On July 13, I ran the first race of the Mainly Marathons Summer Camp Series. This is a series of marathons on five consecutive days. All of the races are within 15 miles of St. Cloud, MN.
Yesterday, I ran the last
race of the Heartland Series, which was also in St. Cloud. For me, today was the second of six
consecutive days running marathons.
All of the Summer Camp
Races are on different trails. Today’s
race was originally going to take place in Bend in the River Regional
Park. Because of construction in that
park, today race was moved to the Beaver Islands Trail. That’s the same place where the last race of
the Heartland Series was held.
I was able to pick up my
race packet for today’s race right after finishing yesterday’s race. As a result, I didn’t have to get to the race
venue early. I’ll wear the same number
for the whole series, so I also won’t need to get there early on any of the
other days.
The race started at 6:00,
so I still had to get up early. That’s
going to be one of the challenges of this series. It’s no big deal to get up early for one
race. You can easily shake off one night
without enough sleep. After a few days,
however, it can take a toll on you. I
need to adjust my sleep schedule, so I go to bed early enough to get a full
night’s sleep. I did better last night,
but I still didn’t get a full night’s sleep.
Yesterday, I learned that
there are lots of mosquitoes near the river.
Today, I applied bug spray liberally before leaving for the race.
There’s lots of road
construction in St. Cloud. I had to take
a different route to the race today, because the road I used yesterday is
closed now.
It was 72 degrees at the start
of the race. That’s several degrees
warmer than it was yesterday, so I was expecting this to be a hot race.
I heard a few other runners
expressing concern about a possible storm.
The forecast I saw showed a chance of a passing shower, but it didn’t
look like anything long-lasting. I wasn’t
too concerned. On a hot day, rain might
feel good, as long as it didn’t last too long, and it wasn’t a downpour.
I didn’t have any sore muscles,
but as I started running, I felt stiff.
I gradually worked into my pace.
After a few minutes, the stiffness went away.
I started the race at the same
pace that I started yesterday. I
recognized several of the other runners. A group of runners was starting at the same
pace I did, so I ran most of the first lap with a few friends.
Early in my second lap, I heard
some thunder. A few minutes later, I started
to feel drops. It was raining, but most
of the course was under a canopy of trees, so very little of the rain was
getting through.
A short time later, I saw a
flash. Because of the trees, I couldn’t
see where it came from. A few seconds
later, I heard a loud crack of thunder.
By the middle of that lap, I
was feeling more rain. It seemed like
just a light sprinkling, but I wouldn’t know for sure until I finished the lap
and came out into a clearing.
As I continued running, I saw
another flash. I started counting until
I heard the thunder. It came only two
seconds later, so the lightning was close.
The start/finish area was in a
parking lot, so there wasn’t any shelter from the rain. When I got there, it was only raining
lightly. I was only a few minutes into
my third lap when the rain stopped. It
only lasted for about 30 minutes.
As I was finishing my third
lap, I felt some minor pain on the back of my left heel. After yesterday’s race, my left Achilles
tendon felt tight. It felt better this
morning, but the pain I felt in my heel is something I’ve experienced before. It’s most likely a minor case of Achilles tendonitis
at the insertion point.
I thought the rain was done,
but as I started my fourth lap, I started to feel drops again. This time, the rain lasted longer, and it was
only a matter of time before my shoes were soaked. For the rest of the race, I had to run in
heavy wet shoes.
Toward the end of that lap, I
saw a brighter flash of light. There was
a longer delay before the thunder, so it seemed like the lightning was farther
away now. The rain, however, was getting
heavier.
Running through the parking lot
at the end of that lap, I felt pain on the back in my heel again. It was more noticeable this time. Running in the rain was causing my calves to
tighten up. Running with heavy shoes
also didn’t help. It was a concern, but
there wasn’t anything I could do about it until after the race.
Now that my shoes were wet, my
pace slowed down. I was putting in about
the same amount of effort, but I wasn’t running as efficiently. For the first three laps, I was averaging
about 10:30 per mile. In the next three
laps, my pace was closer to 10:45.
At the halfway point, I was
about three minutes faster than yesterday.
My only goal was to break five hours.
Ideally, I would’ve slowed down or started taking walking breaks, but I
needed to keep running with the same effort to keep from getting cold. Other runners were putting on rain ponchos,
so they wouldn’t get cold in the rain. I
didn’t bring one, so I could only keep warm by running.
The rain persisted through the
seventh lap. Then it seemed like it was
stopping. It was only a matter of time,
however, before I started feeling drops again.
For the next hour, the rain was starting and stopping, but it was just
light sprinkles now.
At the end of my eighth lap, I
needed to make a bathroom stop. I took
my time, because I wanted to make sure I wouldn’t need to stop again
later. When I resumed running, my legs
were stiff. After that, I couldn’t get
back into the same rhythm.
With four laps to go, I was
running much slower. At this point, I
just needed to drag myself through the remaining laps.
The course was only 1.1 miles
each way, but it always seemed longer.
In particular, it always seemed to take longer than I expected to reach
the turnaround point. It seemed more
like 1.5 miles.
The course was a bit
deceptive. It had a slight bend it
to. Looking ahead, it always looked like
you were going straight, but you could never see any farther than a quarter mile. Because of that, I could never see the
turnaround point until I was almost there.
I managed to get through three
more laps. Now, I just had one lap to
go. At the pace I had been running
recently, it was unclear whether I would be faster or slower than yesterday’s
time. I didn’t want to have a slower finish
time after being faster at the half. As
I started my last lap, I lit a fire under myself to pick up the pace.
For the first time since my
bathroom stop, I managed to shake off the stiffness and run faster. I had a good pace getting to the
turnaround. Now I just had a little more
than a mile to go.
I could gauge my progress by
looking for intermediate landmarks. When
I passed the yellow cone that was used as a turnaround point for the 5K and 10K
races, I knew I had less than half a mile to go.
I was already past that cone
when I felt the warmth of the sun for the first time. Up until now, it had been cloudy. I was almost done, but it was about to get
hot for the people who were still on the course.
I finished in 4:48:27. That’s two minutes faster than yesterday. It’s a bit disconcerting how hard I had to
work for that time. I still have four
more days. I’d like to keep all my times
under five hours, but it’s only going to get more difficult.
The finisher medal is in pieces
that form a chain. The top and bottom
pieces go to anyone who does at least one race of the Summer Camp Series. We’ll get additional pieces for each race we
complete.
For multi-state series, the
medals for individual races are in the shape of the state. This series is all in Minnesota, so the
medals all depict things associated with Minnesota. Today’s medal was a showy lady slipper, which
is the state flower.
I stayed in the finish area for
a few minutes to talk to a friend, but I didn’t have anything to eat or
drink. I was anxious to get back to the
hotel to get out of my wet clothes and shoes.
I had enough food and beverages in my room to refuel and rehydrate
there.
No comments:
Post a Comment