Race Report: Haunted Hustle Half Marathon

Location: Middleton, WI
Date: 10/13/2012
Time: 8:00 AM
Weather: 50 degrees, a couple of short periods of rain, ~10-15 mph wind

Time:1:38:44
Overall: 55/1217
Division: 9/49

THE COURSE

The course started out in the Greenway Station commercial area of Middleton and spent the first few miles in residential areas before following a paved recreational trail. After getting off of the trail, the next four miles wound through an industrial park along both city streets and the aforementioned trail. On the way back to the finish you end up following roughly the same path back that you took out.

WHAT WAS GREAT ABOUT THIS RACE

Convenience. I slept in my own bed, had a five minute drive to get to the start line. Beyond that... The medal wasn't too bad, and there were some cool costumes.

WHAT WASN'T SO GREAT ABOUT THIS RACE

Rain and wind to start with, but the organizers can't control the weather, so I won't hold that against them. But what this caused was a complete lack of spectators on the course. Sure there were friends and family members, but they were looking for their runners and not cheering on the other competitors. I'm not the type of person who needs the cheering, but it helps pass the miles. It also makes me wonder if the organizers did anything to try and reach out to the people that live along the course and say, "Hey, we've got people running a marathon, half marathon, or 10-K coming by your house. Step outside and support them!"

There was some disorganization with the course near the finish line as well. The next to last turn funneled the runners onto a path running along a street that we had ran on right at the beginning of the race. Only problem was, once the barriers started at the last corner, the barriers were set up in the street, so there was a bit of confusion right there, over half an hour after the first 10-K'ers finished.

The race was also moved a couple of weeks from last year, which I can't really explain, unless they didn't want to worry about runners from out of town having to find hotel rooms with the Badger/Gopher game next weekend, and Freak Fest on State Street the weekend after that.

OVERALL RACE THOUGHTS

Considering I started running "full-time" two weeks ago, I can't really complain. I got in one ten mile run and didn't run outside during those two weeks, so going out and running 13.1 miles in a good (to me) time wasn't going to be in the cards.

The first nine miles of the face actually went pretty well, I felt like I was having a hard time breathing at the start, and the legs were a little rusty, but I was moving along, staying on 1:35 pace. At that point I needed to stop and go to the bathroom, which has only happened once to me during a race before, so I was disappointed in that, as I lost probably 90 seconds in stopping.

The last 3 miles were also a bit of a struggle. There were multiple long steep hills that sapped all of the energy left in my legs and once we met back up with the 10-K'ers, it was hard to tell who was a half marathoner (that I should be trying to catch).

Overall, I'm not going to say I'm happy with the results, but considering everything over the past month and a half, I'll take it.

From here I'll work on increasing the mileage of my long runs over the next two weekends and perhaps getting some speed-work in during the week. The Tyranena Beer Run Half Marathon will be a better sign of where my fitness is at (though that will still only be on five weeks of training), and hopefully I'll be able to get my time down to where I would like it.

Side note: Kendra's first 10-K!

Injuries

Even the best made plans can come back to kick you in the ass sometimes. My last post about running talked about my training plan for Goofy's Race and a Half Challenge. Unfortunately, less than two weeks after that post, the plan was already shot.

The first weekend of my plan had me running 10 miles on Saturday and 12 miles on Sunday. The Saturday run seemed to be going fine until mile nine, when the big toe on my right foot started to feel numb. I had never felt anything like this before, but I finished the run, hoping it was a fluke or something that would heal up overnight. Sunday I ran again and got to right about the same spot, nine miles in, and the toe went numb again... Stubbornly I finished my run again in quite a bit of discomfort, but knew that something was definitely wrong.

The ache in my plantar fascia started that night and I knew that it wasn't going to be a quick recovery... Somehow I managed to mess up my right leg to the point where my hip, knee, Achilles, and plantar fascia all seemed to be the source of my injury at some point or another between late-August and mid-September. By the second week in September, I thought I was getting close, the aches were smaller and milder. Not surprisingly, my mood improved. Then one random day at work, the plantar fascia in my left foot started twinging. At first I thought my body was just playing a joke on me. I hadn't ran in a week and a half, hadn't been working out much, there's no way that it could be giving out on me... It was.

To speed up the story, I finally started running again on the 30th of September, and considering I have the Haunted Hustle (half marathon) on October 13th, any hope of a good time (or pretty much even enjoying that race) have gone out the window. Thankfully riding a stationary bike at the Princeton Club helped me keep my legs somewhat strong, so I will be able to finish it.

Thinking back, I can remember five "major" injuries since I started running over seven years ago. An ITB issue right before I did my first half marathon (which I stubbornly still ran), plantar fascia issues after each of my first two marathons (Madison and Chicago), ITB again after Green Bay (though delayed a month or so, which made that one extremely frustrating), and then this bout with my plantar fascia (almost four months after Flying Pig, so it is hard to blame that for these issues).

All of this being said, the timing of the injuries is probably the best for still doing Goofy's. I still have plenty of time to get in the long runs I need. Which is easy to say, but when you really just want to be running, it is still hard to convince yourself everything will be fine.

Today's run: 10 miles - 73:50 - First double digit mile run since the aforementioned injuries started... Six days until the Haunted Hustle.

Colorado Brewpub Tour 2012 - Stop #4 - Wynkoop Brewing Company

If I were to move to Denver, it's safe to say that I'd probably end up here quite a bit.

Wynkoop is located in downtown Denver about three blocks from Coors Field in an old industrial building. The atmosphere is almost identical to that of the downtown Great Dane, stone walls, old wood floors, pool tables by the bar... it kind of felt like I was back in Madison. I may be partial to the feel of the place because my first experience with brewpubs was the Great Dane, but it just seems like the feel that a brewpub should have.

Food: Sandwiches, salads, and about ten entrees, which is pretty standard, but the two things that Vanessa and I had (Buffalo Meatloaf and Mac & Cheese respectively) were both very good. We also came back after the baseball game we went to and had a Peach Koopler (cobbler), which was also good, not the best dessert I've ever had, but good.

Beer: Wyknoop has an extensive tap list of both their own beers and other craft beers from the Denver area. I can't recall an exact number, but if I had to guess, which I'm going to, they had about 15 of their own beers. Between the two stops we had at Wynkoop, we tried six or seven of their beers, including a Milk Stout, English IPA, and an Imperial Red, all of which were excellent.

Linky - http://www.wynkoop.com/

Colorado Brewpub Tour 2012 - Stop #3 - Estes Park Brewery

Brian told me that the Estes Park Brewery was just... eh. Brian was right...

To start with, the brewery isn't the easiest thing to find in Estes Park. It's hidden off of a back street just away from downtown, doesn't have a sign pointing you towards it and doesn't have more than three lights in the parking lot, which makes you wonder if the place is even open when you drive up to it.

The building itself is extremely odd. When you walk in, there is immediately an overly large gift shop and tasting room. The gift shop is full of extremely cheap t-shirts and sweatshirts with logos for the beers that look like they were designed in the early '90s. The restaurant and bar are upstairs in a very open room that looks out onto their brewing equipment. Everything about the place screams outdated. Vanessa and I spent a good five to ten minutes trying to figure out what the place was before it was a brewery, but failed to come up with a decent explanation. I certainly hope that it wasn't designed to be a brew pub, because if it was, the architect should refund their money.

Food: I don't even recall what I had, which isn't saying anything about my memory, it's a testament to the blandness of the food. Vanessa had a vegetarian pizza that was alright.

Beer: I do remember what I had to drink at least, it was a California Common (think Anchor Steam), which was lighter than I was expecting. It wasn't bad, but in comparison with the other beers that I had tried at Oskar Blues and Mountain Sun, it was just eh... Vanessa had a Raspberry Wheat, which she enjoyed. To me if was way too potent in both the raspberry aroma and flavor.

Linky - http://www.epbrewery.com/ (Forewarning: This link didn't work for me, but it's the only one I can find, which I guess sums up our experience quite well.)

Colorado Brewpub Tour 2012 - Stop #2 - Oskar Blues Grill & Brew

I originally meant for this to be a semi-live blog of our trip, but... day two would have required two entries and after a long day of hiking and driving through Rocky Mountain National Park, I never got around to writing this, and from there everything went downhill (in regards to keeping up with this).

Anyways! Stop #2 of our trip was in Lyons, CO at Oskar Blues Grill & Brew. OBs is in a relatively nondescript building along the main street through Lyons. Once you walk inside though, OBs is a unique setting. Downstairs is a a bar and stage where there is live music almost every night of the week, upstairs is another bar and the restaurant. The walls are covered in music posters and news articles about OBs, which if you take the time to read, present a cool back story to the place.

Food: I don't know about you, but when I think blues, I think barbeque. Well that's what both Vanessa and I had (she had the Beef Brisket Sandwich and I the Pulled Pork Sandwich. Both were excellent, though they could have used a slightly thicker bun, as the juices from the beef quickly soaked through the bun. The rest of the menu has a bit of everything. Brick oven pizza, burgers, etc.

Beer: Oskar Blues is one of the few craft breweries to can their beer, so if you see cans of beer mixed in with the craft beers at your local liquor store, there's a decent chance that they are from OBs. Their "standard" beer is Dale's Pale Ale, but they have great offerings across the spectrum, from Old Chub Scotch Ale to Gubna Imperial IPA. Vanessa and I shared a flight of seven of their beers, which consisted of all of their standards except for Ten Fidy, their Imperial Stout, which they were out of. All were great, though I favored the previously mentioned Gubna and G'Knight Imperial Red.

Linky - http://www.oskarblues.com/