On July 20, I ran the second race of the Mainly Marathons Summer Camp Series. Today’s race venue was Sauk Rapids Municipal Park. Our course was 16 out-and-back laps on a paved path, starting near the boat launch.
The boat launch wasn’t
actually part of the course, but it’s a place where you can get good views of
the Mississippi river.
I’m not someone who can
roll out of bed and run. I need to take
a hot bath to get the muscles in my legs to relax enough that I can do some
stretching. I need a minimum of an hour
after getting up before I’m ready to leave.
Then I need to allow time for the drive, and I want to arrive at the
race venue at least 30 minutes before we start.
These races all start at 6:00, but I’ve been setting my alarm for
4:00. That makes it hard to get enough
sleep.
Last night, I went to bed
shortly after 7:00 PM. I got to sleep
quickly, but I woke up a few hours later.
Then it took a long time before I could get to sleep. I’m getting enough sleep to get by, but I’m
tired.
Northern Minnesota had an air quality alert, but it wasn’t too bad where we were. The St. Cloud area is within the yellow section on this map. For us, the air quality was fair. When I left the hotel, the AQI was 30.
For the second straight day, it was foggy as I drove to the race. I had to run the wipers. because moisture kept condensing on my windshield.
The temperature at the start was about 60 degrees. I expected it to get into the low 70s by the time I finished. For the second straight day, we had a nice cool breeze, so it never felt hot.
In my previous two races,
I did a lot of walking, so I could talk to friends. Today, I wanted to run most of the race. There were a few runners I know who run at a
pace that I find comfortable. For the
first lap, I ran with Kristina.
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| photo credit: Steven Cournoyer |
After that lap, Kristina needed to stop at the aid station, so I continued on my own. I quickly caught up with Tim, who also runs at the right pace for me. I ran a couple laps with Tim, but then he needed to make a stop.
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| photo credit: Steven Cournoyer |
We were always running near the river, but we couldn’t always see the river. There was one spot, however, with a nice view.
I ran for a while on my
own, but then I caught up with John. I
had never run with John before, so this was a nice chance to talk. We ran together for the majority of the race.
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| photo credit: Kevin Brosi |
After eight laps, we were easily on pace to finish in less than five hours. I continued to run with John for four more laps.
John needed to start
taking walking breaks, so I continued running on my own. When I was running with John, we often ran
miles in 10:30, but it felt easy. On my
own, I slowed to about 11 minutes per mile, yet it felt slightly tiring. That’s psychological. The miles always seem easier when you’re
talking to someone.
I was planning to run the
rest of the way, but I walked for about half a lap, so I could talk to
Angela. Later, I walked for about half a
lap so I could talk to Tom.
In the last lap, I ran
the whole way. I assumed at this point
that I wasn’t going to break five hours.
I ended up finishing in 5:00:41. I’m sure I could have run that lap a minute faster if I had known I
would be that close to five hours.
After the race, I
received another medal to add to my chain of medals for the series.
Although I didn’t break
five hours, I was still almost an hour faster than yesterday. That allowed me to get back to the hotel
earlier. That makes my schedule for the
afternoon less hectic. Some days, I feel
like I’m racing to complete my race report before going to dinner. I've been trying to eat an early dinner, so I can get to bed early.
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