Today was the fourth day of the of the Mainly Marathons Summer Camp Series. Our race venue for today was River Bluffs Regional Park, which is a trailhead for the Beaver Islands Trail. That’s the same trail we ran on last Friday, but today we were on a section of the trail that’s farther south. It was 100 percent paved.
As usual, we were running
multiple laps of an out-and-back route.
The marathon was 14 laps.
For three days, I got
lucky on the weather. It wasn’t hot, it
wasn’t raining, and we had a cool breeze.
Yesterday, the luck ran out. We had
a thunderstorm that lasted for about half the time I was running. Today, it was hot for the first time. The temperature at the start was 73, and it got
up to 81 by the time I finished. On top
of that, the humidity was high.
There’s a small parking
lot at the trailhead, but it’s just large enough for the aid station. We had to park in the streets. One of the nearby streets had a fire station,
so the city didn’t want us to park there.
I arrived as early as I could, so I wouldn’t have to park too far away.
Our course today had one
big hill per lap. We started on high
ground, but as we ran through a meadow, we went down a hill. Later, in the second half of each lap, we had
to run up that same hill. Some parts of
our route had shade, but most of the route was out in the open, where we were
exposed to the sun.
There was one runner
today who was running her first marathon.
Her name was Andie. As we were
lining up to start, Kristina noticed that Andie was lining up behind a lot of
the other runners. She encouraged Andie
to move to the front, since so many of the other runners were going to walk
most of the way. That was a good call. Andie was the fastest runner there
today. She led the race from wire to
wire.
Even though I went a
little faster yesterday, I don’t think I overdid it. I was still able to start today’s race with
no sore muscles. I did, however, feel a
little tired as I started my first lap.
For the first lap, it was
drizzly. I ran that lap with Tim. It was the only lap where I ran the whole
way. After that, I was usually walking
the long hill through the meadow, as well as a shorter hill right after the
turnaround.
By the second lap, the drizzle
had stopped, but the humidity was still 95 percent. Between the heat and humidity, it was a tough
day for running a marathon.
I ran a few laps with
John, but after that, I was mostly running on my own. I was only in my fifth lap, when Andie lapped
me for the first time. She was already on
her sixth lap.
They always have some
type of hot food at the aid station.
Today it was tater tot scramble.
I wasn’t going to eat any solid food until I was half done, but I
changed my find when I learned that they had just put out a new batch. I paused briefly after my sixth lap to eat
some.
Despite walking the hills
and stopping briefly to eat, I was still on pace to break five hours when I
finished my seventh lap. I was just
leaving the aid station, when I saw Andie finishing her ninth lap. I ran with her briefly as we each started our
next lap, and I told her she just had five laps to go. We all did our best to encourage her, but she
was starting to feel the miles.
I kept up the same pace
for the next few miles. It occurred to
me that if Andie kept up the same pace, she would pass me again when I was
about halfway through my 11th lap. By then,
she would be halfway through her last lap.
I figured I could speed up to her pace for half a lap, so I was planning
to run in with her when she eventually lapped me again.
Through the next two
laps, Andie still looked strong, but I wondered if she was slowing down. It didn’t seem like she was gaining ground on
me as quickly as she was before.
As I started my 11th lap,
I started looking for Andie. When I saw
her coming up the long hill, she was walking.
For the first time in the race, she looked like she was struggling.
I started walking, so I
wouldn’t get too far before she caught up to me. When I made the turn, I started watching, but
it was a while before I saw her coming.
I continued walking until
I reached the hill. I kept looking back
to see if she was coming. When she came
around the corner, everyone cheered for her.
I walked about halfway up the hill and stopped to wait. I had to wait for a few minutes for Andie to
get there.
On her last lap, Andie
was able to run all the way up the hill.
She could still break four hours, but she needed to run all the
way. I ran with her until she reached
the top of the hill. Steve was waiting
at the top of the hill, and the three of us ran together from there.
After the hill, Andie
picked up her pace. The last part of the
lap was downhill, and she ran even faster there. Steve and I could barely keep up with her. As we came within sight of the aid station,
Andie’s mom was waiting to cheer her in.
Andie sprinted through the parking lot and rang the finisher bell. She broke four hours.
I was a little tired
after running half a mile with Andie, but I still had three laps to go. If I ran the whole way, I could still break
five hours, even after spending so much time walking and then waiting for
Andie.
Instead, I decided to
take it easy. I did a mixture of running
and walking. The walking breaks gave me
opportunities to chat with a few of the other runners. I ground out three relatively slow laps,
eventually finishing in 5:07:15.
Today’s medal featured a
Viking ship.
In the last few laps, I
was getting increasingly thirsty. I was
drinking Gatorade that wasn’t staying cold.
What I really wanted was some ice-cold water. After I finished, I drank the last of my
Gatorade and then asked Kelly to refill my bottle with chocolate milk. That was nice and cold.
When I got back to the
hotel, I drank the last of the chocolate milk that I had there. Then I ate the last of my post-race snacks
and drank a bottle of water.
For the second straight day, my shoes were soaking wet. Yesterday, it was from the rain. Today, it was from sweat.
I have one more race
tomorrow. Tomorrow’s race venue is a
park where old granite quarries have been converted into swimming holes. If it’s another hot day, I may go swimming afterwards.
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