The third race of the Mainly Marathons Summer Camp Series was at Warner Lake County Park, which is near Clearwater. I had run two other races on this course, so I knew what to expect. The biggest question mark was the weather, as there was a chance of a passing shower. I dressed for temperatures in the 60s and 70s, but I brought a plastic rain poncho, just in case.
I’ve been going at an
easy enough pace that I’ve been waking up without any sore muscles. Each day, I feel the same. It was nice to finish a little earlier
yesterday, but the most important thing was to avoid overdoing it.
This race venue is the
farthest one from St. Cloud. I had to
allow about 20 minutes for the drive to Warner Lake.
The aid station was set
up in the park pavilion. There was a
building nearby with bathrooms, but it wasn’t next to the course. I tried to minimize bathroom stops during the
race, so I wouldn’t have to go out of my way.
From the pavilion, we ran
an out-and-back route with a variety of terrain. To complete a marathon, I needed to run 16
laps.
The first part of the
course was paved, but then we quickly turned onto a gravel section that took us
through the woods.
Next, we briefly ran over
pavement, as we went past the boat launch.
Then we had another
gravel section that took us past one of the park buildings.
Along this section, there
was a place where you could take in a view of the lake.
Next, we crossed this
bridge. From the bridge, we had a view
of the creek we were crossing and the lake in the distance.
The bridge marked the
transition from the most runnable part of the course to a dirt trail where we
had to be more careful of our footing.
There was a brief section where I had to watch for the roots. I was pleased to see that this section was
shorter than I remembered. I also took
note that there were sections of grass before and after the roots. That made it easy for me to remember when I had
to watch out for the roots.
After the section with
roots, the dirt trail continued around a couple of bends until we reached the turnaround
cone. Then we turned around and went
back the way we came.
For the past three days,
I’ve mostly been running and walking with friends, so we could chat. Today, I needed to pay attention to my
footing on the section that has roots.
For that reason, I was expecting to run by myself.
I was expecting rain, but
not until we had been running for at least an hour. Early in my first lap, I felt a few
drops. That motivated me to take all my
pictures during the first lap. After
that lap, I kept my phone in a plastic bag so it wouldn’t get wet. As it turned out, it was well over an hour
before I felt any more drops.
In my second lap, I
started running with John. The section with
roots was fairly short. Everywhere else,
I was comfortable carrying on a conversation while running.
I was pleasantly
surprised when we made it through four laps without any rain. I had a plastic rain poncho in my drop
bag. I had never used it before, so it
was still folded up fairly compact.
Before we headed out for our fifth lap, I put it in my fanny pack.
During our fifth lap, I
started to feel drops again. This time,
they were persistent. Shortly after the
turnaround, I stopped to put on my rain poncho.
I didn’t want my clothes to get soaking wet.
It took a surprisingly
long time to get the poncho on. I had
trouble finding the openings for my arms.
By the time I had it on, John was a good distance ahead of me.
Ann and Charity always run
together, and they always have matching outfits. They dress in layers, and every layer
matches. When I saw them, I asked them
if they had matching rain ponchos. When
I saw them again on the next lap, they were wearing matching rain coats.
The poncho I was wearing
was one I got from Marathon Tours & Trail.
When Keven saw that, he said, “I see you’re advertising.” The next time I saw him, I said, “They
sponsor me. Didn’t you know that?”
Early in my sixth lap, I
saw a flash of lightning in the distance.
At first, I didn’t hear any thunder.
By the time I finally heard the thunder, I was all the way to the boat
launch. I concluded the lightning must
be several miles away.
Later, during that same lap,
I heard more rumbles of thunder. Now, I
was in the woods, so I didn’t see the lightning.
I caught up with John in
that lap, and we ran together for a few more miles.
As it continued raining,
the section of trail beyond the bridge got muddy. Now I had to watch out for slippery spots, in
addition to watching for the roots. As the
condition of the trail deteriorated, I found myself running on the balls of my
feet going through this section. I did that
subconsciously. I think it’s a habit I
developed last month when I was running the Jackal Marathons. Now, I automatically go up on my toes
whenever I’m unsure of my footing.
By my seventh lap, the
mud was getting worse. I started running
on the grass at the edges of the trail, so I could avoid the mud.
After seven laps, John
told me he was going to slow down and do some walking. I ran the rest of the race by myself.
During my eighth lap, I
thought I was running on the grass, but my left foot must have been on the mud. I felt that foot start sliding to the
left. I didn’t fall, but it was a
wake-up call. At least one other runner
did slip on mud and fall. He had a soft
landing, so he didn’t get hurt.
The section of the course
that I previously described as gravel, was actually a mixture of gravel and
clay. The water couldn’t soak in as fast
as it was coming down. Wide puddles
formed, and I had to run on the edge of the trail to get around them. There was two-way traffic, and everyone was
going on one edge of the trail or the other.
Sometimes, it was hard to get around a puddle without bumping into
another runner.
I had looked at the
forecast before the race, and I was only expecting it to rain for about an
hour. As I was nearing the end of my
eighth lap, it had already been more than an hour, and it didn’t seem like the
rain was letting up.
When I finished my eighth
lap, I was half done. My time was a few
minutes slower than yesterday, but I was on pace to break five hours. Yesterday, I did some walking in the second
half. Today, I was motivated to keep
running and get the race done.
During my ninth lap, I
saw a flash of lightning as I was running through an open area. I started counting. The thunder came about eight seconds
later. It was getting closer. There was never any danger of the race being
cancelled. If it got dangerous, we could
always take shelter under the pavilion until the storm passed. As far as I know, everyone kept running.
I think I was nearing the
end of my tenth lap when I saw lightning and then heard a loud clap of thunder just
four seconds later.
As I finished my tenth
lap, a runner just ahead of me finished his half marathon. I heard hime say that his time was 3:05 and
change. I had six laps to go to finish
the marathon. I quickly realized I would
break five hours if I could average 19 minutes per lap. So far, I had been doing that
consistently. I would break five hours
as long as I didn’t walk and didn’t make a bathroom stop. With that in mind, I reduced my fluid intake.
For several miles, I had
been averaging about 11 minutes per mile.
I picked up my effort a little.
For the next few miles, I started to average 10:30 per mile.
As I started my next lap,
I noticed it was raining harder now. My
rain poncho kept my clothes from getting soaked, but my shoes and socks were
pretty soggy.
By my 11th lap, the rain
was letting up. As I started my 12th lap,
it seemed like the rain had stopped.
After that lap, I stopped briefly at the aid station to take off my
poncho.
When I finished my 13th
lap, I just had three laps to go. A
runner who came into the aid station just ahead of me was finishing the half
marathon, and I heard the volunteers say that he broke four hours. That told me I had at least an hour to run
the last three laps. Now, I only needed
to average 20 minutes per lap. I had
been averaging 18 minutes or faster. I
didn’t need to speed up, but I did. Now,
I was averaging 10:15 per mile.
I noticed that the
puddles were getting smaller, and the trail was firming up. The soil must have had a higher sand content
than I realized. The water was soaking
in quicker than I expected.
Early in the race, there
was at least one runner who was going faster.
As far as I knew, I was in second place.
By the time I got to my last two laps, it occurred to me that I had not
seen him recently. I wondered if he had
run the half marathon and was already done.
I didn’t know for sure, but I wondered if I was going to win the
marathon. There isn’t any award for
first place, but it was still a motivator.
I kept running at the same pace.
During my 15th lap, I saw
patches of sunshine. The clouds were
breaking up, and the sun was shining through.
I thought that was cheerful news, so I was pointing it out to
everyone. Kristina pointed out to me
that it wasn’t good news for the runners who still had several laps to go. For them, it meant it would get hot now.
As I start my last lap, I
knew I would break five hours by several minutes. I thought I was winning the race, so I wanted
to speed up. I held back until I was
through the section with roots. As I
crossed the bridge for the last time, I knew I would have good footing the rest
of the way. From the bridge to the boat
launch, it’s slightly downhill. That’s
when I picked up my pace. I wanted to
finish strong.
When I got back to the
pavilion, I raced through, rang the finisher bell, and stopped my watch. I finished in 4:50:17. I asked Daniel if I won. Nope.
I was second. That guy who I hadn’t
seen in a while finished 35 minutes ahead of me. That’s why I was no longer seeing him on the
course. I didn’t win, but I had my
fastest time so far in this series.
The medal for today’s
race was a lynx.
I packed up my things and
left as quickly as I could. Daniel said
more rain was coming, and I didn’t know how soon it would start.
When I got back to the
hotel, my shoes were soaked. I’ve been
alternating between two pairs of shoes.
I can wear the other pair tomorrow, but I need to wear this pair again
on Wednesday. I doubt if they’ll be dry
by then. There’s also more rain in the
forecast for the next two days. That
rain poncho may be getting more use.
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