles.  I assumed it was for us and started to pick up the pace.  Turns out it was for the 10k course which shared the same route.  A little farther down I saw a second sign for 3 miles.  This was near where I expected the finish to be.  When I didn't see the finish, I felt like I sprinted too soon and couldn't hold my speed.  Bill ended up beating me by about 6 seconds. 

Overall, I finished first in my age group and 19th of about 420 runners.  Bill won his age group and both his mom and dad won their age group in the 70-79 year old categories.  What a cool family!  Great start to the year and hope to improve from here and redeem myself at the next race vs. Bill.  Now I have something to focus on when training.

MADISON MUD RUN

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When's the last time you crawled through a gigantic mud puddle? Up until this past weekend, it had been a while for me too. It's funny how people get older and stop doing the fun things we did as kids, even though they are still fun.




I can remember teaching fifth grade and leaving school one day after a big rain. A girl in my class noticed a huge muddy puddle and quickly ran home to get parental permission to take a flying leap into the puddle. After about three or four dives and slides in the mud she seemed much happier.

I noticed the same level of happiness and smiles on the faces of the runners at the Madison Mud Run at Badger Prairie this past weekend. Participants of all ages were forced to crawl through a mud pit that had been fire hosed for about 10 hours the day before. In addition, the race involved multiple tire obstacles, two five foot wooden wall climbs, and a 53 foot inflatable obstacle course with a ladder and slide.


THE INFLATABLE GETTING TESTED OUT BEFORE THE MUD RUN







The run itself was cross country style-wide start, grass surface, and was about 4.5 miles. I decided to run after helping set the course and borrowed some shoes and shorts to race. We started in a wide field and narrowed onto one of the trails. The multiple obstacles helped take my mind off of running and I couldn't keep the mud pit out of my mind during the race (kept looking forward to it). The mud pit is about 50 yds before the finish. The mud pit was water was really cold but crawling through the mud was a blast. It got a lot muddier as more people finished. Some people were covered from head to toe in mud and a lot of people who tried to stand up early tripped on the flags and went face first into the mud. See pics below. This was a great non-traditional race. Many people raced as teams and there was a huge variety of ages racing. I ended up 10th of 474. If you get the chance, I highly reccomend racing the next one on Halloween.

CRAZY LEGS 2010

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This year's crazy legs had record attendance with 20,000+ runners and walkers. The weather was much better than last year's pouring rain. The race was a blast. From high fiving the UW athletes leading up to the start to observatory hill, to the finish through the gate at Camp Randall- this race is definately unique. Too bad my time was 1:01 slower than last year even without the rain. Ended up 198 out of over 10,000 runners.

CRAZYLEGS 5 MILE

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Date: April 25, 2009
Weather: lot's of heavy rain
Number of runners/walkers-18,500
Location-Madison Capitol to Camp Randall

This was my first time running the Crazy legs race. I had heard that it was very fun and had a great turn out. The weather was not helpful. It was raining off and on when I woke up and on the drive to the race. It was kind of funny to see all of the runners huddled together under building overheads to stay dry. Fortunately we had garbage bags on and didn't mind the rain as much. A lot of runners must have been waiting in cars because up until about 5 minutes to race start, the area was not very busy.

This race is neat because they organize everyone into heats based on best prior time. Since I hadn't raced it before the best heat I could get in was group D the 36 minute group. This made it interesting because my rival and brother, Ryan, was in group C leaving about 30 secs in front of me.

The volunteers at the race start were very helpful and had a lot of positive energy despite the nasty weather. Near the start, a lot of Wisconsin football players and basketball players were directing everyone and handing out high fives and positive words.

At start time, it was mostly misting. The race starts with a nice decent and good crowds on the sides so everyone takes off fast. Although there were a ton of runners, it wasn't bad because most ran the same pace and the roads were wide enough to accomodate.

Just as we got to Observatory hill, it started to pour hard, large, raindrops. Most people didn't mind because we were already wet. The rain kept up the rest of the race and day. Throughout the course were large puddles that some runners tried to go around and others went straight through. It was pretty fun running in the rain.

Just before the turnaround at 3 miles I noticed a familiar jersey in front of me making the corner-bro Ryan. I was surprised to have caught him and decided to hide alongside others in the hope he wouldn't see me. It worked. After turning around, I spent a good mile closing and caught up to him mostly.

About a mile from the finish Ryan had caught Cinndi, a friend and they seemed to be picking up the pace to race with each other. I slowly caught up and passed Cindi who told me Ryan was just in front.

Since I hadn't raced this one before I didn't know where the finish was and didn't want to get out sprinted-I wanted to keep surprise on my side. We climbed one last hill and made a corner to the stadium. I saw the finish and a ramp leading into the stadium. I timed it perfectly so that I blew by Ryan just before the finish and he didn't have time to react. It was quite fun to finish that way.

After the race it was great watching all the runners and walkers coming into the stadium. You can hang out in the stands and listen to the announcer and watch the stadium fill up with people whilst having a cold one.

Overall-great fun race. Time was about 30:30 which I am very happy with considering the race condish.

Black Earth 10 mile

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My sweet Bottecchia between ride and run.

Early spring in Black Earth Wisconsin

PHOTO OF STEVE DONOVAN ON RIDE HOME

PHOTO OF RYAN G AFTER THE RUN

Weather: about 50 and partly sunny
Wind: not much on the run course
Total distance: 10 miles running and about 30 miles biking
Time for the race: 1:07:39
Best part of the day: the scenery on the bike and beating my big bro in the run

This morning I raced the Black Earth 10 mile. Since it was Fleet Feet Madison's birthday and the weather was cooperative, a group of people decided to bike to the race and back from Fleet Feet.

I began the morning helping set up the finish for the Madison 50k at the Arb. Then it was on to the coffee shop in Verona for some coffee. It didn't take long to decide on which coffee I wanted when I noticed a roast called "Bike Fuel."

Ryan (bro) and I headed to Fleet Feet where we met about 10 other bicyclists. Everyone was in good spirits because the weather was pretty nice and most of us had not been on the bike outside in a while.

The ride to Black Earth was perfect. We rode as a group most of the way and enjoyed the nice descents and scenery. The grass is begining its turn to green, we biked past a narrow stream (about 3-4 feet wide) that looked great for trout, and only saw about 5 or less cars the entire ride. This is one of my favorite things about riding on these roads. Having spent the last 3.5 years in San Diego, I will always appreciate biking on roads with minimal cars. Although a few times some riders took off, the ride was mellow with most people staying together and having good conversation.

After arrival we had about 40 mins to get ready-I chose to play a little soccer in the school gym whilst we waited.

At 10, the run started with about 100 people racing. Most of my group started around mid pack. The first 2-4 miles were enjoyable with some chatting between racers and everyone in a good mood. My brother Ryan was near me as we are almost always running the same pace. It has been great fun the last six months racing with Ryan again and pushing each other. Our last race was in January at the multisport Expo where he outran me by about 15 seconds.

After a nice 4 miles or so, people began working and as always happens, the run went from fun and discussion to fighting to hold my place. My breathing was pretty fast and loud-maybe from the bike ride in. I tried to relax and just stay behind Ryan. He seemed to have a lot more energy so my strategy was to stay behind him (and use him to draft) as long as possible and see what happened at the end. Also running in our group of three was Lisa, who had a great race.

At about mile 6, we got passed by two men and Ryan decided to speed up and join them. There was a slight headwind and it made a difference to draft on the second half. I didn't think Ryan could hang with the two so I let him go and figured I would see him later. He must have felt the same because about 30 seconds later he slowed down and Lisa and I joined him again. Ryan continued to pull until just after mile 7 when I figured he was tired and tried to pass him.

I passed him and sped up just enough to change the pace and hopefully max Ryan out who had lead the whole race so far (out of our group). I didn't want to look weak so I didn't look back. I figured he would catch me eventually but I wanted to make him work for it. With about a mile left I looked back and noticed a decent lead. This was a mistake because it made it hard to keep pushing the pace when I knew I had a good lead. I ran the last mile at about 8:30 and felt spent.

I ended up finishing 107:39 a small amount ahead of Ryan and Lisa. The group rested about 30 mins and rode back to Fleet Feet which was about twice as hard on the way back because of headwinds, the race, and 4 big hills that we decended on the way out. Overall it was a great day and I earned my afternoon nap.

Shamrock Shuffle

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As the result of a long lasting flu, I didn't run in this race. However, I did help set up the race course with Race Day Events-putting out cones, measuring the mileage etc. I also got some great photos of the race. The Best part of this race is the bagpipers who play before the race and on the gigantic hill that runners must climb.

It was a beautiful spring Wisconsin day. Sunny and about 60 degrees. The race turnout was huge (see photos) and everyone seemed to enjoy the course and weather. The race course includes a nice climb up Observatory Drive about one mile in and again just before the finish.

A post race party was held at State Street brats with most people prefering the outside dining areas to get some early spring sun.

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