Crazylegs Goals

This is the first time I've ever really put some thought into goals for a race. Usually I just go out and run it--occasionally, I dread it and wonder why I ever thought to sign up (kinda like buyer's remorse--racer's remorse?). Anyways, Crazylegs is upon me. It's an 8K (4.97) run through downtown Madison, mostly the UW-Madison campus, that benefits the UW-Madison Athletics Department. I last ran it two years ago and was not ready. I had maybe run 3 miles a few times before the run and I actually thought I could drink (a lot) the night before and run. No, I felt like shit. And I had to pretend I was just "tired" because how do you explain to your 10 year old cousin that you have a hangover and would love to be in a dark, quiet room to sleep?


I'll be honest, the route isn't my favorite. It starts with a decent hill right off the bat, and within a mile, you run up one of the steepest, longest, curviest hills in Madison. The beast that is Observatory Hill. Because of all the curving, you can never quite tell when you'll be done. Then you run down the backside of the hill and straight up another and down that one. The view is great since the path is right along Lake Mendota, but the hills blow. Then, near the end of the race (around mile 3.5) is the awful out and back. I hate out and backs. I want to feel like I'm going somewhere!


The great thing, though, is that you finish by crossing into Camp Randall (the UW-Madison Badgers football stadium). They have a band playing, free beer (it is Wisconsin after all), and food. As long as the rain stays away tomorrow, it could be a good time to relax and hang out before lunch. Otherwise, it'll be a mad dash back to my apartment.


Back to the goals for this run, though.

• First, I want to enjoy it and have fun. I'm not really going to push it, especially since my left shin has been hurting. I'm mainly using this as just another training run that I get to do with thousands of other people.
• I will end feeling good and knowing that I ran decently.
• I want to run the entire thing (should be easy now that I've been actually training).

I'll probably end up running about a 10:30/mile pace. Faster if the rain does come. I'm also running with a friend from work, so I'm looking forward to just chatting while running. Maybe this will help me figure out if I really could be a social runner...


~eca.