This morning, I race-walked the Ely Marathon. This was one of only two remaining marathons
in Minnesota that I had never done. Ely
is in northeastern Minnesota, near the Boundary Waters Canoe Area.
Two weeks ago, I started to add running back into my
training. At this point, though, I’m
still not ready to run a whole marathon.
For this race, I decided to race-walk the whole thing.
I drove to Ely on Friday.
The drive took about four and a half hours. After arriving, I checked into a mom and pop hotel
called the Adventure Inn. Then I went to
Vermillion Community College to pick up my race packet.
Ely is a resort area.
It’s in a heavily forest region with hundreds of lakes. Most people come here for boating, fishing,
or canoeing. People from the southern
half of the state refer to this region as “up north.” After packet pickup, I explored the
town. There are several gift shops with
north woods themed merchandise.
When I got up this morning, the temperature was around 70
degrees. It wouldn’t change much during
the race. The big question was whether
it would rain. It wasn’t raining when I
got up, but there was about a 50 percent chance of showers or thunderstorms
throughout the morning.
The course was point-to-point, starting on the north side of
Burntside Lake and finishing in Ely. I
parked at Memorial High School, where buses where loading to take us to the
start. When I left the hotel, it was
raining. I wore shorts and a singlet,
because it was still 70 degrees, even if it was raining. I kept gloves and a plastic rain poncho in a
fanny pack, just in case we got a downpour during the race. I also wore a Tyvek jacket to keep warm while
I was waiting for the race to start.
Before getting on a bus, I asked a volunteer if there were
bathrooms nearby. He said there were
port-o-potties on the other side of the park, but if I just needed to do “manly
stuff,” I could go behind the building.
Then he added, “You’re in Ely now.”
I boarded a bus and we got on our way. We made a stop at the Grand Ely Lodge to pick
up runners who were staying there. While
we were on our way to Burntside Lake, the rain stopped. As we drove around the lake, the sun was just
rising, giving us a nice view over the lake.
We got dropped off around 7:00 for a 7:30 start.
The starting line was near a shelter that was being used by
the volunteers. I think it was part of a
YMCA camp. They had a table with water
and Gatorade. They also had a
campfire. They provided marshmallows and
roasting sticks, so I roasted a marshmallow as a pre-race snack.
Near the start, they had five port-o-potties. This was a small race, so that was
sufficient. Even after all the buses
unloaded, it only took 15 minutes to get through the line.
Before the race started, I took off my jacket and tied it
around my waist. They had a gear check,
but I didn’t want to bother with that for just my jacket. I knew we might be finishing in a
thunderstorm, in which case I would want to head straight for my car after
finishing the race.
The first mile of the race was on a dirt road. The soil was sandy, so the rain we got earlier
was already soaking in. The road was
wet, but not muddy.
They had pacers for numerous times, going up to 5:30. You don’t expect to see that at a small
race. As I started walking, the 5:30
pacer came alongside me and asked me how fast I usually walk a marathon. I told him I’ve only walked a few, but my
last two were in the low 5:20s. I said
this one was going to be low key. Then I
said, “Well … we’ll see.” I didn’t honestly
know how fast I would start, and sometimes I get ambitious.
Before long, I pulled away from the 5:30 group and found
myself just behind the 5:00 group. I
wondered if the 5:00 pacer was starting a little slow. 5:00 is a little faster than 11:30 per mile. I couldn’t believe I was on that pace. Then I reached the first mile marker in
11:29.
In the first mile, I started to feel a few drops. At first I thought they were falling from
tree branches. Then I realized it was
raining. It only lasted a few minutes,
but rain would come back later.
I was relieved when we got on pavement in the second
mile. After my fast start, I eased up a
bit. The next several miles were all
about 12 minutes. That was still a fast
pace, but it was more reasonable.
The early miles were hilly.
I had been told at packet pickup that this was a challenging
course. They weren’t kidding. It seems like I don’t speed up and slow down
as much as the runners do. On the first
particularly steep hill, I was keeping pace with the runners. I even passed one. At this point, I still wasn’t far behind the
5:00 pacer.
Going downhill, the runners would pull away from me. After that first big hill, the 5:00 pacer
started moving farther and farther ahead of me.
By the end of four miles, I sometimes lost sight of her when she went
around a bend in the road.
Over the next few miles I passed a few of the runners, but
gradually lost sight of the 5:00 pacer.
Then I was by myself. For several
miles, I couldn’t see anyone in front of me. I occasionally heard voices from behind
me. There were runners back there, but I
never saw them.
It started raining again.
It was a light rain, so it didn’t really bother me. For now, it was keeping me from getting too
hot.
There was a long steep hill just before the seven mile
mark. This one slowed me down and took
something out of me. That mile took me
12:51, which was by far my slowest.
After that, the course leveled off.
I was able to recover and get back into a good rhythm. I resumed walking 12 minute miles.
Between nine and ten miles, we passed the starting line for
the half marathon. Obviously, we
wouldn’t be following the same route. At
some point, we needed to run an extra three and a half miles.
After it had been raining for a while, puddles began to
form. We were running on the shoulder of
a highway, so there wasn’t always a lot of room to go around the puddles. I had mixed feelings about the rain. I wasn’t enjoying it, but I knew I would get
hot if the rain stopped.
For the first half of the race, we were mostly running along
the same highway, through forests and within sight of a few lakes. This was the scenic part of the course. Regrettably, I don’t have any pictures of the
course. I didn’t bring a camera, because
I didn’t want it to get wet.
We eventually left that road to begin a long out-and-back
section. We started this section by
climbing a big hill. When I reached the
13 mile mark, I was pleasantly surprised to see that I didn’t lose any time on
that hill. I turned in another 12 minute
mile. There wasn’t a sign for the
halfway mark, but I estimated I was on pace for a 5:15 finish. That would be a PR by almost eight minutes if
I could keep up the pace.
A few minutes later, the marathon and half marathon courses
diverged. We did a much longer version
of the out-and-back before rejoining them.
When we turned, we started a long dirt road section. In contrast to the dirt road at the beginning
of the race, this one had pot holes, which were filled with water.
For the first time in miles, I saw a runner in the distance,
wearing an orange shirt. I was gradually
catching up to him. Before I reached
him, I got to a steep downhill section with lots of rocks in the road. That was uncomfortable.
I turned a corner to see the 14 mile sign. Either it was misplaced, or I walked that
mile in less than 11 minutes.
Before getting to the 15 mile mark, I passed the runner in
the orange shirt. We turned onto another
dirt road and I start seeing runners who were on their way back from the
turnaround. The first one was the 4:30
pacer. Clearly, it was a long way to the
turnaround.
It took me 12 minutes to get from 14 to 15 miles. Now I wondered if both of these mile markers
were misplaced. Could I really have
thrown in a sub 11 minute mile?
When I got to the next aid station, the 5:00 pacer was on
her way back. She should have been about
eight minutes ahead of me. That gave me
a good idea how far it was to the turnaround.
There weren’t any other runners between us.
On my way back, I started feeling grains of sand that were
getting into my shoes. I’m prone to
developing blisters around my heels when I race-walk. They were going to be bad after this
race. The combination of rain, mud,
hills, cambered roads, and sand in my shoes were really taking a toll.
I never saw the 16 mile sign. When I got to 17, my combined time for those
two miles was 23:25. Apparently, I
gained another 35 seconds over a 12:00 pace.
If I could trust these mile markers, I was crushing the second half.
I eventually got back onto pavement. I thought I was nearing the end of the
out-and-back, but nothing looked familiar.
I should have looked at the course map.
We still had another out-and-back.
At least this one was on pavement.
When I got to the 18 mile sign, a volunteer saw me looking
at my watch and said, “I don’t think you can trust it.” She was referring to the placement of the
mile marker. This one was clearly way
off. Either that, or I slowed to 15
minutes. Now I didn’t know if I could trust
the previous four mile markers. Maybe I
really did speed up. Maybe I was still going the same pace. Maybe I was starting to slow down. I had no idea.
I looked forward to seeing the 19 mile marker, so I could
get a better idea. I never saw it. Eventually, I reached the 20 mile sign. My time there was 4:00:09. That’s roughly 12 minutes per mile on
average. That was believable. I was motivated to work hard to keep up that
pace. If I could, I had a shot at
breaking 5:15. Even if I couldn’t, I was
on my way to a PR.
As I came back out to the highway, I had to descend a steep
hill. It made my blisters hurt more than
ever. The last six miles were going to
be painful.
I don’t recall exactly when the rain stopped, but now the sun
came out. Suddenly, I felt hot. Fortunately, it was still mostly cloudy. Most of the time, the sun was behind the
clouds.
After a few minutes on the highway, we turned onto another
dirt road with rocks. I was looking for
the 21 mile sign, but never saw it. I
knew I missed it when I saw the 8 mile sign for the half marathon. More importantly, I saw pavement about a
block ahead. That was a relief. That last section of dirt road was the most
uncomfortable.
When I eventually reached the 22 mile sign, I got an update
on my pace. For those last two miles, I
averaged 12:15. Earlier, I would have
been happy with that pace. Now it meant
any chance of breaking 5:15 was gone. I
could no longer maintain 12 minute miles, much less make up the time I had
lost.
I passed the Grand Ely Lodge. As the crow flies, we were only about a mile
from the finish, but I still had four miles to go. We were going to take a meandering route
through town.
I did my best to walk as fast as I could, but I was
beginning to fade. My next mile was a
12:20. Then 12:30. At that pace, I would finish in about
5:17. I worked as hard as I could.
Most of the course was well-marked, and there were
volunteers everywhere we turned. That
changed in the last two miles. There
were numerous course marshals to stop traffic, but some of the turns didn’t
have signs and the course marshals weren’t always making sure runners knew
where to turn. I couldn’t always see
other runners, so finding the route was sometimes a challenge.
With just over a mile to go, we turned onto the main highway
through town. I recognized it, because I
was about to run right past my hotel. I
should make a list of all the races where I’ve done that.
I ran past the park where we would eventually finish. I saw a sign that read, “Swedish Line.” I quickly realized where that was going. It was follow by two more signs that read,
“Norwegian Line,” and “Finnish Line.” Most
people living in this area have Nordic heritage.
I still had to walk several blocks and then turn around and
come back on another street. Looking
ahead of me, I saw a big hill. There was
a runner nearing the top. Of course we
had to go up the hill before turning.
Did I mention this is a challenging course?
For the last few blocks, my legs felt like lead, but I
eventually finished in 5:17:17. That’s a
new walking PR by more than four minutes.
The finisher medal had a north woods design.
A volunteer told me the food tent was on my right and the
beer garden was on my left. I asked her
which way it was to the bathrooms. She
said, “There’s lots of trees in the park.
Just kidding. There’s
port-o-potties to your right behind that tent.”
Yup, I’m in Ely now.
I got to the beer garden in time for the awards
ceremony. They started with the portage
division for the half marathon.
Yes. There were actually people
who ran 13.1 miles carrying a canoe.
Getting back to my hotel was a bit of a challenge, since it
was on the marathon route. It seemed
like every street in the city was closed for the race. When I got there, I had to take a shower to
rinse off the mud before I could take a hot bath. Then I gave my shoes a bath.
Excluding ultramarathons and races that no longer exist, I
know of only one marathon in Minnesota I haven’t done yet. I’ll probably do that one next year.
Race Statistics
Distance: 26.2 miles
Time: 5:17:17
Average Pace: 12:06
Lifetime Marathons/Ultras:
341
Minnesota Marathons/Ultras:
45
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