Published: Thursday, April 22, 2010

By Sydney Holtzclaw
Madison Magazine

Every weekday morning thousands of Madison residents make their way to work or school via Eastview Drive. Whether these daily travelers are employees in Research Park or students at Bob Jones High School, I doubt they have considered the steepness of the Eastview hill-that is unless the Bob Jones student is driving a stick shift. I must admit I fell into this category until a month ago when my dad and I started training for the Madison Run Through the Roses 10K Race.

Since moving back home to intern with Madison Magazine, Dad and I have been running buddies. Early in January we decided to set a goal to run a race together. After a minute of searching local races on Google we learned that Madison was hosting it's first 10K race in May. We looked at the race map and decided to give it a go, after all the only major obstacle was Eastview.

In late February, we started turning our two-mile runs into three-mile and the occasional four-mile runs. We were even reaching our goal of sub nine-minute miles-that is until we decided to run the race route in early April. For those of you who are unaware, Madison is hilly. The organizers of the race call the route challenging and fun and I would have to agree. The first three miles are fun and the last three miles are challenging hills.

There are those moments in life when all you can do is ask yourself, are you nuts? For me, attempting to run my way up the biggest and steepest hill of Eastview Drive falls under that category, but the sore legs and early mornings now will be well worth it next week as Dad and I crest the hill and make the home stretch to the finish line-hopefully within our goal of 54 minutes.

The Run for the Roses is Madison's first 10K set to take place on Saturday, May 1 at 7 a.m. starting at Bob Jones High School. So far, over 250 people have registered for the inaugural run. Proceeds from the run will benefit the Children's Living Library at the Madison Public Library. According to race organizer Kristen Kulavich, the Children's Living Library will be the first of its kind in the country. In March 2010, the library's design was unveiled showing features such as a life size Scrabble board, mini-amphitheater for story time, a Madison County soil history display, veggie garden, and boat dock with ship. Admission to the library will be free and open to all.

In conjunction with the race on May 1, the Huntsville Botanical Garden is hosting Picnic and Pickets from 11 a.m to 1 p.m. to celebrate the Library's Big Read Event. This year's Big Read theme is The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Thus, families participating in the Botanical Garden's event will help paint a brightly colored fence that will be part of the landscape at the Living Library. Anyone who brings a new children's book to the Botanical Garden will receive free admission.

Those who have already signed up for the race can pick up their registration packets on Friday, April 30 in the Bob Jones High School cafeteria from 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. For those who would like to cheer your participating friends and family on Kulavich suggests Bob Jones High School, downtown Madison, Dublin Park and Kroger. Roads along the race route will be closed at 7 a.m. for the runners' safety and open again 9 a.m.