Today was the fifth and final day of the of the Mainly Marathons Summer Camp Series. Since I also ran the last day of the Heartland Series, it was my sixth consecutive day running a marathon. This race was at Quarry Park in Waite Park, MN. This park has a network of gravel trails, plus several old granite quarries that have filled in with rain water. Two of these quarries been converted to swimming holes.
I arrived at the park
right at dawn. I had bug spray on, but
evidently not enough. The mosquitoes
were all over me until I added more and made sure I didn’t miss any spots.
It was another warm
day. The temperature at the start was in
the mid-70s, with high humidity. I was
expecting a passing thunderstorm, but I was hoping to get done before it arrived. We started at 6:00, and I was hoping the
storm wouldn’t arrive before 11:00.
The last day of a series
is always hot dog day. Daniel wore his
hot dog shorts while he did the pre-race announcements.
The aid station was set
up in the parking lot. From there, we
entered the park on a gravel trail.
The first section through
the woods has a small hill I call the “speed bump.”
From the “speed bump,” we
continued until we reached this floating bridge.
The bridge has sections
that can tilt up or down slightly when people are running on them. When several of us were crossing the bridge
at once, it felt a little bouncy. The
bridge took us across a clearing, which is kind of a marshy area.
Then we got back onto another
gravel trail, which took us farther into the park.
The trail took us between
two of the quarries. As we ran near the
quarries, we could feel a cold draft.
Everywhere else, it was warm and humid.
Near the quarries, it felt like air conditioning.
After the quarries, the rest of the trail had gently rolling hills. There were a few turns, and you have to get around the last bend before you could see the turnaround.
On the way back, the
climb over the “speed bump” is higher. I
ran it on my first lap, but after that, I started walking this hill.
For the first lap, I was
mostly running by myself. In the next
few laps, I ran briefly with a few of the other runners. One of them was Chris, who was running his first
marathon. Chris said that he does something
epic every year. This year, he was
challenging himself to run a marathon. When
I learned that he had never run more than 14 miles before, I told him if it
started getting tough, he should find a buddy to run with. One nice thing about Mainly Marathons races
is that there are always people who will encourage you and help you to keep
going.
Besides the usual aid
station food, they had regular hot dogs, jalapeño & cheese hot dogs, and smoked bratwurst, all cut into manageable portions to eat while running. After my third lap, I ate half a
bratwurst. I walked just long enough to
finish chewing, and then I resumed running.
When I reached the midpoint
of my fourth lap, I was one fourth done with the race. I checked my watch and saw that I was roughly
on pace for a five-hour finish. I
thought if I could finish in five hours, I might get done before the
thunderstorm arrived.
Over the next few laps,
it seemed like I was slowing down a little.
I was really feeling the humidity.
I was able to break five hours on Monday, but that was a cooler day.
During my sixth lap, I saw several high school or college students walking to quarry #2, which is the swimming hole along the route. During the summer months, this park is a popular swimming spot.
I was in the last half of
my seventh lap when I started to hear thunder.
It wasn’t raining yet, but it seemed imminent. I wasn’t even half done yet. There’s no way I would finish before the rain
started.
At the halfway point, I
was no longer on pace to break five hours.
That didn’t matter anymore, as I clearly wasn’t going to beat the
rain. I ate half a hot dog and then
started my next lap.
I barely got started on
that lap when it started raining. It was
coming down hard. On the plus side, I no
longer had to worry about getting hot.
The rain cooled me down and rinsed off all the sweat.
The approach to the
turnaround is uphill. I could see a small
stream of water running down one side of the trail. It had only been raining for 10 minutes, but
already parts of the course were flooding.
The gravel trail drains well, but the rain was coming down much faster
than it could soak into the ground.
It rained hard for the rest
of that lap. When I got back to the
parking lot, I ran to my car. I put my phone in the car, so it would get too
wet. On Monday, I had my phone in a
plastic bag. Today, the rain came so early it caught me
by surprise.
I had a rain poncho in
the car, but there was no point in putting it on now. My clothes were already soaked. It was a warm enough day that I wasn’t going
to get cold. With a plastic rain poncho,
I might get too hot.
For the next lap, it wasn’t raining as hard. As I finished that lap, I wondered if those students were still swimming. They were. When I got to the "air conditioned" part of the course, I saw fog. The cold draft from the quarries was causing the moisture in the air to condense. By the end of that lap, the rain had stopped. Then I saw more groups heading to the swimming hole.
As I started my 10th lap,
I caught up to Josie. She was also doing
her first marathon, and she was half done now.
I asked her how she was doing.
She was in good spirits. She was
mostly walking, and she found that the rain was cooling her off. I was confident that she wouldn’t have any
trouble finishing.
The rain gradually died
down. After the rain stopped, the trail
started to dry up. There were still some
wide puddles in the low spots, but other parts of the trail improved quickly.
After my 10th lap, I had
another half of a hot dog. This time it
was one filled with jalapeños & cheese.
I tried to start running before I was done chewing, and I accidentally
inhaled part of it. That made me cough
for the next few minutes.
It started raining
again. If anything, it was raining
harder than before. The hilly sections
of the trail were like rivers. The
low-lying areas quickly flooded. It was
hard to get around the puddles.
Sometimes I had to guess where it wasn’t too deep and run through
them. I misjudged one of them and ran
through a puddle that was ankle deep.
I had been wearing
gaiters to keep grit out of my shoes. I
regretted that decision. My gaiters now
felt like wet rags around my ankles.
It rained hard for about
two laps. Then the rain stopped
again. With two laps to go, I picked up
my pace. I wasn’t going to break five
hours, but there was a good chance I would finish first today. I had noticed early in the race that there
was only one runner who started faster, and that was Kristina, who was doing the half marathon.
After my 13th lap, I
looked at my watch. My time wasn’t as
slow as I thought. If I could run the
last lap fast enough, maybe I could still break five hours. I would need to run that lap in 13:43. On Monday, I ran my last lap in 15
minutes. The laps today were the same
distance. Running more than a minute
faster was a real stretch, but I had no reason to hold back. It was the last day of the series, so I didn’t
need to keep any gas in the tank for tomorrow.
I picked up the pace as
much as I could. I did a time check at
the turnaround. I needed to get there with
a time of 4:53:06 or better. I was more
than a minute slower than that.
Going out, it’s net uphill. Coming back would be faster, but not that
much faster. I did my best, but I knew
it wouldn’t be fast enough. I even
forced myself to run the “speed bump.”
The last two laps had
been mostly dry, but it started raining again as I was nearing the end of that
lap. By the time I reached the parking
lot, it was raining hard again.
I finished in 5:02:10. I wasn’t even close to breaking five
hours. On the plus side, I took first place
today.
Today, I received two new
pieces for my chain of medals. The first
was the medal for today’s race, which featured a loon. I also received an additional piece for
completing the entire Summer Camp Series.
I could choose between two styles.
One matched the top piece. The
other was an older style. I chose the
older style, because I didn’t have one of those yet.
This is what the whole
chain looks like. It's cool, but you can't really wear it.
I had noticed earlier
that there was a sheet cake at the aid station.
It was a birthday cake for Chris, who was running his first marathon on
his birthday. Chris was still on the
course, but Kelly was beginning to cut the cake. I had a slice of cake and some chocolate milk
before gathering up my things.
The mosquitoes never
bothered me while I was running, but a fly bit me on my upper back the last
time I crossed the floating bridge. That
was a reminder that my bug spray had all washed off. Now that I was no longer moving, the
mosquitoes were all over me again.
It was still raining
hard. My clothes were soaking wet, and I
didn’t want to sit in the car with wet clothes.
I had a plastic poncho in the back seat, but I needed to put it on before
getting into the car. I didn’t want to
put it on while it was raining, so I had to wait for a break in the rain before
I could put it on.
When the rain briefly let
up, I dashed to the car, put on my poncho, and got in. As I was driving back to my hotel, it started
raining hard again. At times, it was
hard to see the road.
As I got out of my wet
clothes and shoes, I noticed that my left Achilles tendon was tight. Maybe running with wet socks and gaiters made the muscles tighten up. It’s a good thing I don’t
have a race tomorrow. I’ll need a couple of easy days to recover.
Some people headed home
after the race, but many of us are staying in St. Cloud for another night. In the evening, we’ll have a post-race
celebration at the Olde Brick House in downtown St. Cloud. This is an annual event, which is only done
after the Summer Camp Series.
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