Race Recap: Pettit Indoor Marathon Relay

One of the reasons I joined the Busse Woods Running Club was to expand my running experiences. Since I've gotten involved, I have gone with them for some field trips to local preserves and trails. When they opened up entries for 20 teams for the Pettit Indoor Marathon Relay, I wasn't sure I wanted to sign up. Pettit sounded intriguing, but Holly and I were debating between 2 half marathons for January, Mobile and Callaway Gardens, which was the same weekend as Pettit.

When the president of the club posted that there were only 2 more slots to fill, I made a decision. Knowing that Callaway was hilly and Mobile was flat, I confirmed with Holly that Mobile was a go. I said yes to Pettit. With that, I had my January calendar filled. Having to decide between 2 races? Runner problems!

Local runners might remember the Icebreaker Marathon and Half Marathon that has been held for the past 10 years at the Pettit National Ice Center in Milwaukee. Two years ago, the name was changed to the Pettit Indoor Marathon and Half Marathon. The race is run on an indoor track around an ice oval, where Olympic speedskaters such as Dan Jansen and Bonnie Blair have trained. Marathoners run 95 laps around the track and the race is capped at 130 participants. The marathon relay is capped at 100 teams of runners. Most teams have 4 runners. The Half Marathon is capped at 130 participants and there is a 2:30 hour time limit. There's also a half marathon relay and a 142.3 mile challenge--like Dopey on a track. That race is limited to 40 participants.

Pettit National Ice Center

On Saturday morning, I left my house around 11am to make the 75 mile drive to Milwaukee. Once I arrived, I found my teammates, Praveen, Denise, and Nancy. I had only met Praveen before, but Denise and I are both All Community Events ambassadors. It was great to finally meet her! We set up our area. Praveen brought 2 chairs and Nancy and I brought blankets. We all brought snacks. I knew it was going to be cool in the arena-it is an ice rink--but I underestimated how cold it would feel. I hoped that once we started running, I'd warm up.

L--->R Praveen, me, Denise, Nancy

Praveen also brought a milk crate and a pad. He explained to all of us how we would use this to change the ankle timing chip between laps. By placing both runners' feet on the pad, another one of us would change the chip quickly so we could minimize the time between runners. We were all anxiously excited to start running. Praveen led us off, I was 4th to run.

Nancy switching the timing chip from me to Praveen

We each ran 2 laps, about 886m, before switching runners. There was a clock at the start/finish line that listed our splits as we crossed. My splits were pretty consistent, around 2:16 minutes per lap. I felt like I was going at full effort each time. I wasn't able to get a signal on my Garmin so I have no proof of how fast I was actually going. There were 3 lanes and I did my best to stay in the middle lane as much as I could. The runners in the inside lane were flying! There were a lot of costumed runners and some of the flock (Oiselle) were wearing very skimpy bikinis. There was a group of men with orange t-shirts with their team name "Rolling Thunder" on the front and a warning triangle on the back that said "Caution: Fart loading". I bet they get all the ladies. We made it our goal to beat them.

The time passed quickly between splits and after we each ran our 6th lap, we congratulated ourselves for making it to the halfway point. I felt kind of hungry and I broke out the watermelon I brought and started sipping on Tailwind. As it turns out, that watermelon was the best snack for this race. It was juicy, cool, and sweet. Plus it was easy on my tummy. Several of the other teams around us concurred as I passed the watermelon around. I also brought "cuties", those little oranges, which were also a hit. The pretzels I brought never were opened.

One of my teammates, Denise, was "competing" with her husband's team. We found out that they were one lap ahead of us and I was instructed to push my pace on my last lap. You know I love a good competition and pick up the pace is exactly what I did. I don't know where that last burst of energy came from but I passed their runner on the home stretch. On my last lap, my teammates joined me to the finish line. We found out after I finished that I ran an extra lap--we thought we had to run 96 laps, not 95. No biggie, our official finish time stands on my first pass over the finish line. Our team, BWRC 9, finished in 3:41:34, 63rd overall. Not only did we beat Denise's husband's team, but we also beat Rolling Thunder. The fastest team finished in 2:15:54. That's 5 minute miles, y'all!

The relay is pretty no-frills. There were no medals for the relay participants, but we did get a really nice long sleeve crewneck tech shirt. There are also no after race treats provided. I was fine with all that--the cost of the race was about $35 per relay participant. They did have portapotties inside the arena, but I chose to use the real restrooms in the lobby. It much was warmer there, too!

If I do this race again, I will definitely bring gloves to wear--my hands were really cold and on the drive home, I had trouble gripping the steering wheel. RA problems. I also woke up Sunday morning feeling really achy and tired. I completely underestimated the effort this event would take. It was a lot like speedwork, aka extreme speedwork: 886m x 12 laps. I knew the air would be dry inside the arena but I didn't realize how that would feel. I didn't break a sweat at all! I also developed a cough, which I still had on Sunday. Runners call it "track hack" and there's a hashtag for it: #pettitcough.

Overall, this was a really fun, unique event! Living in the Midwest, winter running is always a crapshoot. There was the F3 Half Marathon in Chicago on Saturday, but call me wimpy--I don't want to run an outdoor half in January in Chicago. The Pettit Indoor Marathon Relay was a great alternative and a challenge in its own right. I would definitely do it again. I'm really grateful to the Busse Woods Running Club for pulling the teams together for the event. I wonder what adventure they'll take me on next!

BWRC--all 80 participants!

Have you ever run an indoor race? An indoor marathon relay? Curious about that cough I developed--if anyone has any insight on it, let me know!

I'm linking up with Kim and Zenaida for Tuesday Topics! It's my first time linking with them.