Today was day 4 of the Mainly Marathons Summer Camp Series. Today’s race was at Warner Lake County Park in Clearwater, MN. The race started at 6:00 AM, and it’s a 20 minute drive from St. Cloud to Clearwater, so I had to get up early.
After yesterday’s race, I
worked hard to rehydrate. Today was going
to be another hot day, although not quite as hot as yesterday. That wasn’t my only concern about the
weather. When I got up, I checked the
forecast and saw a chance of a morning thunderstorm. I pulled up the radar picture and saw a band
of storms moving in from the west.
The race didn’t start until
6:00, but I didn’t want to drive in a thunderstorm. I rushed to get ready, so I could drive to
Clearwater before the storm arrived. My
worst fear was driving in the dark on a two-lane road that’s not familiar to
me, and then having my phone lose the GPS signal.
As I drove to Clearwater,
I saw lightning in the distance, but it wasn’t raining yet. I arrived at the park by 5:00. I saw the Mainly Marathons trailer and RV in
the parking lot, but I didn’t see any other cars. I didn’t see anything set up yet. Then I remembered seeing a pavilion when I
stopped by this park on Saturday. I
moved my car to the corner of the parking lot closest to the pavilion. When I walked over to the pavilion, I saw
Jesse setting up.
About 20 minutes before
the race, it started raining, but it wasn’t raining hard. It was windy, but I only felt scattered drops
of rain. We were on the southern edge of
the storm. It was mostly missing us to
the north.
Like all Mainly Marathons
races, this one was multiple laps of an out-and-back course. We started at the pavilion. Then we went around the north end of the lake
and a bit farther west before turning around and returning the way we
came. It was just over eight tenths of a
mile each way, so we had to do 16 laps for a marathon. I find more laps to be harder
psychologically.
Yesterday, I came into
the race well-rested, and I still took almost five hours to finish. Today, I came into the race tired from
yesterday’s effort. I slept well, but I
still didn’t feel like I had much energy.
I knew I would be slow
today. I just didn’t know how slow. When I did two races of this series last
year, I was race-walking, and my slowest time was 5:33:16. This year, I was running, but I wasn’t
confident I would be much faster than last year.
I started running at a
really relaxed pace. My first mile took
just over 12 minutes. The temperature at
the start was the same as yesterday, but the rain and wind made it feel much
cooler. I didn’t initially feel the need
to take walking breaks.
I was expecting to have
sore muscles from yesterday, but I didn’t notice any soreness as I started
running. Even the sore spot near my left
hip wasn’t bothering me. I didn’t have
any energy, but my legs felt much better than I expected. In some respects, I felt better than
yesterday.
The rain didn’t last
long. By the time I finished my second
lap, it was obvious that we were done with the rain. Some parts of the course weren’t even
wet. Where there was a canopy of trees,
the rain never made it to the ground.
After my second lap, I
paused at the aid station to get my camera.
During my third lap, I paused occasionally to take pictures of the
course. The main aid station was under
the pavilion. That’s where we started
and finished each lap.
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As we left the pavilion,
we were on a paved path, but only briefly.
Then we transitioned to a gravel trail.
About halfway to the
turnaround, there was a self-service aid station, similar to the one we had
yesterday.
Just past the self-service
aid station, we crossed a wooden bridge over a creek. From the bridge, we had a nice view of the
lake.
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After the bridge, the
trail was packed dirt. This section had
a few roots, but they were easy to avoid if you were paying attention. I never tripped on a root, and I trip on
everything.
By the time I finished my
third lap, I was getting tired of having the weight of my camera in my fanny
pack. After that lap, I stopped at the
aid station long enough to put my camera away.
As I began my next lap, I started to feel like I had more energy. I was still running slowly, but not as slowly
as I was earlier.
During my fourth lap, I
started to notice some minor chaffing on my legs. I usually smear Aquaphor on my legs to prevent
chaffing. I didn’t do that this morning,
because of the rain. Now that the rain was
done, it was time to apply some. I had a
small tube of it in my fanny pack. I
stopped in the middle of that lap to apply some. For the rest of that lap my hand was
greasy. When I finished that lap, I used
a paper towel to wipe my hand.
After four laps, I was on
pace to finish in about 5:10. That was
disappointing. I knew I wouldn’t break five
hours today, but I didn’t expect to be this slow this soon. After all, I wasn’t taking any walking breaks
yet. I had to wonder how slow I would be
by the end of the race.
I was drinking Gatorade
at the same rate as yesterday. After four
laps, I had to refill my bottle.
I ran continuously for
one more lap. Then, in my sixth lap, I
started to get hot. That’s when I started
taking walking breaks. Yesterday, I
walked for one minute each time I reached a turnaround. Today, I walked for a minute at the far
turnaround, but I felt like I was getting enough of a rest break at the main
aid station. I always had to stop long
enough to drink as much Gatorade as I could.
In the middle of my eighth
lap, I felt my left shoe graze my right ankle.
That hurt quite noticeably. This has
been a problem since the middle of May, but it hasn’t been happening as much
recently. It never happened
yesterday. When it happened today, I was
on a section of trail where the footing was sometimes uneven. That may have been a contributing
factor. I hoped it wouldn’t happen too
many more times. Each time hurts more
than the time before.
Now that I was taking
walking breaks, I expected to slow down a little. When I finished my eighth lap, I was still on
pace to finish in about 5:10. That was a
pleasant surprise. I still expected to
slow down in the second half, but I thought I had a decent chance of breaking
5:15.
I would normally wear
gaiters for a trail course, but I neglected to pack them. Even if I had them with me, I might not have
worn them. I was expected heavy
rain. For the first half of the race, I
wasn’t noticing any grit in my shoes. About
halfway through the race, a small rock got into the back of one of my shoes and
settled right under my heal. I had to
hope it would move somewhere that didn’t hurt as much. Eventually, it did, but not before I started
to notice grains of sand in my toe box.
Early in the race, there
were several runners ahead of me. Most
of them eventually slowed down and started taking walking breaks. There were two runners, however, who were
always way in front of everyone else.
The fastest runner was already
finishing his eighth lap when I was just starting mine. He was doing the half marathon, so that was
his last lap. In the second half of the
race, there was only one runner ahead of me.
I didn’t know her, but we all had our names on our race bibs. Her name was Talia.
For the first several
laps, Talia was farther ahead with each lap.
Halfway through the race, she was already about half a lap ahead of
me. She seemed like she was off to the
races, and nobody was going to keep up with her.
For two or three laps, I
saw Talia in about the same place. Then,
in my 10th lap, I got farther along the trail before I saw her. For the first time in the race, her lead got
smaller. That made me wonder if I could
gradually catch up to her if I picked up my pace. My competitive side suddenly took over.
I thought I could go
about 30 seconds per mile faster if I started working harder. I could shave off another 30 seconds if I
stopped taking walking breaks and just ran continuously. That might be fast enough to catch her by the
end of the race.
It was risky to pick up the
pace like that. I could overheat and
blow up. I only considered it because there
was a strong breeze. The breeze might be
enough to keep me from overheating.
I picked up my effort for
the rest of that lap. I took a good long
drink of Gatorade and then started my 11th lap.
I was able to pick up my pace without causing any discomfort in my left
leg. When I got to the turnaround, I
kept running. As I got farther though
the lap, I started looked for Talia.
For the second straight
lap, I made it farther before I saw her.
As I passed her, I looked at my watch.
I looked at my watch again when I reached the pavilion. I took me three minutes to get there after
passing Talia going the other way. That
meant she was about six minutes ahead of me.
I still had 8.2 miles to
go. I had to go almost a minute per mile
faster than Talia to catch her. I didn’t
want to count on her slowing down. I
assumed I had to speed up.
Yesterday, I rarely got
faster than 11 minutes per mile. Today,
I got as fast as 10:16. If I could keep
that up, I would catch her, but I risked blowing up.
Trying to catch Talia
made the race more exciting. I wasn’t
just running to finish. I was going for
the win. The race was on.
By now, most of the other
runners were doing a lot of walking.
After all, it was getting hotter.
When people walk, they’re more likely to travel in groups and talk to
each other. The trail wasn’t very
wide. Increasingly, I had to work hard
to find room to pass people.
On one of my laps, I reached
the turnaround just as three other runners were getting there. I usually keep right going around the cone,
but there wasn’t room. I tried to go
around on the left, but if I went around the cone, I would run into Jim and
Bettie. I spun around on one foot to
change direction. As I tried to reverse
direction, I lost my balance and fell sideways into Jim. Neither of us fell over, but I’m sure I knocked
him off balance a little. I apologized,
but the expression on his face told me he wasn’t happy about it.
As I got closer to the
end of my 12th lap, I started looking for Talia. There’s a clearing just before we get back to
the pavilion. When I saw Talia going out
on her 13th lap, I could see the clearing just behind her. I did another time check. She was only two and a half minutes ahead of
me when I finished that lap.
I had to refill my
Gatorade bottle. That added another 20
seconds to her lead, but I was still withing three minutes. In one lap, I had cut her lead in half. I started my next lap knowing I wouldn’t have
to fill my bottle again before the end of the race.
When I got to the bridge,
there were three other runners there. I heard
one say, “It’s a race now.” I could only
assume that he had just seen Talia go by and noticed that I was catching up to her.
Besides the marathon and
half marathon, there was also a 5K, a 10K, and a 50K. The 5K consists of one full lap and a shorter
lap that has a different turnaround point, which is marked with a yellow
cone. I knew when I reached the yellow
cone, I would be close to the turnaround.
Right after the yellow cone, you go around a corner. From there, you can see the turnaround.
As I was nearing the
yellow cone, I saw Talia coming around that corner. We both reached the yellow cone at the same
time, but from opposite directions. It
can’t take more than about 40 seconds to get to the turnaround from there.
After I made the
turnaround, I started looking to see if I could see Talia ahead of me. I didn’t see her until I reached the
bridge. Talia stopped to get water at
the self-service aid station. I passed
her and kept going.
Now that I had passed
Talia, the hard part was over. Now I
just needed to stay in front of her. I
still had just over five miles to go.
That’s more than enough time to blow up on a hot day if you’re running
too hard. I eased up a little in my
effort.
When I got back to the
aid station, I took a good long drink of Gatorade. I left the aid station just before Talia got
there.
I had three laps to
go. As I started my next lap, I took a
much more relaxed stride. I felt like I
did at the beginning of the race, when I wasn’t trying at all to run fast. I expected my pace to slow down to about 12
minutes per mile. The next time my watch
recorded a split, it was 11:00. That
included a stop to drink at the aid station.
I didn’t need to run as hard
now, but I still had to overcome some pain.
I was noticing more and more grit getting into both of my shoes. Almost every step was painful. At this point in the race, I just had to do
my best to ignore it.
I figured it would be a
good idea to resume taking walking breaks at the turnaround, to make sure I
didn’t overheat. When I got there, I turned
first, to see if Talia was coming. She
wasn’t within sight, so I started walking.
I walked for one minute. I
resumed running just before turning a corner.
After going around that bend, I still couldn’t see her. I had a safe lead.
When I got back to the
aid station, I wanted to make a bathroom stop.
Yesterday, the bathrooms were right next to the course. Today, they were a distance away. I couldn’t afford to lose time now. I had to wait until after the race.
As I began my 15th lap, I
continued to run easy. When I saw Talia
again, I appeared to be about four or five minutes ahead of her. When I started my last lap, I expected to get
farther. I did. I got all the way to the boat launch before I
saw her.
Just then, my left foot
kicked my right ankle again. This time, I
couldn’t blame it on uneven footing.
Near the boat launch, we briefly ran on pavement.
In that last lap, I was
really feeling the effects of the heat.
I just had to hold together for about a mile and a half. I wanted to do more walking, but I forced
myself to run. It didn’t have to be
fast, but I needed to keep running.
At the turnaround, I
looked at my watch, so I could do a time check.
I was shocked when I saw my time.
I wasn’t going to break five hours, but I was going to be much closer
than I ever imagined. I was going to
have negative splits by several minutes.
I didn’t see Talia again
until I was across the bridge. I checked
my watch. My lead was almost nine
minutes. I could walk the rest of the
way in nine minutes, but I forced myself to keep running.
I finished the race in
5:03:28. I ran negative splits by more
than six minutes. After finishing, I
needed to lean on the table for a minute to catch my breath. Then I went to sit down for a few more
minutes. Then I made a long-overdue
bathroom stop.
Walking to the bathroom,
I felt soreness in my left leg, even though I was walking slowly. I never felt any soreness during the laps
that I was running hard. When I’m
exerting myself, I can tune out a fair amount of discomfort. Now that I was more relaxed, I suddenly felt
soreness that I was suppressing before.
I got back to the aid
station in time to see Talia finish. I
congratulated her on a good race. She
might not have known it, but she pushed me to run much faster than I would’ve
on my own. She also made the race a lot
more fun.
By now, it was 83 degrees. That’s not as hot as yesterday, but it’s
still hot. There’s a swimming beach not
far from the pavilion. I noticed it when
I was at the park on Saturday. I brought
a swimsuit and flip flops, with every intention of cooling off in the lake
after the race. With all the grit in my
shoes, that now seemed like a bad idea. After
swimming, I’d need to put on the same shoes and socks to drive back to the
hotel. If I took them off, I wouldn’t
want to put them on again. Instead of
swimming, I cooled off by sitting under the pavilion and enjoying the cool
breeze.
When I got back to the
hotel, I was able to add a new medal to my chain. I’m not doing tomorrow’s race, so this is as
many pieces as I’ll get. For people
doing the entire series, their chain of medals will have eight pieces after tomorrow.
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