Full recap of Madison:

I love Madison, I really and truly do. This weekend was a great example of why.

First, a recap of the race. As I mentioned, I finished in 1:52:30, which is 21 seconds off of my time in Champaign-Urbana. I'm really proud of this time, mostly because I didn't get enough hill training, and I've been dealing with this strained hammy. The hills were tough that day, my friend. Within the first 2 miles, we had to do some decent little climbs. But the course was really pretty. We went through a lot of neighborhoods, and lake access areas, and passed the football stadium at one point. Not the Kohl Center, though. I would have liked to gotten closer to the Capitol, and I would have liked to see more of the campus. I also would have liked to have more people out there supporting the runners. Champaign put Madison to shame in that respect.

I'm also very proud of Julia for getting through her quarter in a good time. She finished in about 1:12, which is well ahead of the 1:40 she had been projecting earlier. She's struggled with a calf injury, but has done a lot of good work to rehab.

The one bad thing that came of her speed is that I missed her at the finish line. Her race started 50 minutes after mine, so I expected her to finish by 9:20 or so at the earliest. I arrived at the finish line at about 9:12. Apparently, she had finished two minutes earlier. So, for a full 50 minutes, I waited near the finish line, waiting for her. I started to panic, thinking that her calf had quit on her, and she was lost somewhere along the route. Only when I saw her near the car did I find her. That could have gone badly.

We also had a spectacular time at the Madison Farmer's Market. The tomatoes were fresh, and bright red (and delicious, I can now add). I know Julia bought some things as well, but for me, I got two pieces of GF cheesecake, a 3 year old cheddar, some jalapeno muenster, and ostrich brats. Those were very, very good.

Then we made our way to the Silly Yak Bakery. Oh man. I almost lost it. I could have spent a LOT more money there if I had wanted to. I ended up getting the following: a loaf of tomato/basil/feta bread.
2-mini loaves of spinach/tomato/parm.
a blackberry scone
a chocolate cupcake (YUM)

yes, it's pricey. That was the biggest issue.
But my question became, why the flip does Madison have a Trader Joes, Whole Foods, a cheesecake place with GF options, and a freaking GF bakery, but Champaign has none of these things. That's just really disappointing.

OK, outside of that, we were pretty low key. We rented two Redbox movies, of which Baby Mama was dramatically better than How to Lose Friends and Alienate People. We had a drink at the hotel Sunday night. We ate at a spectacular Mexican restaurant, and Biaggis. That's about it.

As for my body, it is recovering relatively well for me. My left hamstring is tired, but not painful. My left quad is more sore. I'm going to give it a couple more days before running again. I worked out yesterday though, and everything went fine. I will try again today and/or tomorrow.

Seriously, that freaking Madison farmer's market is so good.