Gopher to Badger Half Marathon - August 8, 2009

The Gopher to Badger Half Marathon began in the northwest corner of Stillwater and finished on the east side of the river in Hudson, WI.  It was a very humid, morning and as we started the race there were dark clouds, thunder and lightning approaching from the north.  About one mile into the race it began to pour.  It felt good with the warm humid air but made for a sloppy run.  Twisted my ankle in a puddle and was dealing with a right side ache - something I never struggle with, but the ankle is fine and side ache gone.

The cloud cover and rain helped keep the temps tolerable. It would have been rough had the sun come out to warm up the humid air. The course was challenging with some hills but as we headed south from Stillwater to the I94 bridge we had a slow but steady incline for several miles that was pretty tough.  I finished 40th among 768 runners and 2nd of 37 in my age group with a time of 1:31:56. I chopped 37 seconds off my best half marathon time from late May for a new PR!

http://finalstretch.com/races/gopher_to_badger/results/2009_half_overall.htm