Heather and the kids had made signs for the race. I told Heather and the kids to stay in Iowa while I ran the race. My thought is that we are up here from Friday evening to Tuesday morning. With all that has happened with Heather's dad for her and the boys to be gone for 2 days of the time we were up here. I do miss them and would love for them to be there with me, but I made the call. I know Heather felt bad, but I made the decision so she didn't have to.
When I was leaving Heather came up hung up the signs in the car for their support. It was really nice to see their support.
My focus on the drive to Madison was to drink water when I was thirsty. I wanted to be fully hydrated. So on the 2 1/2 hour ride I actually had to stop 3 times to go to the bathroom. I almost drank a gallon of water on Saturday.
I got up to the EXPO in Madison and parked at the Alliance Center. Went and picked up my number and my timer devise. They didn't give anyone a bag to have anything in. They are considered one of the "greenest" races in the country. They know all we do with the goody bag is toss most of it in the trash. I then picked up my marathon t-shirt. The full, half and quarter runners appear to get the same shirt. I did like at the Country Music Marathon that we received separate shirts. Mine looked small. I asked if I could exchange it out. They said that all exchanges can be done on race day at the "information" booth. So tomorrow I'll try to exchange it for a larger shirt.
I walked around the expo a bit, but there wasn't really anything there that interested me. I wanted to go and drive the course and see what this talk about the hills was really like.
I decided to go and check in at the hotel first. I also have a concern they didn't have my reservations or something like that. All the hotels in the area were sold out for the runners rate. I got to the Crowne Plaza and checked in. No problem. It was a nice hotel. In fact someone was getting married or was having their reception in the hotel that night.
Time to go and drive course. I headed down to the Capital Building in Madison. The building was awesome. It looked like a great place to start the course. I hit the hills they were talking about and some I didn't really know about. This course looks hilly. In fact one of the hills was as steep as the "Overhill Drive" I ran in Nashville to train. The hill in Madison was on "Observatory Drive". I figured out why they called it Observatory Drive. You go up a hill and you can look out and see out over the city. Then get to go down the hill in the same fashion you went up. There were plenty of other hills. This looked to be a tough course. I was pumped and ready to go.
I headed back to the hotel, stopping to get gas so I didn't have to worry about gas on Sunday.
Heather had made some spegetti for me for Saturday night at the hotel. I ate a lot of spegetti to make sure I had the energy to go. I set everything out for the race and made sure everything was ready.
I wanted to make sure I had no stress on Sunday morning. I fixed my alarm on my phone for 4:45. I had bananas and begeals to eat for breakfast. I set them up as well. I had all my bags packed to leave. It is 8:00 in the evening. Time to hit the sack. I spoke to Heather and the kids on the phone and then turned off the lights. Would I be able to sleep through the night. I need to make sure I get some good rest before the race.
