It’s a mad, mad, mad, mad city

Either the city of Madison, Wisconsin has caught a serious case of ultramarathon fever, or else Mad City 100K race director Tim Yanacheck has gone to great lengths to create that illusion. Consider the following:

(1) Governor Jim Doyle has declared the week of April 1-7 to be Mad City 100K National Championship Week in the state of Wisconsin.

(2) The official race starter will be none other than Suzy Favor Hamilton, probably the greatest runner Wisconsin has ever produced.

(3) Some reporter from Madison called me on Tuesday, wanting to talk about the 100K. His first question was something like, are you excited that there’s a national 100K championship for the first time in several years? I wanted to say, “Yes I am, but why are you so excited about it? Shouldn’t you be covering a high school golf tournament or something?”

For additional hype, see the pre-race press release. (Since that was written, Nikki Kimball has withdrawn due to illness, but Connie Gardner has been added as a late entry.) And for heart-pounding race-day excitement, be sure to tune into the race webcast on Saturday.