It's a Miracle!!

Man, what a weekend! It all started out on Friday after work when I headed to Wyalusing State Park to camp for the night before I cheered on Shawn during the Prairie du Chien Half Marathon on Saturday morning.

I got there at about 6:15 and it was sooo windy on top of the bluffs. There was a tornado watch up when I got there but it luckily expired soon after. It took me about 40 min. to set up my little tent which normally takes 5 min. by myself.

After I set up camp, I drove around and explored the park for a while. This park is where the Wisconsin River meets the Iowa River. Beautiful. My site was overlooking the confluence of those rivers.

After that I headed to town to grab something to eat. I found this little grill/pub called Mulligans (original) and decided to eat there. Once inside I noticed the Brewer game was on and they were up 4-0 in the 5th vs. the Astros. I quickly watched them lose that lead.

Knowing I wasn't going to run a race tomorrow I ordered a nice dark beer and had a big pasta dinner of tortellini, garlic bread, and French onion soup. Then I had another beer. I rolled out of there at like 10:00. I realized I was close to Iowa so I decided to take the bridge over the Mississippi and roll into Iowa just because. I drove inwards for a bit and then turned around to head back to camp. I got back to camp at about 11:00 and decided I should get some sleep since I was to wake up at 5:30 or so to meet Shawn at like 6:30ish in the morning.

I got settled into bed, but the wind was still howling. It was soo loud. I was certain my tent was going to tear apart in the middle of the night. I just couldn't sleep since it was so loud. I should have had ear plugs. I think I only got 3 hours of sleep.

5:30 came soon enough so I got up, headed to the shower, got dressed in my running stuff since I was planning on warming up with Shawn. I put on my winter jacket since it was cold, windy and rainy. I stopped at a BP to grab a big 16oz. coffee to keep myself warm as I watched the race.

Once I got there I met Shawn and his old roommate, Matt, in the parking lot. We got out and walk to the starting area to grab our goodie bags. We noticed that nothing was set-up yet. No starting line or anything. We asked where our champion-chip's were like last year, but they said they weren't doing that this year. Whatever.

Shawn and I then did a short warm up, a little stretch, and then back to the starting line area. I didn't really think my knee would hold-out so I decided to not do the race for sure. There was still about 30 min. to start time and man, it was cold! I went back to my car, grabbed the coffee started to drink a lot of it. Now it was getting close to starting time. I decided to just start the race and then drop out at the first mile and walk back to the starting line to meet Matt.

I quickly finished my coffee, a lady sang the star-spangled banner, and the lady started the race. We were off! I was still in my winter jack since I was only going to run a short distance.

Well, at mile one I felt pretty good, we were running at 7:38 pace which was good. My jack was flapping in the wind too much so I took it off and wrapped it around my waist. My keys were still in my pocket and being very loud. I kept running with Shawn and got to mile 2, still felt OK, decided to take a it a few more; still OK. Now we're at mile 6 and the wind was in our faces, the rain pelting us, we see Matt parked alongside the road and he said he was driving around trying to find me. I took off my jacket and gave it to him. Big load off my back!

The next thing I know were already over the big hill in the race and at mile 8! I started to think I could make it! Shawn didn't want to say anything. I told him I was certain I would be dropping out soon. We were averaging about 7:35/mile! Mile 10 rolls around and, heck, it's no-turning-back time. Although by now, I felt my legs were getting very tight due to a lack of proper stretching and warm-up, not to mention no water, just coffee in my belly and a few beers the night before. I almost threw up coffee at mile 11.

I told Shawn I was going to take 'er easy from then on in. So I slowed up a bit and Shawn kept on hauling. The last 2 miles were rough. I think I was averaging 10 min/miles. But only 7 people passed me in that time.

Mile 12! I see the finish line! Almost there! I kick it into high gear, Shawn and Matt are cheering, and I was home! Victory! Gloriousness! That was something I never that would have happened. I was so happy. A miracle for sure.

I grabbed a bunch of food and we went our separate ways since it was so cold out. Back to my tent for a quick nap then back to Madison.

So now, I have confidence I can probably do the GB and Madison Half's coming up.

Ok, this post has gone long enough!