Wisconsin Half Marathon 2014 Recap

 

I should have posted this a long time ago. I ran this in May!

It was a little bit cool, but I had a great time at this year's Wisconsin Marathon / Half Marathon on May 3. The tradition of running the half in even years remains alive. My primary goal was to set a personal best. My secondary goal was to break 1:40. With the confidence of a 10-miler at 7:12 pace, I toed the line with a plan to run the race at 7:30 pace.

My friend, David, made the trip from Ohio to Kenosha to run with me for the fourth time in a row. There were a couple of factors that added to the fun this year. First of all, David's fiancee, Hilary, was also present. Secondly, both of them were running the FULL marathon. This gave me the rare opportunity to drive around the course after my half marathon was done and cheer on my friends. The experience gave me added respect for all the fans who do whatever they can and go wherever they can to encourage the runners.

I saw some other familiar faces at the start, mainly people I know from work. One of them was Colleen, who had the potential for a podium finish in the full marathon. I wished her and several others good luck as the race began.

Early Going (7:36, 7:25, 7:29, 7:29, 7:29)

I held my pace pretty well in the first part of the race, making sure to run my first mile at or slower than my goal pace. I've learned from so many marathons that starting too fast incurs the risk of a rough end. There were plenty of spectators in the downtown area, and I waved to several of them; some I recognized, but most I didn't.

As the runners headed north of the downtown area, I noticed Colleen not too far ahead of me. I gradually picked up the pace and caught up to her. She mentioned that she was planning to have a pacer for the first half but couldn't locate him at the start.

Me: "Oh? What's your goal pace?"

Colleen: "7:30."

Me: "That's what I'm planning to run. I can help you stay on track." 

And with that, I had extra motivation to stick to goal pace. Colleen and her husband, Dave, are excellent runners. They helped the SCJ team win the Lighthouse Run corporate division in 2012. The only way I could ever keep up with Colleen is if she's running twice as far as me.

Mid-Race (7:39, 7:38, 7:43, 7:30, 7:34)

The pace slipped just a little bit in the middle of the race due to walk breaks at aid stations, but I was feeling great through ten miles. After making the turnaround at Carthage and heading back south, I was amazed at how many runners were behind me. This race has grown quite a bit since its inception in 2009. It took a while, but I eventually saw David and Hilary making their way north.

Somewhere during mile 10, what looked like a little kid zoomed past me. Wow. I later learned that this was a ten year-old who set a world record for his age. He had been cruising along with his parents and then decided to take off for the latter part of the race, hence his ability to pass me like I wasn't moving. His record was just recently broken by another young upstart from Virginia, but I still felt like a part of history for getting passed by him.

Finish Strong (7:12, 7:21, 7:00, 0:39)

I picked it up as I got closer to the end. As I turned back north to finish the half marathon (roughly the 11.5 mile mark), I wished Colleen all the best as she continued south. She ended up finishing in 3:17:59 (about 7:34 pace) and was the third fastest woman in the full marathon. Congrats!

I was hoping to catch up to the ten year-old in the final stretch, but he finished about a minute ahead of me. I was still able to pass several runners in the last mile. I finished in 1:37:43, taking about four minutes off my personal best.

I didn't stick around for long after my finish. I walked back to my car, went home, showered, and made preparations to cheer on David and Hilary as they continued the full marathon.

I was blessed to have company with me during my time on the course as a spectator. My dad and my kids came along. I talked to David and Hilary via cell phone, and it wasn't long at all before we saw them moving right along around mile 15. I'm no expert, but it appeared that David was more tired than Hilary. It reminded me of the 2009 Air Force Marathon when I held back in the second half to stay with David ("I'm not leaving my wingman"). Though he was tired, David had plenty of smiles for us as we went by. I did my best to provide whatever food / drink I could to keep he and Hilary strong for the remainder of the race.

We saw them a couple more times before the kids got tired, so I took them home with my Dad before heading back to the finish line. Most of the spectators had gone by the time David and Hilary reached the finish, but there was plenty of excitement as their names were announced. They finished side-by-side with chip times of 5:59:03. I admire their perseverance -- only once have I had to run a race above five hours. Congrats!

We headed back home and feasted on pizza and many other things to celebrate our victories. We'll see when we can all get together again for another race!

There's a couple of photos above, but here's the full photo album.