Today was day ten of the
Running Ragged 20in20 Series. For the
second time, we ran the trails at Mississippi River County Park. This is the only course that makes me really
nervous. I’ve run two races here, and I
tripped and fell both times.
The good news is that it hasn’t
rained at all in the last week. That
meant trails that could easily be muddy were in good condition. The bad news is that I still had to watch out
for the roots.
During the night, my big toe got
painful. I altered how I was sleeping,
so it wouldn’t rub against the bed. That
apparently cause me to sleep in a position that was bad for my neck. I woke up with a stiff neck. Turning my neck was difficult. That’s not what you want on a day when you need
to be looking for the roots.
My number one goal today was to
avoid tripping and falling. If I could
do that and break five hours, great. If
I could do that and win the race, great.
Those things, however, were secondary.
I didn’t want to get careless.
We had to run 12 laps of an
out-and-back-course. It was the same
course we ran last Monday. It starts and
ends with a short, but steep hill. My
plan was to walk up and down the hill every lap. In between, I would run the sections I knew
had no roots. On the sections that had
roots, I would slow to a walk whenever I saw roots. As I learned last week, I wasn’t necessarily
safe even where I didn’t see roots, so I needed to run at a somewhat cautious
pace and keep my eyes glued to the trail.
I usually wear sunglasses for
UV protection. Today, I left the sunglasses
at the hotel. I wanted to see the trail
as clearly as possible. Most of the
course is shaded, so I wasn’t going to have much UV exposure anyway.
The temperature at the start
was 60, and it was going to get into the mid to upper 70s by the time I
finished. We’ve had a few cool mornings,
but for the most part, we’ve had surprisingly warm weather for September.
In the past week, the leaves
have started to turn, and some of them have started to fall. During our pre-race briefing, Daniel told us
there were leaves on the course, and it would be harder to see the roots.
I ran most of the first two
laps with Kristina. There was only one
runner ahead of us, but she was doing the 5K race. Once I realized that, I knew nobody was likely
to complete with me for the win. That
was good to know, because I wanted to focus mostly on avoiding the roots.
I could see the bigger roots,
but I wasn’t seeing any of the smaller ones.
I knew from last week’s race that for every root I was seeing, there
were about 10 smaller ones that were obscured by the leaves. With that in mind, I had to alter my pacing
strategy.
I couldn’t just walk over the
roots, because I didn’t know where they were.
Instead, I had to assume there were roots everywhere, and make sure I
lifted my feet high enough to clear them.
That doesn’t come naturally for me.
I had to work at it. I knew I
could do it for the first few laps, but I didn’t know if I could keep that up
for the whole race without getting too tired.
It hasn’t rained all week. Most of the spots that were muddy last week
were dry this week. This was one of the
few patches that was still somewhat muddy.
By contrast, this is what it
looked like a week ago.
The only place where I could
see any water was in the center of this muddy patch near the turnaround.
On one of the last turns before
the turnarounds, there was one big tree with thick enough roots that I still
wanted to slow to a walk as I went by.
Other than going up and down the hill, and around the cone at the
turnaround, this was the only place where I slowed to a walk.
By my third lap, I had
developed a gait where I was taking short hoppy steps. I wasn’t going very far with each step, but I
was getting my feet high enough to clear the roots.
About one third of the course
was free of roots. Actually, there were
a few, but there were close together, and I knew exactly where they were. Going out, I could run safely for about the
first third. Coming back, I could run
safely for about the last third. Everywhere
in between, I had to lift my feet and look for roots.
The 5K race consisted of one full
lap, plus one short lap, which had a different turnaround point. The turnaround for the second lap of the 5K
race was marked with a yellow cone. On
my fourth lap, I noticed that the yellow cone came just before the place where
I had to start watching out for roots.
After that, I always looked for
the yellow cone. In until I got there, I
could relax and run with my normal gait.
That allowed me to conserve energy.
After the cone, I had to switch to my “hoppy” gait. On the second half of the loop, it was just
the opposite.
I worried at first that lifting
my feet higher off the ground might be hard on my injured knee. After a while, I realize I should really be
worrying about my tight left Achilles tendon.
Although I was bending my knees more, the extra lift to clear the roots
was coming mostly from my ankles.
The only time I noticed my knee
was on the hill at the beginning and end of each lap. Walking up the hill, I always noticed some
discomfort in my knee. Walking down, I
also had some knee discomfort, but not as much.
Everywhere else, my knee felt fine.
To finish the race in five
hours, I needed to average 25 minutes per lap. For the first half of the race, I was
averaging about 24 minutes per lap. My
running pace was slower than usual, but I wasn’t doing as much walking as I
originally planned. On average, I was
easily going fast enough. Knowing that,
I could focus on the roots and not worry about my pace.
I ran the first half of the
race in 2:24, putting me six minutes ahead of schedule for a five hour
finish. I waited until I was past the
halfway mark before making a bathroom stop.
There were two port-o-potties in the start/finish area, but they were
next to the parking lot, which was a distance away from the aid station. Using one of those would’ve been too far out
of my way. There was also a port-o-potty
next to a parking lot near the boat launch.
We ran by there twice each lap.
It was a little out of the way, but not as much. When I got there on my seventh lap, I made a
stop. At the end of that lap, I was
pleased to see I was still six minutes ahead of schedule, even with the bathroom
stop.
In the second half of the race,
I started to see some of the smaller roots that weren’t visible earlier. I think dozens of runners going back and
forth on the trails was starting to clear away some of the leaves. That made me feel a little safer, but I still
had to assume that there were roots I couldn’t see.
By now, I noticed it was getting
warmer. I was worried, I’d get fatigued
and start getting careless around the roots.
I had been running a little faster one the section without roots. I switched to just using that section to
conserve energy. I switched to my
natural gait there, but instead of running faster, I used less energy to run at
the same pace.
Near the end of my 8th lap, as
I was getting near the boat launch, I heard two screams from the other side of
the parking lot. I saw two runners
emerging from the trail there and asked them what happened. They saw a snake. In some parts of the country, you have to be
wary of venomous snakes. Around here,
most snakes are harmless. I never saw it,
but to me a snake is just like a root.
As long as I don’t trip on it, I’m fine with it.
In the second half of my 9th
lap, I caught my foot on a root. I was
momentarily off balance, but I didn’t fall.
That was a warning sign. I
thought I was still picking up my feet, but I wasn’t picking them up as much as
I thought. I was starting to get
fatigued. What probably saved me form
falling was the fact that I was running at a cautious pace. With less forward momentum, it was easier to
keep my balance.
When I got through my 10th lap,
it was the farthest I’ve ever made it on this course without falling. I just had to make it through two more
laps. I ran those laps pretty cautiously.
In my 11th lap, I made a second
bathroom stop. By now, I was 10 minutes
ahead of schedule for a five hour finish, so I knew I had time.
It was in that same lap that it
occurred to me that I never noticed any discomfort in my big toe. Either it got better since morning, or I was
so focused on the roots that I tuned it out.
I was noticing some discomfort in my left Achilles tendon. It was never painful, but it was starting to
get tighter.
By my last lap, I no longer
seemed to have the energy to lift my feet.
I had to rely on looking carefully for the roots. Then I saw a cluster of roots that looked
like a plate of spaghetti. Suddenly I
found the energy to lift my feet higher.
In the second half of that lap,
when I passed the yellow cone for the last time, I finally knew I was home
free. I took off running at full speed. I didn’t need to go fast, but I wanted
to. For the entire race, I was either running
with an unnatural gait for deliberately holding back to conserve energy. I could finally cut loose and run hard, even
if it was only for about a third of a mile.
I stopped running briefly to
walk up the hill. Then I ran through the
pavilion to get to the aid station. I
finished in 4:47:08. I not only broke
five hours and won the race, but I race negative splits by one minute.
I’m now half done with this series. I’ve done 10 of 20 races. In a way, though, I feel like I’m two thirds
done. This is the only course that
really scares me. We have three races on
this course, and I’m already done with two of them.
Before this series started, I
didn’t know how fast I could run without gradually wearing myself down. I thought I’d have to do a lot more
walking. I was thinking most of my times
would be between five and six hours. So
far, all of my times have been under five hours. Today’s course is the one I consider the
hardest, and I’ve already broken five hours twice on this course. At this point, my goal for the rest of the
series will be to keep all of my times under five hours.
Race Statistics
Distance: 26.2 miles
Time: 4:47:08
Average Pace: 10:57
Lifetime Marathons/Ultras:
415
Minnesota Marathons/Ultras:
68
Series Statistics
Races Completed: 10
Under Five Hours: 10
Average Time: 4:44:06
Wins: 7
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