On July 19th, I ran the Xenia
Avenue Marathon in Champlin, MN. Not
counting virtual races, this was my first marathon since March 1st. This was a local race, so I didn’t have the
additional complications of air travel or staying in a hotel. Champlin is only 35 miles away from home.
This was an inaugural
race. I first learned about it in March. My friend Sandy brought it to my attention, because
she knew I was looking for a race that had a name starting with the letter X. At the time, I had a conflict. July 19th was the same day I was scheduled to
fly to Juneau for a series of marathons in Alaska. Since then, the Alaska Series was cancelled, making
it possible for me to run this one instead.
Outdoor events in Minnesota are
currently limited to a maximum of 250 participants. This event was much smaller than that. There was a marathon and a half marathon, but
the two races had only 44 total participants. That made “social distancing” easier.
There were several safety protocols
to minimize the risk of spreading COVID-19.
There were temperature checks before the race. There was a staggered start. Runners were required to wear masks in the
start area, and for the first quarter mile. Finally, the aid stations had 16 oz. bottles
of water and Gatorade that you could grab off a table, instead of having
volunteers hand out cups.
About a week before the race,
we were each asked to provide an estimated finish time. I estimated 4:20, because that’s how long it
took me to run a virtual marathon two weeks ago. I didn’t know exactly what the weather would
be, but I assumed it would be similar.
The course was a 2.2 mile loop
that we ran once, followed by a 4.8 mile loop that we ran five times. On Monday, I ran both loops by myself, to familiarize
myself with the course. Even with no
course markings, I didn’t have any trouble finding all the turns. As advertised, the course was flat.
After surveying the course, I
took the opportunity to stop at Rocky Rococo for lunch. Rocky Rococo is a Wisconsin-based pizza chain,
but they also have a restaurant in Brooklyn Park, MN. I like their pizza, but I don’t get to
Brooklyn Park very often. As it happens,
it’s just south of Champlin, so picking up my race packet put me in the same
area. Rocky Rococo is a fast food pizzeria. They serve pan-style pizza by the slice, and
they have a drive through window.
I could’ve picked up my race
packet Sunday morning, but I drove to Champlin on Saturday afternoon instead. There were two advantages in doing that. First, I didn’t have to arrive as early on race
day, so I could sleep a little later.
Second, it gave me a chance to stop at Rocky Rococo again.
We were assigned bib numbers in
order of our expected finish times, and we were instructed to line up according
to our bib numbers. In addition to our race
bibs and T-shirts, we each got masks, paper towels and bottles of hand
sanitizer. The paper towels and hand
sanitizer were so we could clean up after ourselves if we had to use a port-o-potty
during the race.
Sunday morning, I drove back to
Champlin and parked at Champlin Park High School, which is across the street
from Orchard Trail Park. I checked in at
the start area and then waited in my car until it was almost time to line up for
the race.
I was surprised how many of the
other runners I knew. There were several
local runners, who do most of the Minnesota marathons. In addition, I saw several friends who
traveled from other states to do this race.
They’re all frequent marathoners, and like me, they were eager for any
opportunity to do a real race.
We really dodged a bullet on
the weather. On Saturday, the high was
in the 90s, and it was so humid that the heat index got up to 108 degrees. Overnight, a thunderstorm moved through the
area, bringing cooler temperatures and much lower humidity.
Behind the starting line, two
sets of numbers were written on the sidewalk in chalk. The bib numbers for the marathon were written
on the left side of the path, spaced six feet apart. The bib numbers for the half marathon were written
on the right side of the path. Before
the race, we each stood on our bib numbers to await the start.
This race was a fundraiser for
the Champlin Park High School girls’ cross-country team. As part of the pre-race announcements, the
race director announced that we raised more than $5,000 for the team.
When the gun went off, the lead
runner in each race started running. The
rest of us started walking forward until the next pair of runners reached the
starting line. Then they started running. We continued this process until everyone was
across the starting line. The whole
process probably took less than a minute.
As I started running, I
followed the runner ahead of me. The
pace felt too slow, so after a minute or so, I moved around him and found my
own pace. I kept my mask on until I
could see that I had run more than a quarter mile. Then I took it off. There was a trash bin where we could discard our
masks, but I put mine in a baggie and tucked it into my fanny pack, in case I
wanted to wear it again after finishing.
Shortly after leaving Orchard
park, we turned onto the Rush Creek Regional Trail. On our first lap, we were only on this trail
briefly before turning onto a spur that led into a residential neighborhood. We went south on York Avenue and then came
back on Xenia Avenue. We were only on Xenia
Avenue for about two blocks. Why was the
race named after Xenia Avenue? The race director
knew that there are eccentric runners like me who want to run marathons for
every letter of the alphabet. X is the letter
that’s hardest to find.
I rarely wear a GPS watch for
races. Most of the time, I wear a
regular stopwatch and check my time at each mile marker. Since this was a multiple loop course, the
individual miles weren’t marked. I
wanted to know my pace, so I wore a GPS watch.
That made me aware of my splits for each mile, but I rarely paid
attention to my total time.
My first two miles were both
under nine minutes. That was about a
minute per mile faster than I expected to start. The pace felt surprising easy, so I didn’t
worry too much about it at first. The
temperature at the start was 70 degrees.
That’s the same as the virtual marathon that I ran two weeks ago, but
the humidity was much lower. I was more
comfortable than I’ve been on any of my recent training runs.
After the initial 2.2 mile
loop, we did five laps of a 4.8 mile loop.
As I left Orchard Park to begin the first of these laps, I had to make a
decision about my pace. I was starting
the race on pace to break four hours.
That didn’t seem realistic for a summer day, but I decided to stick with
it as long as it felt comfortable.
One of the aid stations was in
Orchard Trail Park, next to the starting line.
I grabbed a bottle of Gatorade, drank half, and took the rest with
me. I wore a fuel belt, so I would have
a place to tuck the bottle as I ran.
After leaving Orchard Trail
Park, we again turned right onto the Rush Creek Regional Trail. Running west on this trail, I felt a strong
breeze. It kept me nice and comfortable.
This time we followed the trail through a bridge under Douglas Drive, which was
the only busy street we would cross.
As I ran through the tunnel, I
drank the rest of my Gatorade. After the
tunnel, we ran through Oak Grove Park.
There were lots of bends in the trail, so I was tempted to run the
tangents on the turns. Rush Creek
Regional Trail is a popular route for cyclists, so I often had to move to the
right when a bike was approaching.
We ran all the way through the
park and then did a short out-and back on the west side of the park. Just before the turnaround point, I saw my
split for the 4th mile. I inadvertently
sped up to 8:38 in that mile. I told myself
to relax. After that, I averaged nine
minutes per mile for the next several miles.
After returning to the park, we
turned onto another trail that took us south, past the pavilion and playground.
The second aid station was in Oak
Grove Park, near the playground. I
discarded my empty bottle, picked up a new bottle, and drank half. After leaving the south end of the park, we
ran a short loop that took us around this meadow.
Finally, we returned to the
park and passed the same aid station again.
Just before I got to the aid station, I emptied my second bottle and
recycled it, but I didn’t grab a new one.
By now, I realized I would pass aid stations three times during each
lap. That’s an aid station every 1.6
miles. Drinking a bottle of Gatorade for
every aid station would’ve been excessive.
Instead I started picking up a new bottle at every other aid
station. That was still a lot of
Gatorade, but as long as I could drink that much without needing to pee, I
figured I would stick with it.
After going through this aid
station for a second time, I made a right turn onto Rush Creek Regional Trail
and retraced my route back to Orchard Trail Park. As I approached a sharp turn, I heard a bike
zoom around the corner from the other direction. The sun was in my eyes, so I never saw the
bike coming. Fortunately, I was keeping
to the right side of the trail. If I had
moved left to take the shortest path around the turn, I could easily have collided
with the bike. After that, I was
diligent about keeping right at all times when I was on this trail.
I kept a consistent pace
through my second lap of the 4.8 mile loop.
As I began my third lap, I started to speed up. I ran two consecutive miles in the
8:30s. I didn’t intend to speed up, but
I think I was getting excited as I anticipated hitting the halfway point during
my third lap.
I reached the halfway mark in
1:56:08. That surprised me. I knew I was on pace to break four hours, but
I didn’t expect to be almost four minutes ahead of that pace. Now, I was confident I could break four
hours. I still felt good, and I actually
had room to slow down.
The rest of my miles were all
faster than nine minutes. I started
running some of them as fast as 8:30. As
I finished the next lap, I just had 9.6 miles to go.
I’ve run several marathons that
were multiple loops. The distance of this
loop was similar to the loop I was running for the Savage Seven races last
December. That gave me a good feel for how
my pace should feel during each lap.
With two laps to go, I knew I could easily sustain my pace.
In my 4th lap, I was
consistently clocking mile splits in the vicinity of 8:30. I could afford to slow down, but I was
actually speeding up.
Only one part of the loop felt
difficult. After finishing the loop
around the meadow, we always had to turn into the wind as we returned to Oak
Grove Park. This trail was more
wind-exposed than the main trail, so running into the wind here felt
tiring. I always reminded myself that
the wind was also keeping me from overheating.
The wind was my friend.
The last mile of that lap took
8:16. That was my fastest mile so far,
and I carried that pace into the last lap.
The first three full miles of that lap all took between 8:15 and
8:20. I wasn’t going all-out, but I was
gradually picking up my effort.
I always felt like I was taking
too long to drink at the aid stations.
In my last lap, I worked hard to make sure I got back to my previous
pace after slowing to a walk while I drank.
When I went past the aid station
in Oak Grove Park for the last time, I knew I was drinking Gatorade for the
last time. No more walking breaks. Shortly after getting back onto the main
trail, I hit the 24 mile mark. I was
pleased to see that I sped up to 8:10 in that mile. That was my fastest mile so far. I was confident I could break eight minutes
in my last full mile if I poured it on. I
knew I must be going significantly faster in that mile, because I got cheers
from all the volunteers.
At this point, I need to point
out how impressed I am with how well organized this race was. There was a pair of volunteers at every major
turn or junction. I learned after the
race that the volunteers were all members of the Champlin Park High School
cross-country team or their parents.
The race was chip-timed, the
course was certified, and we had aid stations every 1.6 miles, on average. That’s more than I expected for such a small
race.
I knew my 25th mile would be
faster, but I was still surprised when I saw my time. It was 7:11.
Now I was running out of gas, but I just had to get back to the finish
at Orchard Trail Park. I held on as best
as I could, and I finished in 3:46:00.
That was good for third place overall.
I saved my mask from the start,
but that turned out to be unnecessary.
After finishing, I was given a clean mask to wear in the finish area.
By the time I finished, the
temperature had climbed to 77 degrees.
That’s certainly warm for a marathon, but it didn’t bother me. Most of my recent training has been in warmer
temperatures, with higher humidity. Today
felt nice by comparison.
After finishing, I dropped a
few things off at my car and returned to the finish area to watch other runners
finish. Later, I joined two friends for
lunch at Rocky Rococo.
It felt good to race
again. Training runs just don’t feel the
same. I’ve really missed this
feeling. I can’t remember when I’ve been
this excited about a race that was this small.
Race Statistics
Distance: 26.2 miles
Time: 3:46:00
Average Pace: 8:36
Lifetime Marathons/Ultras:
403
Minnesota Marathons/Ultras:
58
Consecutive sub4 marathons:
11
Congrats on the 3rd place finish and the "X" marathon!
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