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.