The night before the Mad Marathon I went to a friends house for a dinner party. I wanted to be home by 8 so that I could be in bed by 9 and get ready for my 4:30am wake up call. Dinner was pushed back and we didn't eat until around 8 and Alan and I seriously did an eat and run and left at 830 (yes dessert was served before we left and we inhaled that too!) As soon as I got home I got in bed and passed out. I slept surprisingly well considering how nervous I was for the race.
I got up in the morning and made coffee. I was stalking some blogs and drinking coffee when my cat wanted attention. I had to make a choice; spill coffee on myself and the furbaby or drop my laptop. Clearly I spilled the coffee. I was afraid that this would be a sneak peek into what the rest of the day would be. Glad I was wrong. Although my Garmin was also acting up which made me nervous. The night before I unplugged it from charging and put it in my race bag and when I went to put it on I saw it was frozen. I had to google at 5:15 (the time I was supposed to leave to pick Mama up)
Finally at 5:30 I left and rushed to pick up Mama. We were off and headed down to Waitsfield where the Mad Marathon was starting. We got there around 6:30 which was perfect for the 7:30 start time. We hopped in line for the porta- potties and then back to the car to drop off the unnecessary things we didn't need. After that we hung around the starting area for a bit and ran into Prudence! It was so awesome to meet a reader! Thanks so much for coming up and saying Hi and cheering us on at mile 7 (or whatever mile that was haha)
Mama and I - apparently I need to work on my self portrait stance! I should call this the quasi moto hunch back!
A little before 7:30 they had us line up at the starting area and we were off. I planned on running with Mama for the whole race because I knew we would have more fun together than if we ran alone. Plus it was fun to look over on the tough up hills and see her there and know that she was going through the same pain I was and it totally gave me the motivation to push through the hills!
Seriously, Look at those monstrous hills! We powered up those!
Mama and I at the start
The course was scenic. Mama and I saw a deer running in the fields during one section! I thought everything was pretty nice considering that this was the race's first year!
Crossing the Finish line at 2:16:40
The finish corral was so neat. It was a red barn type thing that you ran towards. Too bad the camera didn't get the front of it. Oh well!
Our Splits. I am happy with a little over a 10 min/mi pace for this race
PROS:
- Early start time is key in July. For the longest time I thought it started at 8:30 and was dreading how hot it would be by the time I would be finishing. A 7:30 start time was so much nicer. It also helped that the day the race was being held was a nice warm day and not too humid at all!
- The finishers medal was one of the best I have seen and definitely the best I have received so far. It was the Mad Marathon logo so the medal is a barn with fields and colors. Pretty nice!
- Low entry fee for a Marathon. Maybe I am biased and just accept how expensive Key Bank is, but the Mad was 85 which I guess is pretty standard?
- Crowd support. For this race being in the middle of Vermont on dirt roads etc. There were quite a few people cheering you one which was a wonderful surprise!
- Running it with a friend. This race was hard. no denying it. However, it was so much better running it with a friend. Just knowing someone you know and respect and enjoy is next to you and the two of you are mentally cheering each other on is amazing!
- Lots of water and aid stops along the way! Perfectly spaced out!
-Seeing a deer run through the fields! It was just so neat and I think it might have been a highlight!
Cons:
- Post race food was sub par. There were no bananas or bottled water. They had some apple cider which was surprisingly refreshing and amazing after a race however I needed water. They only had small cups of water and gatorade which was annoying to have to carry 4 cups at a time!
- There was tons of food, but you had to pay for it! Vendors were set up and you could buy lots of stuff but who wants to purchase food after they just ran for 2+ hours? I want freebies!
- Finishers bag was sub par. There was an orange, and a package of cliff shot blocks. Better than nothing and I will definitely use the shot blocks!
- No port a potties along the course. I had to pee for the whole race basically! Sucked!
Great, local, small town VERMONT race. This was truly very Vermont. The scenery and the cows!
Some more awesome race photos....are there ever awesome race photos?
This was towards the end of the race. Feeling good still. 
All in all, it was a great race. Challenging but so worth it. I had a great run with Mama and am so glad we did it together. I think at some points we were cursing each others names for signing up but I think we are both happy we did it. I will definitely be doing this one again next year. Plus, the medals were really cool! Everyone knows I am a sucker for hardware!
What a great race recap- to rival SR! I'm so glad you didn't mind my blog-stalking ways creep you out! It was easy to pick out two gorgeous blondes on The Green! Great shots by the way! Thanks for including them! It looks like you knew exactly where the cameras were on the course! So fun! I can see where the Joslin Hill road was at mile 2! What a course huh? I say we try to get some of those west coast bloggers to get out to this one for a challenge!
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