Ready... Set... The Gun.

At this point I've been running for about seven years. For the first few months the thought of actually racing never crossed my mind. Why would it? I was in the process of learning so much about myself I was downright afraid to add the extra variable of hundreds of other people running as close to me as possible.

I laugh at that now (but only because I've learned so much about myself throughout these past seven years... and that unless I crawl the race, I'm not going to finish last). Looking back, I've done 31 races since my first race, the MATC Turkey Trot, on November 5th, 2005 (results still posted here for good measure). I would never be able to remember all of these if not for holding onto my bib and sticking them in a binder that now resides on a bookshelf in our spare bedroom.

To this day I've ran... (If it doesn't have a town name in the title or listed afterwards, assume Madison)

5k - 6 - MATC Turkey Trot 2005, Jingle Bell Run for Arthritis 2005, Shamrock Shuffle 2006, Stampede Run (Arlington Heights, IL) 2006, Karner Blue Butterfly Festival (Black River Falls) 2006, Sausage Race (Milwaukee) 2007
8k - 8 - Crazylegs 2006-2012, Lincoln Park Turkey Trot (Chicago) 2008
5 mile - 3 - New Years Day Dash (Middleton) 2010, Madison College (fka MATC) Turkey Trot 2010, New Years Day Dash 2012
10k - 8 - Zoo Run Run 2006, Shamrock Shuffle 2007, Berbee Derby 2007, 2009 - 2011, Stampede Run 2008, 2010
1/2 marathon - 2 - Madison 2006, Karner Blue Butterfly Festival (BRF) 2008
Marathon - 4 - Madison 2007, Chicago 2008, Green Bay 2011, Flying Pig (Cincinnati) 2012

The list may seem extensive, but it really isn't a lot of races over the course of seven years. I should ask my friend Tim how many he's done in the same time frame, the number would probably be somewhere around three times as many...

Anyways... This was suppose to be about my first race... Since this took place 6 1/2 years ago, the details may be a little fuzzy. As I said earlier, November 5th. Saturday morning, typical late fall day, cool and crisp (but not bad from what I remember). The race took place out on the northeast side of Madison at Warner Park (where the Madison Mallards play, but the Duck Pond wasn't part of the course at all sadly) and was basically a cross-country race without teams. Extremely wide starting line, all run on grass with the exception of having to cross one wooden bridge. Vanessa and I did some warm up jogging (because she said we should) and eventually it came time for the race to start...

Everyone lined up shoulder to shoulder, the starter gave some final instructions, and then... the gun. Within half a second, I made the first of many mistakes I've made while running (probably not as bad as starting off on a Boston qualifier pace during the insanely hot 2008 Chicago Marathon, but that's for another day...). I took off on pretty close to a sprint over the first third of a mile (to about where the white downwards arrow is in the screenshot below that says Loop 1) and may have accidentally elbowed Vanessa right at the start... Whether this was a competitive instinct or me just not wanting to be in the crowd, I'll probably never fully understand, but it was dumb to say the least. I reached the top of the sledding hill below the Loop 1 arrow in approximately 10th place. If you looked at the results I linked above, I finished 76th. Let's just say that I struggled for the next 2.5+ miles, finishing in 22:06, which I'm pretty sure is my PSR (personal slow record), but I can't find the results from the one where I had to run a half mile through 4 inches of snow...

Course Map

I learned quite a bit about myself and racing that day. Most importantly, you aren't going to be able to keep up with the guys who are super skinny and wear short shorts, and even beyond that, the race isn't necessarily with the people around you, it's with yourself. If you dig deep down inside and give it everything you can, you are a winner.

Today's run: 6 miles - 43:21 (treadmill at the Princeton Club, it was still in the mid-80s at 7:30 pm when I went to run... give me a break)
Today's beer: 19 North Excalibur Black IPA - This was the last kit that beer that we made (so third batch overall). Black IPAs are an interesting style of beer to say the least. They are a completely American style of beer, taking very dark roasted barley and throwing in a ton of hops. Due to our current use of malt extract, I feel that it lacks the complexity that you'd find in the malt flavor of a commercial brewery, but I think that it's a solid beer. If you're looking for a high quality Black IPA, check out New Glarus' Black Top IPA (only in Wisconsin) or 21st Amendment's Back in Black (21st Amendment is available on the west coast, in the northeast, and in Minnesota).

• Skippy's Rating - 4 out of 6 beers