Thursday, October 26, 2017

Our Wisconsin Weekend & The Haunted Hustle 10K Race Recap

This past weekend, Harry and I hit up the state to our north, the land of beer, cheese, and Packers fans for the Haunted Hustle!

Saturday morning, we head out to a trail that was a few minutes away from our hotel for a shakeout run.  Wisconsin never disappoints when it comes to running/walking trails!


There was a Little Free Library at the trailhead, and I saw some pretty good reads in there!  Can you spy a Matt Fitzgerald book?:)


We took off and settled into a good pace.  It was actually quite warm at this point (ehhhh, 75*F or so).  I don't know about you, but it's been a little aggravating seeing so many gorgeous fall colors happening and no cool weather to pair it.:\


I.e.


I had one more mile on the agenda than Harry, so I took a different route after we hit his mileage.  This trail had planks the whole way.



Kinda beautiful.


Without hesitation, we hit up a pub in Madison for a burger...


...and fried cheeeese curds!<3


I need this sign in my life.


ohmygosh@my burger.  It was so stinkin' good.


Harry's was pretty legit, too.

Also, I love how we could care less about whether or not we offend people with our running smells... (we didn't really smell that badly, but still)


PACKET PICKUP!  It was a little expo with some local goods/love/sponsors and the essentials.


We hung out for the rest of the day, getting homework/work done and just relaxing.

Race day -- the Half Marathon began at 9:00am, and the 10K at 9:30am.  Ummmm, that's pretty awesome.  I was *really* worried that I was wearing the wrong apparel.  I had figured that it was going to be cooler (and that 75*F run the day before was messing with me).  It turned out that I was wearing the perfect gear for this day -- gloomy and drizzly, and 53*F at the start.

We made it out to the race site and everything was so neatly placed and organized.  The race announcer was entertaining, and of course, there were a ton of really awesome Halloween costumes being worn.  I've never worn a costume for a race, and I wasn't about to start on this day.  Maybe some other time...(?)


SNAPCHAT RACE SELFIE.



We took off right on time (yaaaaay!) and I started to gauge where I was at, pace-wise.  I didn't really have a plan for this; if anything at all, I figured it'd just be a long run.  Technically, I haven't run this distance in quite some time.  I'm *STILL* working on a base and trying to maintain it while staying healthy (we'll talk about that in the next post).  I realized I was running at an 8:40 pace at mile one, figured that felt kind of good, and decided to stick with it for at least the first half of the 10K.


I hit the 5K mark at 27:27 -- about an 8:42 pace.  I restarted my watch and started to take it easy.  Three+.1 quick miles was enough for me.


Though I didn't take it as easy as I thought I would.  This race claims to hold a fast, flat 5 and 10K -- mehhhhh I wouldn't call this "flat", but I also wouldn't call it "hilly".  It had many rollers, some gentle, some were a little harsh.  I honestly THOUGHT about slowing down, and really tried to.  For about a mile and a half, I was drafting one guy who probably thought I was a jerk.  I wasn't trying to be rude, dude...I just liked your pace!


I just eased back into my pace and enjoyed the scenery.  A lot of the race was on trails, which were littered with dead, crunchy leaves, and surrounded by beautiful colors and foliage.  The drizzling rain was still going, but it was off and on.  It felt nice, but not when it affected the surface of the little bridges on the trail -- they got extra slick.


A downpour started around mile 4 -- that was interesting.  I felt my left foot flip quickly (turnover) while going over one of the bridges and realized that I needed to move my gait forward to keep from falling.  A few puddles and a couple more miles later, and I was done.  The second half of the 10K left me at 28:03 -- not the biggest difference, but with a total time of 55:39 (just under a 9:00 pace), I was pretty pleased with myself.

The post-race party was a blast!  They had a ton of salty snack foods, bananas, oranges and water -- they were very generous with all of it.

I got back to the car and told Harry how the race went.  In true form, my husband pointed out that I still have that *grrrr* in me.  And he's right (don't tell him I said that, though).  I do have the *UMPH* in me -- the thing that pushes me to run until my heart feels like it's going to explode, to run through the feeling of my legs about to fall off (lol I know they won't), and my lungs slightly singeing.  I've been wondering where it went, but it's still there!<3

Now that I've found that little chunk that I feel has been missing, I'm looking forward to more purposeful training.  Before, I felt so *blah* with putting each foot forward.  I feel like I was --MAKING-- myself get out there, having to give myself pep talks, getting pep talks from my husband, and *WOO WOOs* from Windy (her version of a pep talk).

My regularly scheduled training is back in full effect.:)
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Where was your last trip?  Road trip?


There are so many awesome Fall season shows on right now!  What's your fave?
ME:

Do you have any Fall or Winter races coming up?
(Ugh, that reminds me -- I gotta update that page!:)


4 comments:

  1. SO GREAT SEEING YOU LAST NIGHT.
    I still love that Harry wussed out because of the bed...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I LOVED seeing you and Alex! We really should schedule AT LEAST a once a month visit!

      Delete
  2. It's so nice to see a race recap on your blog again! Looks like a fun weekend and a nice race. I do love cheese too.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. OH thank you, friend! Let's meet up soon...for cheese...:)

      Delete

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