On July 18, I ran the Minnesota race of the Mainly Marathons Heartland Series. The Heartland series is a seven-day series with marathons in Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. I didn’t do the whole series. I just did the Minnesota race, which was the last day.
There’s another series
called Summer Camp, which begins tomorrow.
All of the Summer Camp races are within 15 miles of St. Cloud, MN. Today’s race was also in St. Cloud, so it was
easy to combine this race with Summer Camp.
I’ve done this before. For most
of the runners, this was the last day of a series. For me, if was more like Summer Camp, Day
Zero.
Deb and I didn’t get home
from California until Wednesday evening, and I had to drive to St. Cloud on
Thursday, so it was a quick turnaround.
There wasn’t any time to do laundry, so I had to set aside enough
clothes for this trip before we left for California. Some things couldn’t be packed until the last
minute, so I spent most of Thursday morning packing.
I drove to St. Cloud
after lunch on Thursday. St. Cloud is
about 100 miles from where I live.
That’s close enough that I could drive, but far enough that I needed to
stay in a hotel.
I had a hotel room with a
kitchenette, including a full-size refrigerator. After checking in, I went grocery shopping,
so I could prepare my own breakfast and lunch each day. I still went out for dinner, because you know
me. I need to have my pre-race pizza.
I tried to get to bed
early, but it took a long time to get to sleep.
Then I woke up early and couldn’t get back to sleep. I probably only slept for about three
hours. For today, I could get by, but I’m
also doing Summer Camp. When you’re
doing a series of races, lack of sleep can catch up to you quickly.
Today’s race was on the
Beaver Islands Trail, which is a paved trail along the west bank of the
Mississippi, near the Beaver Islands. It
was a relatively flat course, with lots of shade.
Most of the time, it felt
like we were just running through the woods, but we were always close to the river. At times, we had views of the river and the
islands.
The race started at 6:00,
but I needed to get there early, so I could pick up my race packet. Runners who did multiple races of this series
already had their race packets.
Like all Mainly Marathons
races, the course was multiple laps of an out-and-back route. There was one well-stocked aid station in the
start/finish area. To complete a
marathon, I needed to run 12 laps.
I usually fill a bottle
with Gatorade and leave it at the aid station, refilling it as necessary. Today, I filled my bottle with Coke.
The temperature at the
start was about 60 degrees. It was
overcast, so it didn’t warm up too much during the race.
Because I’m also doing
Summer Camp, I wasn’t inclined to work too hard today. I wanted to finish the race feeling like I
still had plenty of gas in the tank. I
knew several of the runners who were doing the entire Heartland Series. Many of them were walking most of the
race. I took occasional walking breaks,
so I could talk to the other runners.
The first runner I walked
with was Clyde. Clyde had taken the 5:00
early start, but I caught up to him early in my first lap. Clyde walks at a fast enough pace that I was
comfortable walking with him for about a mile.
During the first half of the race, I walked with at least seven other
runners. When I wasn’t walking with
someone, I ran at a comfortable pace. My
only goal was to keep my time under six hours.
Most of my walking breaks
were only a few minutes long, but I walked with my friend Karen for about five
miles. We had a lot to talk about.
 |
| photo credit: Clyde Shank |
After five laps, I ran
out of Coke. After that, I refilled my
bottle with Gatorade.
The last day of a series is always hot dog day. In addition to all the usual food, the aid station had both regular and vegan hot dogs. When i finished my sixth lap, I was half done with the race, so I ate half a hot dog.
At the halfway mark, I
was on pace to finish in six hours, but just barely. In the second half of the race, I did much
more running. I still walked with a few of
the other runners, including about half a mile with Karen.
I ended the race with two
full laps of running. I wasn’t running
any faster than I would in an easy training run, yet I didn’t feel like I
could’ve run much faster. Maybe it was
the lack of sleep, but I felt sluggish.
I finished in
5:39:05. Because I did more running, my
second half was 18 minutes faster than my first half.
The finisher medal came
in pieces that form a chain. The top piece
goes to anyone who did at least one race of the series. Below that is the medal for today’s race
(Minnesota), plus a piece for the year.
After the race, I was
able to pick up my race packet for the Summer Camp Series. I’ll wear the same race bib every day of that
series, so today was the only day that I had to arrive a little earlier.
Cyd was one of the
runners who did the entire Heartland Series.
By doing that, she attained Loony Legend status. To be a Loony Legend, you need to complete
every Mainly Marathon series. There are
14 of them, ranging from four to eight days.
In addition, you need to finish at least 100 Mainly Marathon races that
are a half marathon or longer.
To celebrate Cyd’s
accomplishment, her family prepared a barbeque lunch for the runners. I’ve been on a heart-healthy diet, so I
rarely eat meat. Today, I made an
exception. I had a pulled pork sandwich.
When I got back to the
hotel, I had my usual recovery meal of chocolate milk and carb-rich
snacks. I’ll eat a more substantial
dinner later in the day.
My lower back didn’t
bother my much during the race, but I felt it more afterwards. I took a bath to loosen up my muscles, and
then I did a series of stretches for my legs and lower back.
Hopefully, I’ll get more
sleep tonight. If not, the Summer Camp
Series will be tough.
Pleasant countryside.
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