My First Marathon

This is a Throwback Thursday post.  I haven’t posting one of these in years.

I’ve been writing race reports for almost 15 years.  At first, I posted them as Facebook Notes.  When Facebook mothballed the Notes feature, I started this blog.  Still, I had already run more than 80 marathons and ultras before I starting writing race reports of any kind.

This post is an attempt to recall what I can of my first marathon.  I ran it 42 years ago, and I never wrote a race report at the time, so my memory is a bit sketchy.  I’m actually surprised how much I can remember.  There’s nothing quite as memorable as your first marathon, so certain details stick in my mind.

For my first marathon, I chose the Twin Cities Marathon, which was a home-town race.  The first Twin Cities Marathon was held in 1982.  I wanted to run it that year, but I injured my knee while playing softball.  That sidelined me for the rest of the year, so I set my sights on 1983 instead.

I had no idea how to train for a marathon.  I wasn’t following any training plan.  My average weekly mileage was inadequate, but I made a point of doing long training runs.  My first long training run was 14 miles.  After that, I gradually built up to the marathon distance.

When I started training, I had hopes of finishing a marathon in 3:15.  Most of my training runs were multiple laps of a 1.75-mile loop.  On my first 14-mile long run, I was able to average 13 minutes per lap.  I naively assumed that I could eventually get into good enough shape to hold that same pace for a marathon.

As the distance increased, and summer heat set in, I found my pace getting slower.  I eventually built up to 15 laps, which is 26.25 miles.  My pace per lap, however, had slowed to roughly 15 minutes per lap.

My 26.25-mile training run took 3:44:32.  That was in summer heat.  I knew by then that 3:15 wasn’t a realistic goal, but I still thought I could run a marathon in 3:30.  The race wasn’t until October, and by then, the weather would likely be much cooler.

In August, I was as ready as I was going to be.  Unfortunately, I had peaked too soon.  My longest training run was eight weeks before the race.  After that, I got complacent.  By early October, I had taken it easy for far too long.

Two friends, who were also co-workers, were also training for this race.  It was also going to be their first marathon.  Randy and John did their long training runs together.  I mostly trained on my own, but I joined them for one of their long training runs.  I stayed with them until we were close enough to home that I knew the way home.  Then I went ahead on my own.  At the time, we all assumed I would be faster in the marathon.

The start of the race was in downtown Minneapolis.  I remember getting a ride to the start from Randy.  As we rode to the start, we were listing to a mix tape that Randy made.  I can still remember two of the songs.  One was “Who Are You” by The Who.  The other was “Lightning Strikes” by Lou Christie.

I don’t recall where we parked, but we made our way to the start area, which was next to the Pillsbury Building in downtown Minneapolis.  Pillsbury was one of the major sponsors of the race.

The weather wasn’t as cool as I was expecting.  It was 63 degrees at the start.  That wouldn’t be so bad, but the dew point was also 63.  It was 100 percent humidity.  The fog was so dense that you couldn’t see more than two blocks.

They had signs showing us where to line up, based on the pace we expected to run.  They spaced these signs to get us to line up over several blocks.  The idea was to have the enough space between us that we would have room to run as soon as the gun went off.  I thought it worked well, but I’ve never seen that at any other large races.  At most large races, you’re packed in like sardines.

While I was waiting for the race to start, I recognized a runner who was a track star at the University of Minnesota.  I had seen him run 10K on a track at pace of roughly 4:40 per mile.  A race official asked him if he was willing to be a guide for a blind runner.  I don’t know if he had previous experience doing that, but he agreed to do it.

Before we started running, I heard the theme from “Chariots of Fire.”  That movie was still fairly recent, and that music had become an anthem for runners.

As we started running, I was just a short distance behind the blind runner and his guide.  They were running fast.  It amazed me that they could go that fast without bumping into people or tripping on a curb.  If I couldn’t see where I was going, I would be forced to run cautiously, even with a guide.

The route out of downtown was different than it is today.  I quickly established a pace that was fast enough to finish a marathon in 3:30.  At first, it felt deceptively easy.

I was roughly a mile into the race when I noticed that sweat was running down my arm and dripping from my wrist.  I didn’t realize yet how much the high humidity would take a toll on me.

As we left downtown Minneapolis, we turned onto Hennepin Avenue.  After running past the Walker Art Center, we turned onto Douglas Avenue to begin running toward Kenwood Park.

I had my keys in a small pocket on the back of my shorts.  That’s where I always kept them during training runs, and I had never had a problem before.  As I rounded the turn onto Douglas, I heard a clank and immediately reached back to feel my pocket.  The keys weren’t there.  There was a small hole at the bottom of the pocket.

I assumed the sound I heard was my keys hitting the pavement.  I stopped and got down on the ground to feel around for my keys.  I couldn’t see much, because I was right at the corner, with hundreds of runners all negotiating the turn.

I was on all fours.  I felt like I was swimming upstream with runners bumping into me and tripping over me.  That was stressful, but I found my keys.  After that, I had to carry them in my hand as I ran.

At this point, I was roughly two miles into the race.  The next eight miles were very similar to the current course.  We made a left turn at Kenwood Park.  Then we ran past three of the lakes in south Minneapolis.  The first one was Lake of the Isles.  That was followed by Lake Calhoun and Lake Harriet.  Along this part of the course, there were thick crowds on both sides of the street.

When we left Lake Harriet, were about seven miles into the race.  I was still averaging eight minutes per mile and feeling comfortable.

Next, we got onto the Minnehaha Parkway, which follows Minnehaha Creek.  This part of the course had a few small hills, but nothing too tiring.

When we ran under the Nicollet Avenue Bridge, there was a small brass band set up under the bridge.  They were playing the theme from “The Muppets.”

Somewhere along the parkway, I passed a runner who must have started earlier.  He had some type of disability, and he was running with crutches.  I could see the tremendous effort that he was putting into each step.  His face was bright red.  I couldn’t imagine doing that for 26.2 miles.

Randy’s girlfriend, Maggie, was watching for Randy at different points along on the course.  I was about 10 miles into the race when Maggie spotted me running along the Minnehaha Parkway and took this picture.

Maggie and I both worked in the same grocery store, so I knew I would see her again at work.  I ran over and handed her my keys.  I explained about the hole in my pocket, and I asked her to hang onto my keys and give them back to me the next time she saw me at work.  I had been holding those keys in my hand for eight miles.  It was a relief to get rid of them.

The current course includes a loop around Lake Nokomis.  The original route didn’t do that.  Instead, we continued along Minnehaha Parkway until we reached the Mississippi River.

I had read that it’s helpful to wear something with your name on it.  I didn’t have my name on my shirt, but I wore a mesh T-shirt with the maroon and gold colors of the University of Minnesota.  The word “Minnesota” was on the front.  At various times throughout the race, I heard shouts of “Go Minnesota” from the crowd.

From time to time, I heard music.  People in the crowd were playing music on boom boxes.  More than once, I heard the theme from “Rocky.”  One song that really resonated with me was “Break My Stride” by Matthew Wilder.  The chorus matched my mood perfectly:

“Ain't nothin' gonna break my stride.  Nobody gonna slow me down.  Oh no, I got to keep on moving.  Ain't nothin' gonna break-a my stride.  I'm runnin' and I won't touch ground.  Oh no, I got to keep on moving.”

Next, we followed the West River Parkway for about two and a half miles.  The current course continues north as far as the Franklin Avenue Bridge.  The original route crossed the river at Lake Street.  After that, the course was quite a bit different from the current route.  There were more miles in St. Paul, and there were some significant hills.

After crossing the river, Lake Street became Marshall Avenue.  I was still on Marshall Avenue when I reached the 14-mile sign.  I no longer felt fresh, but I was still on pace to finish in 3:30.

We followed Marshall as far as Fairview Avenue.  Then we turned right and headed south.  That’s when the wheels started to come off.  I had been running at an unsustainable pace.  On top of that, I had been sweating profusely since the start of the race.  Now, my legs were beginning to cramp.

The aid stations had water and ERG, which stood for energy replacement with glucose.  I was just drinking water, and it’s possible I was suffering from an electrolyte imbalance.

During my long training runs, I drank both water and orange juice.  I would start out drinking water, but I would switch to orange juice when I got sick of drinking water.  It didn’t occur to me at the time, but that may be why I never had cramping like this in my long training runs.  Orange juice is a good source of potassium.

I wasn’t at all familiar with the streets in this neighborhood, so I didn’t know how long I had been running south along Fairview.  The street names were all unfamiliar.  I missed one of the mile markers, so I went a long way without any sense of how far I had gone.

The course went all the way down to the Highland Park neighborhood.  As you might guess from the name, this part of St. Paul is hilly.  Coming back along Edgecumbe Road and Lexington Parkway, I struggled with the hills.  I was about 22 miles into the race when I finally broke down and started walking on one of the hills.

As I was walking, Randy caught up to me.  He had started at a slower pace, but he moved past me as I was walking.  Later, Randy told me how surprised he was to see me.  We both assumed I would be faster, but Randy paced himself more sensibly.

I forced myself to start running again, but I walked again on the next hill.  I was on my third long walking break when John passed me.  John was wearing a light-colored shirt, and there were two streams of blood running down the front of his shirt.  I had already learned to put band-aids over my nipples on long runs.  I’m sure it was painful, but he was still running.  I was walking.

I forced myself to run again, but I took one last walking break as I started the last mile of the race.  I was disappointed with my overall pace, but I realized I could still break four hours.  I made a guess of how long I could afford to walk before I would need to run the rest of the way.

We crossed the freeway on John Ireland Boulevard.  The current course finishes in front of the state capitol.  The original course made a turn in front of the capitol and then turned again onto Wabasha Street.  We crossed the freeway again and ran down a steep hill toward the finish line, which was near Dayton’s.

My sister, Betty, and her husband, John, were watching for me near the finish.  As I ran down that hill, Betty took a picture.

I finished with an official time of 3:59:39.  They didn’t use chip timing back then, so that time includes the time it took me to reach the starting line after the gun went off.  I didn’t start my watch until I crossed the starting line.  According to my watch, my actual time on the course was 3:59:18.

Betty and John gave me a ride home, but first we stopped for lunch at Pannekoeken Huis, which specialized in Dutch oven pancakes.  I had a pancake with strawberry topping.  I can still remember how the strawberry sauce made my mouth sting.  That’s when I realized I was badly dehydrated.

I used to always watch the Minnesota Vikings football games on Sundays.  They had a noon game that day, and I was anxious to get home before I missed too much of the game.  I remember they were playing the Dallas Cowboys.  I don’t remember who won.

The next time I went to work, I got my keys from Maggie.  I never used that pocket again. 

Race Report: 2025 Bound for Boston Marathon

On August 17, I ran the Bound for Boston Marathon in Maple Grove, MN.  This race is put on by Five Star NTP, which also has “Bound for Boston” marathons in several other cities.

I only learned about this race a few months ago.  I was pleased to discover a local race that I could run in August.  Deb had knee replacement surgery two weeks ago, and I don’t plan to travel anywhere until she’s farther along in her recovery.  If I was going to run a marathon in August, it had to be a local race.

I was so excited to find a race I could do without traveling that I didn’t look too closely at the details of the race.  It wasn’t until later that I discovered that this race was first held in 2024.  When I looked up last year’s results, I saw only seven names listed.  Of those, only five finished.  I’m not sure what surprised me more, the small number of participants or the fact that two didn’t finish.

I belong to various clubs like the 50 States Marathon Club and Marathon Maniacs.  They have rules about what’s considered to be a marathon.  It can’t just be a few friends getting together and running a 26.2-mile training run.  It has to be an official race.

This race met most of the rules.  There was a website, they provided advance notice of the race, the course was measured to be at least 26.2 miles, there was a race director and independent timekeeping, and they publish results.  There was only one potential problem.  Those clubs require a minimum number of finishers.  Five isn’t enough.

I initially attributed the low turnout to the fact that 2024 was the first year.  I didn’t know about this race last year.  Maybe other people didn’t know about it either.  I was cautiously optimistic that they would have a higher turnout in their second year.

The course is certified, and the race is billed as a good place to qualify for Boston, because the course is flat.  I was skeptical of that.  To run a fast time, you also need favorable weather, and August isn’t known for cool temperatures.

About two weeks before the race, I noticed something else that I had previously overlooked.  As I was looking up the race morning schedule, I saw that packet pickup started at 5:45, and the race started at 6:30.  That’s all fine.  Then I noticed that the course closes at 10:30.  What?  That’s only four hours after the start.  I had to doublecheck.  The time limit was four hours.

Now I understood why so few people do this race.  Apparently, they’re only expecting runners who are trying to qualify for Boston.  Four hours is a tight enough time limit to deter many middle-of-the-pack runners.  It completely excludes back-of-the-pack runners.

I know several runners who do most of the local races.  In general, they’re always looking for an opportunity to fit an extra race into their schedule.  Unfortunately, four hours is just too fast for them.  I couldn’t even be confident that I could finish in four hours.  On a good day, I can run a time in the 3:40s, but that’s with favorable conditions.  If it was a hot day, finishing in four hours might prove to be difficult.

I was expecting temperatures in the 70s with high humidity.  The wildcard was a possible thunderstorm.  A large storm system had stalled over the Midwest.  The day before the race, we had periods of heavy rain with thunder, and there were flash flood warnings.

I set my alarm for 4:00 AM, but a loud noise woke me up ay 3:30.  I couldn’t get back to sleep, so I ate breakfast and started getting ready.  I was relieved when I looked outside and didn’t see any rain.

I checked the weather app on my phone.  It said heavy rain would be starting in about an hour.  I looked at the weather radar and saw a large storm system was slowly moving up from farther south.

Would they cancel the race if there was a thunderstorm?  I checked my email and saw a new email form the race organizers.  It made no mention of the weather.  It was just the QR code I would need to pick up my race packet.  I left a little early, in case I had to drive through heavy rain.

The race venue was Fernbrook Elementary School.  The course was 24 laps of a 1.1 mile loop going around the school grounds.  It was mostly paved, but had a section of wooden walkway.

I showed up with several concerns.  Could I stay on pace for a four-hour finish in these conditions?  How many other runners would be running?  If I finished in time, would my running clubs even count it?  Would I be running in a thunderstorm?

I was going to give it a try regardless.  It’s been three weeks since my last marathon, and my next one isn’t until September.  If nothing else, I needed a long training run to bridge the long gap between my last marathon and my next one.

I got in line behind two other runners to pick up my race bib.  The runners ahead of me were both doing the half marathon.  When it was my turn, I asked the race director how many people were running the marathon.  He said 24 runners were signed up for it.  That assuaged my first concern.  The race was large enough.

Another runner asked about the time limit.  The race director said they only say four hours, because they don’t want runners signing up who will need seven hours to finish.  He went on to say that he wouldn’t pull anyone off the course if they weren’t done in four hours.  He just didn’t want us to still be on the course at noon.

I talked to two other runners before the race who both said they were expecting times between 4:00 and 4:30.  If I couldn’t break four hours, I would still get an official finish, and I wouldn’t be the last runner on the course.  That took care of my second concern.  I would try to break four hours, but it wouldn’t be a big deal if I took a little longer.

My last concern was the weather.  When I left the house, it looked like heavy rain would arrive about the same time we were starting.  After making a bathroom stop, I checked my weather app again.  Either the storm was dissipating, or it was missing us.  At worst, we might have a few periods of light sprinkles.  As it turns out, we didn’t get any rain at all.

The path we were running on was wide enough for two runners side-by-side, but it wasn’t wide enough for a large group.  To keep the first lap from being congested, we had a staggered start.  We formed a line, and we were started a few seconds apart.  The race was chip-timed, so nobody lost any time waiting for their turn to start.

As I started running, I was on my own to establish the right pace.  I started somewhat aggressively.  Beyond that, I was scouting the course.  I had never run this loop before.

We had some periods of heavy rain on Friday and Saturday, so I was looking to see if any parts of the course were flooded.  I saw one puddle, but everywhere else we had dry footing.

As advertised, the course was flat.  As for the wooden section, it was a long bridge over a marshy area.  Bridges like this always make me nervous, but it was in good condition, and I never tripped.

We didn’t all line up in the same order we would eventually finish.  Inevitably, I passed a few runners, and a few runners passed me.  By the end of the first lap, however, everything shook out.  We were spread out far enough that I was running by myself, but I could always see the runner in front of me.

I felt like I was running too fast.  When I got my split for the first mile, it was 8:15.  That confirmed my suspicion.  To break four hours, I only needed to average 9:09 per mile.  For a Boston qualifier (3:50), I needed to average 8:45.  I was 30 seconds faster than that.

After that, I eased up a bit.  My second mile was 8:40.  That was more reasonable, but it was still fast enough for a Boston qualifier.  That wasn’t my goal at the start of the day, but I decided to go for it.  If there was a hard four-hour cutoff, I would’ve paced myself more conservatively, to make sure I finished within the time limit.  Knowing there wasn’t a hard cutoff emboldened me to run more aggressively.  I risked blowing up, but I knew I would get a chance to finish.

Early in my third lap, another runner caught up with me.  His name was Brian.  He was in town on business and saw this race as an opportunity to run a Minnesota marathon while he was already here.  Before the race, I met another runner who said the same thing.

I asked Brian what his goal was.  It was 3:45.  That was faster than my goal, but it wasn’t completely unreasonable.  I decided to run with Brian for a while and see how it went.

Although me didn’t have rain, we still had overcast skies.  That was a blessing.  The temperature was 70 degrees, and the dew point was 66, so the humidity was high.  Fortunately, we had a nice breeze that helped counteract the humidity.  The conditions, while not ideal, were about the best I could’ve hoped for at this time of year.

Brian and I were in our fifth lap when a faster runner came up on our left.  The fastest runner was already lapping us.  That wasn’t surprising, as this is a race that’s designed to appeal to faster runners.

There were tables in the start/finish area where runners could leave bottles or other nutrition.  They also had a table with cups of water and Gatorade.  As we were finishing our sixth lap, Brian needed to stop to refill his bottle.  I went ahead on my own.

Running with Brian, my mile times were in the 8:30s.  I was planning to ease up a bit while I was waiting for him to catch up, but I kept going at the same pace.

About halfway through the next lap, two more fast runners lapped me.  Then Brian caught up to me.  I didn’t expect him to catch up so quickly.  It seemed like he was running a little faster now.  I had to work harder to keep up with him.

I was drinking Gatorade at the end of each even-numbered lap.  As I paused to drink at the end of our eighth lap, I fell behind Brian.  I wasn’t able to catch up to him.  I had to let him go and run at my own pace.  My pace wasn’t as consistent now, but most of my mile times were still in the 8:30s.

I was in my ninth lap when the lead woman lapped me.  Her name was Olivia.  Before the race, I heard her tell another runner her goal was 3:35.  It’s not surprising that she lapped me, but it was surprising that she did it so early in the race.

After 12 laps, I was half done.  I wasn’t keeping up with Brian, but I was still on pace to break 3:45.

The cups at the aid station only had about an inch of Gatorade in them.  I was more conscious of the humidity now, and I realized I wasn’t drinking enough.  In the second half of the race, I drank at the end of every lap.

During my 14th lap, I realized I was catching up with Brian, so I worked a little harder to close the gap.  When I caught up to him, I realized he was slowing down.  I ended up going ahead of him.

When I paused to drink some Gatorade at the end of that lap, Brian caught up to me again.  I eased up a bit so I could run with him.  We were less than halfway through that lap when Brian told me he was fading and I should go on ahead on my own.  My time for that mile was 8:51, which was my slowest so far.  In the next mile, I sped up to 8:45, which was the pace I needed to average for a BQ.

As I was coming to the bridge in my 16th lap, I recognized Olivia in the distance.  She was just coming off the bridge.  It was a long bridge, but I was still surprised to see her.  I though she would be much farther ahead of me by now.  Two other women had lapped me, and I didn’t see either of them, so Olivia was no longer leading the race.

In the next lap, as I got onto the bridge again, I saw Olivia was still on the bridge.  I wasn’t as far behind now.  I challenged myself to catch up to her.  I brought my pace back down into the 8:30s.

Early in my 18th lap, I saw that I was going to catch up to Olivia.  I wondered if she still expected to break 3:35.  I was still a lap behind her, but I wondered if it made sense to run with her for the rest of the race.

I was just about to catch up to Olivia when she started walking, so she could drink some water.  I passed her and continued running on my own.

After 18 laps, I was three quarters done, but it was getting more difficult.  I was feeling the humidity in a big way now.  The conditions had not changed.  They just gradually took a toll on me.  Other runners were slowing down.  So far, I was keeping up a consistent pace, but it was getting more difficult.

For two more laps, I kept up the same pace.  I had built up a cushion, and I wondered if I was going to give it back now.

The race director had a PA system.  Whenever someone finished a lap, he announced their name, how many laps they completed, and their time for the lap they had just finished.  When I finished my 20th lap, my time for that lap was 9:29.  To stay on pace for a Boston qualifier, I needed to average 9:35 per lap.  With four laps to go, I just needed to average 10:15 per lap the rest of the way.

At this point, I began to slow down.  My split for mile 22 was 8:54.  The next mile was 9:04.  In lap 22, I felt like I was running out of gas, but I fought to keep from slowing down too much.  As I neared the end of that lap, I saw that I sped up to 9:02.  That was reassuring.

As I started my 23rd lap, it occurred to me that I just had 2.2 miles to go.  I was fading, but I was pretty sure I could keep it together for 2.2 miles.  I might slow down, but I would still break 3:50.

I fought hard to keep up my effort for another lap.  If I could hold pace for one more lap, I would have room to slow down in the last lap.

In mile 25, I slowed to 9:13.  That wasn’t too bad.  As I finished lap 23, I checked my time.  To break 3:50, I needed to run my final lap in 12:08.  So far, all my lap times had been under 10 minutes.

I could afford to average almost 11 minutes per mile in that last lap.  The scary thing is that I often run as slowly as that in summer training runs.  If I allowed myself to slow to a pace that felt comfortable, it might not be fast enough.  I had to force myself to keep up my effort for one more lap.  I knew I could do it, but it wasn’t going to feel good.

I only slowed down by a few seconds in my last lap.  I finished the race in 3:47:46.

Immediately after I finished, one of the volunteers handed me a bottle of water and a bottle of Gatorade.  I don’t usually feel like drinking after a race, but I knew I would need both of them.  I also drank a cup of Gatorade from the aid station.

They had the same medals for both races, but marathon runners also received a pin that said “Marathon.”

I was also handed another pin.  There were awards to the top three men and women overall, the top master (over 40), the top grandmaster (over 50), the top senior grandmaster (over 60), plus age group awards.  I expected to win the senior grandmasters division.  I was surprised to find out that I was third overall.

When I got back to my car, my clothes were soaked, and I was still sweating profusely.  Sweat from my forehead was dripping into my eyes, making them sting.  I really could have used a towel, but I didn’t think to bring one.  Four hours after getting home, I was still working to get rehydrated.

This race took a lot out of me, but I couldn’t be happier with my result.  I originally just wanted another marathon to bridge the gap between two marathons that were seven weeks apart.  I would’ve been content to run it like a training run.  Instead, I got a BQ and a third-place finish.

Race statistics:

Distance:  26.2 miles

Time:  3:47:46

Average Pace:  8:41 per mile

First Half:  1:52:20

Second Half:  1:55:26

Marathons/Ultras in 2025:  25

Lifetime Marathons/Ultras:  560

Minnesota Marathons/Ultras:  114

Boston Qualifiers:  180

2025 National Senior Games: 5000 Meter Race-Walk

On July 29, I competed in my second race-walk event of the National Senior Games.  Today’s event was 5,000 meters.

The venue for today’s race was Jack Trice Stadium.  That’s the football stadium used by the Iowa State Cyclones.  Our course was a one-kilometer circuit on a road that goes past the parking lots.  We needed to walk this circuit five times.

In yesterday’s 1,500-meter race, I was fourth in my age group.  That’s always a little bit disappointing, since the top three get medals.  Historically, I’ve always been more competitive at 5,000 than I am at 1,500, so I had hope that I might be able to place higher today.

There were only two heats today, one for women and one for men.  That meant most of the walkers in my heat were in different age groups.  I knew which walkers placed second and third in my age group yesterday.  Two years ago, at the National Senior Games in Pittsburgh, I finished ahead of both of them.  My goal was to beat at least one of them today.

I got to the stadium in time to see the women’s heat.  That also gave me a chance to see what the course looked like.

The course was mostly out-and-back, but there was a small loop at either end.  We started and finished in the middle.

The two men who finished second and third in yesterday’s race were Dan and Brett.  While talking to Dan before the race, I learned that Brett wasn’t doing this race.  There were only five men in my age group today.  One was David Swarts, who was much faster than anyone else.  Dan and I were likely to take second and third.  My revised goal was to see if I could outrace Dan for second place.

The fastest walkers lined up in front.  Dan and I were each lined up in the second row.  As we started, I kept an eye on Dan.  We each started at about the same pace, but Dan gradually moved in front of me.  Then, I did my best to stay close to him.

As we came around the loop at the south end of the course, I started to fall farther behind Dan.  Coming out of that turn, I was about 20 meters behind him.  After that, I picked up my effort to keep from falling any farther behind.

I trailed behind Dan but kept pace with him until we went around the loop at the north end of the course.  Then I started to close the gap.  I realized I could catch up to him.

I pulled alongside Dan just as we were completing our first lap.  He turned his head toward me and said, “Go get it.”  I knew at this point that Dan wasn’t too concerned about competing with me.  His primary goal was to get a medal.  He didn’t care as much if it was silver or bronze.

My time for the first kilometer was 6:22.  My average pace per kilometer yesterday was 6:15, so I wasn’t that much slower.  If I could keep up this pace, I could break 32 minutes.  I would be very happy if I could do that.

As we started the second lap, I moved ahead of Dan.  That made me a little bit nervous.  Was I starting too fast?”

When I made it around the loop at the south end of the course, I noticed for the first time how far ahead of me the leaders were.  I had nobody to chase.  The faster walkers were much faster.  I was the best of the rest.

It was easier to push myself when I was chasing Dan.  It was now much tougher to coax myself to go as fast as I could.

As I made it back to the midpoint of the course, I had completed 1,500 meters.  I had already gone as far as yesterday’s race.  I still had 3,500 meters to go.

After another 100 meters, I got my split for the first mile.  It was 10:25.  That was consistent with my one-kilometer split.

I did my best to keep up my pace, but with nobody to chase, I eased up a bit.  When I finished that lap, I saw that my second kilometer was 20 seconds slower than the first one.  It was now clear that I wouldn’t break 32 minutes.  At this pace, I wouldn’t even break 33 minutes.

I wasn’t going to catch anyone in front of me, but I had to remind myself that other walkers might be crying to catch me.  My best chance to see who was behind me was when I went around the loops at either end of the course.  The next time I went around one, I looked to see who was coming.  There were two walkers who were about 15-20 meters behind me.  One was Dan, but there was another walker who was just ahead of him.  I didn’t recognize him, so I was pretty sure he wasn’t in my age group.  I knew everyone in my age group.  Still, I wanted to stay ahead of him.

When I came back to the middle, I was half done with the race.  I forgot to check my time.  It didn’t matter that much.  I cared much more about my position in the race than what my time was.

The next time I came around a turn, I looked again.  The same guy was behind me.  Dan was starting to fall farther behind him.

When I’m doing race-walk training, I think a lot about my mechanics.  I think about things I can do to go faster, like increasing my cadence, or rolling through my toes as I push off my trailing foot.  Today, I didn’t think about any of that.  I just thought about my pace and my effort.

The only aspect of my form that I thought about was keeping my knee straight on my supporting leg.  That’s a rule in a judged competition.  I never think about it when I’m training – only in a race.

There were six race-walk judges.  Because the course was mostly out-and-back, each one of them would see us twice per lap.  On average, we were passing a judge every 50 meters, so we were constantly being watched.

The judges look for two things: are we maintaining contact with the ground at all times, and are we keeping our knee straight.

If you have both feet off the ground at the same time, it’s called “lifting.”  It’s pretty easy to avoid doing that.  If you’re lifting, you can feel it.  The only way you’re going to get flagged for lifting is if you’re blurring the line between walking and running.

It’s more difficult to avoid having a slightly bent knee.  Without being able to see yourself, you can’t know for sure if your knee is always straight.  When people get disqualified, it’s usually for bent knee.

When a judge sees a violation, they can either warn you or give you a “red card.”  If three different judges give you red cards, you’re disqualified.  They had a white board near the end of our circuit that showed the number of red cards of any competitor who had at least one.

Each time I was coming to the end of a lap, I looked at this board.  For the first two laps, there was only one guy with a red card.  By the end of the third lap, he had two red cards, and another guy had one.  By the end of the race, several walkers had red cards, and two were disqualified.

People who get red cards for bent knee are more apt to have it happen later in the race.  Their form begins to break down as they get fatigued.  It’s more of a problem for older walkers, whose knees aren’t what they used to be.

I always think about this in a race, but it’s rarely been a problem for me.  Here’s a picture my friend Anita took during the race.  It shows how straight my leg is as I’m making contact.

Early in my fourth lap, I got my split for the second mile.  It was 10:44.  That was 19 second slower than my first mile.  I tried to keep from slowing down any more, but I was getting hot.  The temperature at the start was only 70 degrees, but it was warming up quickly, and we were in the sun.  I was sweating pretty hard.

As I was nearing the midpoint of that lap, I heard a bell.  The leader was already starting his final lap.  It was David Swarts.  He was already about 600 meters ahead of me.

With a little less than a lap and a half to go, I glanced to my left and saw two shadows.  One was mine.  The other was the guy behind me.  Somebody was getting close.

That was the incentive I needed to pick up my effort.  Without knowing who was behind me, I wanted to get some separation.  The next time I looked to my left, I could see that our shadows were farther apart.

The last time I came around a turn, I looked to see who was chasing me.  It was the same guy who had passed Dan earlier.  I was starting to build a safe lead again.

With less than 500 meters to go, I pushed hard to pick up my pace and finish strong.  Before finishing, I got my split for mile three.  It was two seconds slower than mile two, but that’s not too bad.  Now I was almost finished.

I had been lapping several of the slower walkers.  There were three more between me and the finish line.  I managed to pass all three of them before finishing.  I finished in 33:21.

We had to wait a long time for the awards.  A few walkers were disqualified in each heat.  They had to give those walkers at least 30 minutes to appeal before they could finalize the results.  They also held off on the awards ceremonies for any age group that included people who were still competing in another event.  More than an hour after I finished, they finally did the awards presentation for my age group.  As I expected, I won the silver medal.

Before my race, I notice a little bit of tension in my left Achilles tendon.  I never noticed it during the race.  It wasn't until about an hour after the race that I even thought about it.

I’ve been feeling a little discouraged, because I knew my training wasn’t as good this year.  I was also a little discouraged when I didn’t win a medal yesterday.  My pace was a little slow today, but I’m very pleased to have finished second.  That was the best I could possibly have done.

This is the last year than the senior games will include race-walking events.  There’s another walking discipline called power walking.  It’s similar to race-walking but it has different rules.  If I want to continue competing as a walker in the senior games, I’ll have to switch to power walking.  I’m not sure at this point what my future plans are.  I need to make sure I understand the rules.

Race statistics:

Distance:  5000 meters

Time:  33:21

Average pace:  6:40 per kilometer (10:44 per mile)

Place in age group:  second

National Senior Games: 1500 Meter Race-Walk

On July 28, I competed in my first of two race-walk events at the National Senior Games in Iowa.  Today’s event was 1500 meters.  That’s three and 3/4 laps around a track.

The National Senior Games have events in two dozen different sports, including running and race-walking.  I qualified for these events by competing in the Minnesota Senior Games last summer.

I was originally signed up for four events.  I was going to do the 5K road race on July 24, the 10K road race on July 26, the 1500 meter race-walk today, and the 5000 meter race-walk tomorrow.  I decided to skip the 5K run, so I could stay in St. Cloud long enough to do the entire Summer Camp Series.  Then I skipped the 10K run, so I could to the Xenia Avenue Marathon.

I can’t run a 5K or 10K fast enough to place in my age group.  These events are too large and competitive.  By skipping those two events, I was able to run three extra marathons instead.

The host city for this year's National Senior Games is Des Moines, but the race-walk events are being held 50 miles away in Ames.  If I was also doing the running events, I would’ve stayed in Des Moines.  Since I’m only doing the race-walking events, I decided to stay in Ames.  Unfortunately, I still had to do athlete check-in and packet pickup in West Des Moines.

I drove to Ames yesterday, arriving in the early afternoon.  After checking in at my hotel and doing some unpacking, I drove over to the Cyclone Sports Complex, to check out the race venue for today’s race.

Next, I went to the MidAmerican RecPlex in West Des Moines to do athlete check-in and packet pickup.  All athletes received a gift bag that included a program and a few product samples, all oriented toward seniors.

I'm wearing the same race bibs for both of my race-walking events.  There’s one to wear in front and another to wear on my back.  Both race bibs have my number, but the front bib has my name, and the back bib has my age.

I was pleased to see that everyone would have their age on their back.  There’s more than one age group in each heat, so it’s helpful to know who I’m completing with and who I can ignore.

Ames is a college town.  I found a good pizza place near the Iowa State University campus.  After dinner, I went to bed as early as I could.

After the last day of the Summer Camp Series, my left Achille tendon was tight.  I rested the next two days, but I could feel it during the Xenia Avenue Marathon on Saturday.  After that race, it was worse.  I’ve done everything I know to recover, but I went into this morning’s race knowing it might be an issue.  For most of my daily activities, I’ve been putting some padding under my heel, to ease the tension on my Achilles tendon.  I wasn’t comfortable doing that for a race-walking event.  I wasn’t sure how that would alter my stride.  I just had to hope for the best.

My heat was the fifth of the morning.  It didn’t start until 9:20 AM, which gave me time to eat breakfast at the hotel.

As I was eating breakfast, I noticed that it had rained overnight.  I expected the track to be wet.  I went to the track a little early, so I could watch some of the other heats and observe the condition of the track.

As I expected, there were a few puddles on the track, including one in the inside lane right at the start of a turn.

There were four age groups in my heat.  It included all men between the ages of 50 and 69.  In all, there were 19 of us.  We were assigned hip numbers based on our qualifying times, and we lined up across the track in order of our numbers.  I was seeded 15th out of 19.

Two years ago, at the National Senior Games in Pittsburgh, I walked the 1500 in 9:01, and I placed third in my age group.  This year, I had lower expectations.  I’ve done very little race-walk training in the last month.  Based on the training I had done before that, I expected to be about 20 seconds slower this year.  It didn’t seem likely that I would be fast enough to win a medal.

For the first 100 meters, I tried to outrace people to the turn.  Eight other walkers got to the turn ahead of me.  I started at a pace that already had me out of breath, so I knew I wouldn’t catch up to any of these eight guys.  They quickly pulled away.

After completing one full lap, I started to hear other walkers behind me.  I could see their shadows on the track.  Three guys were right on my tail.  I tried to stay ahead of them, but one of them surged ahead of me before we reached the turn.  As he went by, I saw that he was 57 years old.  He wasn’t in my age group.

I held my position going around the next turn.  Halfway down the straightaway, I saw one of the other guys pulling ahead of me.  He also wasn’t in my age group.

The third guy went around me in the next turn.  He wasn’t in my age group either.  That was a relief.  Had I not known the ages of these three walkers, I would’ve wrecked myself trying to keep up with them.  Instead, I was able to maintain a sustainable pace and focus on keeping my knees straight.

Judging at the National Senior Games is usually pretty strict.  Two guys got disqualified in this race.  Nobody was right behind me, so I was able to focus on keeping my form legal, rather than fighting to be a few seconds faster.

With 300 meters to go, I noticed that the guy ahead of me was starting to slow down.  I made a point of passing him before the next turn, so I wouldn't be bottled up behind him.

I kept up the same pace for the last 200 meters .  I finished in 9:22.  That put me in fourth place in my age group.  The top three get medals.  Places four through eight get ribbons.  As it turns out, there were only six men in my age group.

Both my time and my place were about what I expected, so I can’t be too disappointed.  I can try again for a medal in tomorrow’s 5000-meter race.  In the past, I’ve been stronger in that event.

The best news of the day is that my Achilles tendon didn’t bother me at all during the race, and it also didn’t tighten up afterwards.

Race statistics:

Distance:  1500 meters

Time:  9:22

Average pace:  6:15 per kilometer (10:03 per mile)

Place in age group:  fourth

Race Report: 2025 Xenia Avenue Marathon

On July 26, I ran the Xenia Avenue Marathon in Brooklyn Park, MN.  I’ve run this race every year since its inception in 2020.  It’s the only race that I’ve never missed.

I drove to Brooklyn Park on Friday to pick up my race packet.  I could’ve waited until Saturday morning, but picking it up on Friday gave me the opportunity to stop at Rocky Rococo for my pre-race pizza.  Rocky Rococo is a Wisconsin-based chain with pan-style pizza by the slice.  The Brooklyn Park restaurant is the only location in Minnesota, and I don’t get there very often.

The race started Saturday morning at 6:30 at Orchard Trail Park.  Parking was available across the street at Champlin Park High School.  This race is a fundraiser for the Champlin Park track team, and most of the race volunteers are students.

The race consisted of a 2.2 mile loop, followed by five laps of a 4.8 mile loop.  The first loop started out on paved bike trails, but included about one mile on city streets.  It was this section that included two blocks along Xenia Avenue.

The longer loop was entirely on paved bike trails.  About half of it was out-and-back along the Rush Creek Regional Trail.  We had two-way traffic on this trail, and we were sharing it with bikes.  I’ve learned to keep right, rather than trying to run the tangents.

We went through a tunnel under Douglas Drive.  Then we continued through Oak Grove Park.

There was an aid station set up at a junction inside the park.  We went by this aid station three times per lap.  There was also an aid station near the finish line.

After passing this aid station the first time, we did a short out-and-back.  When we got back to the aid station, we ran a loop that took us through the park and around a meadow.

It was a typical summer day, with temperatures in the 70s and 80s.  It was too hot to race for a fast time, so my plan was to treat this race just like the Summer Camp races.  My only goal was to finish within five hours.

I saw a lot of other runners I knew.  About a dozen of them had done one or more of the Summer Camp races.  I started the race with my friend Karen.  Her plan was to run for the first half of the race and then switch to a run/walk strategy.

After my last race, my left Achilles tendon felt really tight.  I’ve had two rest days since then, and I’ve been icing and stretching, but I didn’t know how it would feel today.

In the early laps, I sometimes noticed it when I stopped to drink at an aid station or when I resumed running.  Other times, I noticed that the top of my left calf felt tight or sore.  I barely noticed it, but it was a concern.

I let Karen set the pace.  We were going at a pace that was a little faster than I probably would have started on my own.  I noticed the high humidity, but it wasn’t forcing me to slow down.

Occasionally, Karen would notice that her heart rate was getting too high.  Then we would ease up a little on the pace.  Whenever she mentioned it, I would look at my watch to see what my heart rate was.  It was always 120 or 121.  The conditions were bothering her much more than they bothered me.

We ran the short lap together, plus the first two long laps.  Early in our third long lap, we reached the halfway mark.  I was surprised to see that we were on pace for 4:30.  Our average pace was about 10:15 per mile.  All through the summer camp series, I was averaging 11 minutes per mile or slower.  Apparently two rest days made a huge difference.

For the second half of the race, Karen switched to one minute of walking for every three minutes of running.  I kept running and went ahead on my own.

The miles always pass easier when you’re running with someone else and having a conversation.  I expected it to feel more tiring when I was running on my own.  I fully expected to slow down to something closer to 11 minutes per mile.

As I continued through that lap, I noticed that all my mile splits were under 10 minutes.  On my own, I was speeding up.  I started to wonder if I could keep that up.  I tentatively set a goal of running negative splits.

After that lap, I had to make a bathroom stop.  The next time I got a split from my watch, it was under 10 minutes, even with the bathroom stop.  I had just under two laps to go, and I was now fully invested in keeping my pace under 10 minutes.  For the rest of that lap, my pace was in the 9:20s and 9:30s.

I paid attention to how my Achilles tendon felt each time I stopped at an aid station or turned a sharp corner.  I still noticed it a little, but not as much as I did in the first half of the race.  I no longer noticed any tightness in my calf muscle.

I also sometimes checked my heart rate.   Each time I looked, it was 131.  That’s higher than it was during the first half of the race, but I was nowhere close to my limit.

There were volunteers at all the important turns.  At some of them, they were writing down the bib numbers of each runner who passed.  As I reached the end of the out-and-back section, the volunteer there said, “I’ll only see you one more time.”

As I was going around the meadow, a volunteer at one of the turns said, “You’re almost there.”  I definitely wasn’t almost there.  I wasn’t even in my last lap yet.  I still had at least seven miles to go.

When I started my last lap, I was determined to keep up the same pace.  I’ve run this loop enough times that I know every inch of it.  I broke it into segments, and I focused on keeping up a good pace on the next segment.  The first segment was getting around Orchard Trail Park and out to the Rush Creek Trail.  When I saw my split for mile 22, it was 9:18.  That was my fastest mile so far.

The next segment was getting to the tunnel.  As I ran through the tunnel, I saw Daniel going the other way.  Daniel is one of the race directors of the Mainly Marathons races.  I’ve seen him at a lot of marathons, but I rarely see him running one.  Of all the people doing this race who were also at the Summer Camp Series, he was the fastest.  He was only about a mile from finishing his last lap.

Shortly after exiting the tunnel, I saw Karen.  She was about two miles behind me now.  She was a full lap behind Daniel.

When I got my split for mile 23, it was a few seconds faster than the previous mile.  I was accelerating.

I reached the turnaround of the out-and-back section for the last time.  The volunteer said, “This is the last time you have to see me.”  I was thinking more about seeing each part of the course for the last time.  Now I was on my way back, but I still had to go through Oak Grove Park and around the meadow.

I drank at the secondary aid station every time I went by.  That included before and after that short out-and-back section.  I wondered if stopping to drink twice in the same mile would slow me down.  I was almost to the meadow when I got my split for mile 24.  It was 9:27, despite stopping twice at the aid station.

My watch had been reading high.  It said I was at 24 miles, but I knew I had at least two and a half miles to go.

I was coming back through the park when I got my split for mile 25.  I sped up to 9:08 in that mile.

As I got back to the Rush Creek Trail, I drank at the aid station for the last time.  The Gatorade was ice cold.  They must have just poured it form a bottle that was on ice.  As I resumed running, I increased my cadence.  Now, I was on the home stretch.  At most, I had a mile and a half to go.

I made it back to the tunnel.  Just after the tunnel, I saw Karen, who was now on her last lap.  I told her I was going to run negative splits by a wide margin.  At this point, I was pretty sure I was also bringing my average pace down under 10 minutes.

The Rush Creek Trail is serpentine.  I wanted to run the tangents, but I was careful never to cross the center line.  I still had to make a bend to the left and a bend to the right before I could see the spot where I would leave this trail.  I was just getting to the first bend when my watch gave me a split for mile 26.  It was 8:48.

I still had more than half a mile to go.  After two more bends, I could see the last important turn.  Now I was on my way back to Orchard Trail Park.

There wasn’t much wind.  Earlier in the race, I sometimes felt a breeze, and it briefly cooled me off.  As I was running toward Orchard Trail Park, I felt a breeze, but it wasn’t cool.  It was hot.  The pavement here had been in the sun all morning, and it was heating up.  The breeze was lifting heat from the pavement.

I felt hotter than at any time during the race, but I could see the finish line now.  I ran hard to the line, finishing in 4:18:49.  I ran negative splits by 11 minutes.

I immediately wanted something to drink.  I started to double back, so I could get something to drink from the aid station.  Then it occurred to me that there was probably a volunteer trying to hand me my finisher medal.  I turned around, and he crossed the path to give me my medal.  He also gave me a bottle of water.

Now that I had my water, I headed for the port-o-potty.  Suddenly, I desperately needed to pee.  That’s probably a good sign that I was drinking enough to stay hydrated.

The port-o-potty had been in the sun all morning, so it felt like I was in an oven.  I finished as quickly as I could and walked back to my car.

In the past, I’ve always made a lunch stop after the race.  Today, I just wanted to get home as quickly as I could.

It was only 70 degrees when I started the race, but now it was 85.  With the sun and humidity, it felt like 100.  How I was able to run faster in the second half is a mystery to me.

When I got home, I noticed how tight my Achilles tendon was.  It’s at least as tight as it was after the last Summer Camp race.  I’m going to need to work on that.

My next marathon isn’t for three weeks, but I have two race-walking events next week.  I’m not sure how those are going to go.  The Achilles tendon might be an issue.  Also, I’ve run so many marathons recently, that I’ve been completely neglecting my race-walk training.  Wish me luck. 

Race statistics:

Distance:  26.2 miles

Time:  4:18:49

Average Pace:  9:52 per mile

First Half:  2:14:53

Second Half:  2:03:56

Marathons/Ultras in 2025:  24

Lifetime Marathons/Ultras:  559

Minnesota Marathons/Ultras:  113

Summer Camp Series, Day 5

Today was the fifth and final day of the of the Mainly Marathons Summer Camp Series.  Since I also ran the last day of the Heartland Series, it was my sixth consecutive day running a marathon.  This race was at Quarry Park in Waite Park, MN.  This park has a network of gravel trails, plus several old granite quarries that have filled in with rain water.  Two of these quarries been converted to swimming holes.

I arrived at the park right at dawn.  I had bug spray on, but evidently not enough.  The mosquitoes were all over me until I added more and made sure I didn’t miss any spots.

It was another warm day.  The temperature at the start was in the mid-70s, with high humidity.  I was expecting a passing thunderstorm, but I was hoping to get done before it arrived.  We started at 6:00, and I was hoping the storm wouldn’t arrive before 11:00.

The last day of a series is always hot dog day.  Daniel wore his hot dog shorts while he did the pre-race announcements.

The aid station was set up in the parking lot.  From there, we entered the park on a gravel trail.

The first section through the woods has a small hill I call the “speed bump.”

From the “speed bump,” we continued until we reached this floating bridge.

The bridge has sections that can tilt up or down slightly when people are running on them.  When several of us were crossing the bridge at once, it felt a little bouncy.  The bridge took us across a clearing, which is kind of a marshy area.

Then we got back onto another gravel trail, which took us farther into the park.

The trail took us between two of the quarries.  As we ran near the quarries, we could feel a cold draft.  Everywhere else, it was warm and humid.  Near the quarries, it felt like air conditioning.

After the quarries, the rest of the trail had gently rolling hills.  There were a few turns, and you have to get around the last bend before you could see the turnaround.

On the way back, the climb over the “speed bump” is higher.  I ran it on my first lap, but after that, I started walking this hill.

For the first lap, I was mostly running by myself.  In the next few laps, I ran briefly with a few of the other runners.  One of them was Chris, who was running his first marathon.  Chris said that he does something epic every year.  This year, he was challenging himself to run a marathon.  When I learned that he had never run more than 14 miles before, I told him if it started getting tough, he should find a buddy to run with.  One nice thing about Mainly Marathons races is that there are always people who will encourage you and help you to keep going.

Besides the usual aid station food, they had regular hot dogs, jalapeño & cheese hot dogs, and smoked bratwurst, all cut into manageable portions to eat while running.  After my third lap, I ate half a bratwurst.  I walked just long enough to finish chewing, and then I resumed running.

When I reached the midpoint of my fourth lap, I was one fourth done with the race.  I checked my watch and saw that I was roughly on pace for a five-hour finish.  I thought if I could finish in five hours, I might get done before the thunderstorm arrived.

Over the next few laps, it seemed like I was slowing down a little.  I was really feeling the humidity.  I was able to break five hours on Monday, but that was a cooler day.

During my sixth lap, I saw several  high school or college students walking to quarry #2, which is the swimming hole along the route.  During the summer months, this park is a popular swimming spot.

I was in the last half of my seventh lap when I started to hear thunder.  It wasn’t raining yet, but it seemed imminent.  I wasn’t even half done yet.  There’s no way I would finish before the rain started.

At the halfway point, I was no longer on pace to break five hours.  That didn’t matter anymore, as I clearly wasn’t going to beat the rain.  I ate half a hot dog and then started my next lap.

I barely got started on that lap when it started raining.  It was coming down hard.  On the plus side, I no longer had to worry about getting hot.  The rain cooled me down and rinsed off all the sweat.

The approach to the turnaround is uphill.  I could see a small stream of water running down one side of the trail.  It had only been raining for 10 minutes, but already parts of the course were flooding.  The gravel trail drains well, but the rain was coming down much faster than it could soak into the ground.

It rained hard for the rest of that lap.  When I got back to the parking lot, I ran to my car.   I put my phone in the car, so it would get too wet.  On Monday, I had my phone in a plastic bag.  Today, the rain came so early it caught me by surprise.

I had a rain poncho in the car, but there was no point in putting it on now.  My clothes were already soaked.  It was a warm enough day that I wasn’t going to get cold.  With a plastic rain poncho, I might get too hot.

For the next lap, it wasn’t raining as hard.  As I finished that lap, I wondered if those students were still swimming.  They were.  When I got to the "air conditioned" part of the course, I saw fog.  The cold draft from the quarries was causing the moisture in the air to condense.  By the end of that lap, the rain had stopped.  Then I saw more groups heading to the swimming hole.

As I started my 10th lap, I caught up to Josie.  She was also doing her first marathon, and she was half done now.  I asked her how she was doing.  She was in good spirits.  She was mostly walking, and she found that the rain was cooling her off.  I was confident that she wouldn’t have any trouble finishing.

The rain gradually died down.  After the rain stopped, the trail started to dry up.  There were still some wide puddles in the low spots, but other parts of the trail improved quickly. 

After my 10th lap, I had another half of a hot dog.  This time it was one filled with jalapeños & cheese.  I tried to start running before I was done chewing, and I accidentally inhaled part of it.  That made me cough for the next few minutes.

It started raining again.  If anything, it was raining harder than before.  The hilly sections of the trail were like rivers.  The low-lying areas quickly flooded.  It was hard to get around the puddles.  Sometimes I had to guess where it wasn’t too deep and run through them.  I misjudged one of them and ran through a puddle that was ankle deep.

I had been wearing gaiters to keep grit out of my shoes.  I regretted that decision.  My gaiters now felt like wet rags around my ankles.

It rained hard for about two laps.  Then the rain stopped again.  With two laps to go, I picked up my pace.  I wasn’t going to break five hours, but there was a good chance I would finish first today.  I had noticed early in the race that there was only one runner who started faster, and that was Kristina, who was doing the half marathon.

After my 13th lap, I looked at my watch.  My time wasn’t as slow as I thought.  If I could run the last lap fast enough, maybe I could still break five hours.  I would need to run that lap in 13:43.  On Monday, I ran my last lap in 15 minutes.  The laps today were the same distance.  Running more than a minute faster was a real stretch, but I had no reason to hold back.  It was the last day of the series, so I didn’t need to keep any gas in the tank for tomorrow.

I picked up the pace as much as I could.  I did a time check at the turnaround.  I needed to get there with a time of 4:53:06 or better.  I was more than a minute slower than that.

Going out, it’s net uphill.  Coming back would be faster, but not that much faster.  I did my best, but I knew it wouldn’t be fast enough.  I even forced myself to run the “speed bump.”

The last two laps had been mostly dry, but it started raining again as I was nearing the end of that lap.  By the time I reached the parking lot, it was raining hard again.

I finished in 5:02:10.  I wasn’t even close to breaking five hours.  On the plus side, I took first place today.

Today, I received two new pieces for my chain of medals.  The first was the medal for today’s race, which featured a loon.  I also received an additional piece for completing the entire Summer Camp Series.  I could choose between two styles.  One matched the top piece.  The other was an older style.  I chose the older style, because I didn’t have one of those yet.

This is what the whole chain looks like.  It's cool, but you can't really wear it.

I had noticed earlier that there was a sheet cake at the aid station.  It was a birthday cake for Chris, who was running his first marathon on his birthday.  Chris was still on the course, but Kelly was beginning to cut the cake.  I had a slice of cake and some chocolate milk before gathering up my things.

The mosquitoes never bothered me while I was running, but a fly bit me on my upper back the last time I crossed the floating bridge.  That was a reminder that my bug spray had all washed off.  Now that I was no longer moving, the mosquitoes were all over me again.

It was still raining hard.  My clothes were soaking wet, and I didn’t want to sit in the car with wet clothes.  I had a plastic poncho in the back seat, but I needed to put it on before getting into the car.  I didn’t want to put it on while it was raining, so I had to wait for a break in the rain before I could put it on.

When the rain briefly let up, I dashed to the car, put on my poncho, and got in.  As I was driving back to my hotel, it started raining hard again.  At times, it was hard to see the road.

As I got out of my wet clothes and shoes, I noticed that my left Achilles tendon was tight.  Maybe running with wet socks and gaiters made the muscles tighten up.  It’s a good thing I don’t have a race tomorrow.  I’ll need a couple of easy days to recover.

Some people headed home after the race, but many of us are staying in St. Cloud for another night.  In the evening, we’ll have a post-race celebration at the Olde Brick House in downtown St. Cloud.  This is an annual event, which is only done after the Summer Camp Series.

Race statistics:

Distance:  26.2 miles

Time:  5:02:10

Average Pace:  11:31 per mile

First Half:  2:31:25

Second Half:  2:30:45

Marathons/Ultras in 2025:  23

Lifetime Marathons/Ultras:  558

Minnesota Marathons/Ultras:  112