Pre-race

I am loving the college atmosphere of Madison, Wisconsin.  The students have recently arrived, and are settling in.  You can feel the excitement of the start of a new school year.  It’s a beautiful afternoon, and the students are hanging out by the lake… so cool.  A part of their student union is outdoors, and they have a bar 🤗  We enjoyed some drinks while watching the row team learn how to get back in the boat after capsizing 😂 and other students lounge on the dock.  I wish my school had something like this.

We then walked towards the Capitol, and had dinner at a steakhouse.  Best French fries!!!… scrumptious pre-race carb load.

Post-race

It started as a perfect running day.  It was partly cloudy 🌤 with temperatures in the low 70’s.  The race was as small as I had expected.  There were no designated waves or corrals.  I crossed the start line sooner than expected as I was moving with the crowd.  O well… my watch ⌚️would be a little off from the marked miles, which it normally is anyway.

We ran through a pretty neighborhood.  When we got to the water, I got a great shot of the Capitol… and ominous black clouds.  It started out as a drizzle 🌧  When we reached a larger area with covering, race officials 🚲 directed us to stop underneath.  They made no announcements, but kept us from resuming.  My husband informed me that it looked like it would be another hour before it passed.  We waited for a while without news, and then made a mass decision to take off.  It was pouring ⛈️ at that time.  I was soaked in minutes.  Running with a group, and defying authority, gave me energy I might not otherwise have had.  The rain bothered me very little. 

As I was running to the finish line/start of the second lap, I kept wondering if I would still be able to get a medal 🏅  Along the way, there were signs that the race was canceled.  My favorite was the last sign, which said… (paraphrased) the timer is off, please hydrate and walk to the finish.  Essentially… this will not count. 

I made it to the finish line/start of the second lap, and got myself a medal.  I decided I would finish the marathon.  The medal doesn’t count unless I actually do it, and since the pandemic, there are now virtual marathons.  Wisconsin was getting crossed off, officially or not 😉  I took my bib off in case they forced me to get on a pick up vehicle.  It was a little touchy getting restarted.  My medal was heavy and with my soaked fanny pack, it was bouncing on my back too much.   I also could not get my music 🎶 to play at a normal volume 😡 I finally figured out how to secure my fanny pack and tuck my shirt in to run comfortably.  I never got my music back to normal… but at least I had something. 

The rest of the run was quite pleasant.  It was flat or slightly downhill the entire course.  Perhaps the couple stops gave me extra energy.  I may have had the runner’s high 🤗 around mile 20.  I didn’t feel exhausted like I have in the past.  The last mile felt great. 

The race certainly did not go as expected.  It was a good one for me.  It reminded me why I wanted to run marathons in the first place… for fun.  I did not feel the pressure of running a qualifying time… I couldn’t even if I wanted to.  I made lemonade out of lemons 🍋 

After my race, we went to Dotty Dumpling’s Dowry 🍔 It was a perfect after race meal.  I had the best fried mac-and-cheese.  Their sweet potato fries were amazing as well… but not as good as the fries we had at Rare Steakhouse the night before. 

Then we made our way to Camp Randall…

It was the first football game of the season, and very entertaining.  I really liked our seats next to the student section.  We could enjoy their student spirit without being overwhelmed by them. 

A few fun traditions…

1) Repeating “first down Wisconsin”… each time they got a first down… obviously 🤓

2) Singing of Jump Around

3) Singing of Build Me Up Buttercup

4) Counting the push-ups by their mascot after a score

There were a couple songs the crowd kept singing after the music was turned off for game play.  Surprisingly they were “Livin’ On a Prayer” and “Party In the USA.”  It was cool to hear the crowd sing 🎶 a cappella in unison. 

We had breakfast 🍳 at Mickie’s Dairy Bar to round out the trip.  It’s an awesome, old school diner vibe with huge portions.  I love diners.  I can only imagine what it was like here before the game yesterday.  We got there shortly before it opened, and the line was already out around the corner.  The omelet was good, but my cinnamon roll at the end was exceptionally tasty.

What a great way to end the trip.  Madison did not disappoint.