I don't want to dwell on what goal I had to replace this week. For those that don't know, we unexpectedly had to put our sweet 4 year-old puppy, Wrigley to sleep this week. Here's Gretchen's post on it.
I'm currently registered for 3 more marathons in the spring - Birmingham, Knoxville and Madison. After Madison in May, I'm going to take the summer "off" and not do any marathons until Chicago in October. I'll still run but I want to get a lot more miles on the road bike this year. I think my body will thank me later!
This weekend, my friend Andrew and I competed in the largest indoor marathon in the US. The Icebreaker Indoor Marathon was held at the Pettit National Ice Center in West Allis, WI. 4 laps around the track is roughly 1.1 miles so it took just over 95 laps to make up the full 26.2 mile marathon. The race was very well organized and you don't get better conditions for a marathon - 55 degrees, 95 aid stations, 190 bathrooms and no hills! Also, they took requests for music... (Evenflow by Pearl Jam and What Would You Say by DMB).
Gretchen wisely listened to my advice and didn't show up for the first 3 hours of the race. She arrived just after 11am with Lilly, Cal and my mom. It was really encouraging to see them every quarter mile for the last 6 miles. Lilly was so excited to see me pass that it made me want to run faster to see her again ( I COULDN'T run faster, but I wanted to...)
At the end, I pulled Lilly out of the stands and she ran the final 20 yards to the finish line with me. She was so excited to run with her daddy. When we got to the finisher's area, the race official put my medal around Lilly's neck and she was so proud! I finished with my best marathon time yet and finished 40th out of 100 registrants.
I'm currently registered for 3 more marathons in the spring - Birmingham, Knoxville and Madison. After Madison in May, I'm going to take the summer "off" and not do any marathons until Chicago in October. I'll still run but I want to get a lot more miles on the road bike this year. I think my body will thank me later!
3 comments:
Nice work on the indoor marathon..I was there as a spectator and remember you finishing with your daughter. I also ran Lakefront as my first marathon, finished in 4:21, also with horrible cramping the last 6 miles. I start my training program for Madison today, if you ever need a running partner, let me know, I remember how lonely 20 mile runs can be, especially when you have to do them in the pouring rain (we must have been doing the 20 mile training run on the same day, that was hard).
rmslauson@hotmail.com
Great job, Matt! It was a lot of fun watching you run, watching Lilly watch you run, and watching Lilly finish the run with you! Thanks for sharing it with me! I hope your legs are feeling better.
looking forward to the bike rides this summer! :)
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