THING THAT WAS AWESOME ABOUT THIS RACE

I feel like I mentioned everything else that is awesome about this race, but I feel like I should still give props to the best post-race party of any half marathon party. That's right Competitor Group: suck it. Most of this has to do with the locale. The Wisconsin Union Terrace is one of my favorite places on the planet. It would have single handedly led to me flunking out of college because it is a beautiful place to hang out. I am sure it's a great place to study, but I associate the Terrace with scenes like Saturday. It was a beautiful day to drink a beer, talk to other runners about the race and running in general, and people watch. Knowing that you will be able to do that at the end of the race gives me personally that little extra motivation to finish and finish well.

THING THAT WASN'T SO AWESOME ABOUT THIS RACE

I find it hard to insult this race, so once again I find myself grasping straws. However, there are two things I can probably raise a small stink about. This is probably my fault, but I was placed in the wrong corral. I used to not care, but I have learned how important it is to get a good start and not weave through the masses. I didn't submit a proof of time because I figured they knew who I was from last year and most races look up previous year's results and base their corral assignments on that. Luckily, that wasn't a big deal and I was able to get a preferred corral. Second is my problem with most races of this size. I like beer and don't get me wrong: free beer is good beer. However, Madison is a good beer town. They are within a hour of three breweries I love (Great Dane, Capitol, and Tyranena) and if you expand the footprint a bit, you can include New Glarus. What was our free beer? Shock Top. Don't get me wrong, it is WAY better than MGD 64. However, this is a big race that draws from all around and the microbrewing world is very supportive of local events like this. I'd love to taste what Great Dane would do for the Madison Mini crowd.

For more, check out my blog entry: http://tkmarathonman.blogspot.com/2012/08/race-report-madison-mini-marathon.html