Today was the second day of the Minnesota Senior Games. Yesterday, I did one of the race-walking events, but instead of trying to compete, I did the minimum necessary to qualify for nationals. Today, I did the same thing in the road race events.
My events today were the 5K
run and the 10K run. At the National
Senior Games, these events are held on different days. Here, they were not only held on the same
day, but at the same time. The 5K course
was a loop. The 10K course was two laps
of the same loop. The only way to do
both races is to sign up for both and then run the 10K race. They record your 5K split as your time for
the 5K race.
In most events, you need
to place in your age group to qualify for nationals. Since these events aren’t held on a track, they
don’t need to limit the field as much.
Anyone who completes in their state games is automatically qualified for
nationals, regardless of how fast or slow they run.
I didn’t know it when I
signed up for these events, but if you do either race at the state level, you
can do both at nationals. My only goal
today was to qualify for nationals, so I didn’t actually need to run the 10K
race. Running the 5K would be
sufficient. I decided to see how I felt
after 5K before deciding if I would continue and finish the 10K.
I was expecting heavy
rain for most of the morning, so I opted to wear a regular stopwatch instead of
GPS. I was worried my watch would have
trouble locating the satellites during a storm.
When I left the hotel, it
was windy, but it wasn’t raining. That
was a pleasant surprise. The weather
radar showed a large storm system moving through the state, but we right on the
southern boundary of the storm.
Both races started and
finished in Sibley Park, which is about a mile west of downtown Mankato. Our starting line was in the parking lot, but
then we turned onto the road that goes around the park.
In races where nobody
expects to be fast, everyone is reluctant to line up in front. When nobody lined up within five feet of the
starting line, I finally moved forward. The
race wasn’t chip timed, so why handicap yourself by running an extra five feet before
crossing the line?
I took a couple walking
steps before reluctantly starting to run.
I wanted to be cautious about my pace.
By the time we left the parking lot, almost everyone was in front of
me. There may have been one or two
slower runners who were still behind me.
I didn’t look.
As I turned onto the
road, I realized I was starting faster than I would if I was by myself. Subconsciously I wanted to keep up with at
least some of the runners in front of me.
There was a tug of war going on inside my brain. On one hand, I wanted to keep up with the
other runners. On the other hand, I
wanted to tread lightly, so I wouldn’t put too much strain on my injured left
leg. The result was a short stride with
a rapid cadence.
Then I had an
epiphany. I quickly realized that I had
discovered a gait that was easier on my leg, but still faster than any of my
recent training.
When I’m deliberately going
slow, I usually relax and take a long loping stride. It seems that the only way I can force myself
to take shorter strides is to pick up my cadence. I’ll often use a stride like that when I’m
trying to go fast, but never when I’m trying to go slow. When I’m taking it easy, I gravitate toward
the stride that feels most natural.
Taking really short strides doesn’t feel natural. I had to force it.
Shortly after leaving the
park, we went up a small hill. Going up
the hill, I caught up to one of the other runners and passed him. I worried about how my leg would feel when
the road turned downhill. I was even
more conscious about taking short rapid strides. I felt comfortable going down the hill.
Before long, a volunteer directed
us off the road and onto a trail on top of the bluff overlooking the Minnesota
River. We followed this path toward
downtown.
Turns on the course were
marked with blue signs and chalk arrows, but there were also volunteers
stationed at almost every turn.
On one section of the trail,
there were bands of fresh asphalt, where they had sealed cracks in the older pavement. The surface was rough in spots, and I scuffed
my right shoe on one of these rough spots.
I could easily have had a harder foot strike with my left foot. That’s the sort of thing that could really
make my left leg hurt. I was OK this
time, but I made a point of watching my footing more carefully.
Just before reaching the
downtown area, we turned to begin looping back toward Sibley Park. At one point, our trail crossed a road, but
there was a volunteer there to watch for cars and stop the traffic, if
necessary.
After that, we ran
through a residential neighborhood. The
streets were all open to traffic, but I rarely saw a car. Most of the time there was a sidewalk
alongside the street. I ran on the sidewalks
whenever that was an option.
For most of the first
loop, I could see two runners ahead of me.
One started to slow down, and I eventually passed her. I continued to follow the other runner, who
was always a block or two ahead of me.
Late in the loop, we made
a left turn in front of a large hill. There
was a large hill adjacent to Sibley Park, and I wondered if I was seeing the
same hill from the other side. Sure
enough, within a few minutes, the road took me around the hill and within view
of the parking lot where we started.
Instead of continuing on
the road, we diverted onto the Minnesota River Trail for the last part of the
loop.
When I finished my first
loop, my 5K split was 29:49. I had
suspected from the beginning that I was going faster than I planned, but I didn’t
know for sure. There weren’t any mile
markers, and I wasn’t using a GPS watch.
By now, I had committed
to doing the second loop. I was having
less leg discomfort than I expected. In
particular, I wasn’t noticing any increase in the discomfort. There was just a hint of soreness, and it
didn’t seem to be getting worse.
As I started my second
lap, I no longer had anyone to follow.
The runner who had been in sight at the end of the first loop was doing
the 5K race and had already stopped.
Usually, not having anyone to follow would make me nervous. I was confident at this point that the course
was sufficiently well marked.
I started up the same
small hill where I passed someone on my previous lap. This time, I noticed some discomfort in my
left leg going up the hill. The
discomfort went away when I reached the top.
Going downhill, I focused on taking short rapid steps, and I felt fine.
As I got farther into my
second lap, I found myself getting fatigued from maintaining such a fast
cadence. I started to slow down, and as
I did, I noticed soreness in my left leg again.
When I wasn’t forcing myself to have a rapid cadence, I began to take
longer strides. I had to maintain the
fast turnover. It was the only way to
force myself to keep my stride short enough.
It was getting tiring, but I only had a couple miles left.
I knew I was getting
close to the finish when I recognized the back of the hill that’s next to Sibley
Park. I just had to follow the road
around the hill and then run a short segment along the Minnesota River Trail.
I finished the race in
57:26. You could easily conclude that I
ran faster in the second loop, but my time was misleading.
The 10K course is
described as two laps of the 5K course, but the 5K course wasn’t actually a loop. We started and finished in different
places. Most of the course was a loop,
but there was a short segment at the beginning that was there to make the
distance come out right. The 10K course
does the loop twice, but it only does that extra segment once. Here’s a map of the route.
Neither race had a
certified course. I’m assuming they had
a reasonably accurate 5K course, but the 10K course was short, because it didn’t
repeat the entire 5K route.
Early in the race, I had
noticed a few raindrops, but it stopped after just a few minutes. At the end of the race, I started to feel
rain again. This time it persisted. I had to stand around in a rain for a bit before
they gave out the awards.
I was the only one in my
age group for the 10K race, so I got the gold medal. There were supposed to be four runners in my
age group for the 5K race, but one didn’t show up. I did show up, so I got third place.
Before the race, I was talking
to another runner who described the senior games as a war of attrition. You win if you keep showing up when others
don’t. The older you get, the more that’s
true. I was slow today, but I collected
a gold medal and a bronze medal for my efforts.
I got a silver medal yesterday, so now I have a complete set.
Track and field events
are tomorrow. I was signed up for the
1,500 meter run, but I’m going to skip it.
There’s too much injury risk.
Tomorrow, someone else can get a medal for showing up.
I didn’t really come to
Mankato for the medals. My goal was to
qualify for next year’s National Senior Games.
I did that. I’ve qualified to do
both race-walking events and both road race events. Hopefully, by next July I can be ready to run and walk competitively.
Yesterday, I had brief
moments of soreness during my race, but I felt fine afterwards. That wasn’t the case today. I had more soreness afterwards than I did
during the race. That was especially
true as I was driving home from Mankato.
Sitting in the car got increasingly uncomfortable. When you’re driving, it’s hard to move around
in your seat. You either stop and get
out of the car, or you live with the discomfort.
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