Summer Camp is a series of five marathons in five days. This series is put on my Mainly Marathons. Each race is in a different city or park, but they’re all within 15 miles of St. Cloud, MN. This series was originally called the Minnesota Brothers Trail Series. I did the entire series in 2019, when it was a four-day series. I also did an expanded version in 2020, which was called Running Ragged 20 in 20. Since then, I’ve done one or two of these races each year, but I don’t always do the full series.
Today was day four of
this year’s edition of summer Camp. I
didn’t do the first three races of the series, but I did today’s race because
it was at a new venue. I like to
experience each Minnesota race venue at least once.
The race started at 6:00
AM. That’s too early for me to make a
day trip, so I drove to St. Cloud yesterday and spent the night in a hotel. On my way to St. Cloud, I stopped at Warner Lake
Park in Clearwater, where yesterday’s race was held. I saw a few friends, including a couple who weren’t
at today’s race.
I stayed at same hotel
where I’ve stayed many times before. I
knew exactly what my room would be like, so I felt right at home. That made it easier to get to sleep, although
I still had to get up early.
The weather was a pleasant
surprise. It was low 50s at the start,
which is cooler than usual for this time of year. We also got a break on the air quality. As recently as Saturday, the AQI was well
into the unhealthy range. This morning,
it was fair.
The venue for today’s race was
a section of the Lake Wobegon Trail in St. Joseph, MN. This is a paved trail that’s several feet
wide.
Like all Mainly Marathons races,
the course was an out-and-back that we ran multiple times. There was a single well-stocked aid station
in the start/finish area. The aid
stations at these races are similar to what you might find at a large
ultramarathon. They have a variety of beverages
and a wide variety of foods. There’s also
a table where you can leave a water bottle.
The aid station was set up next
to the Lake Wobegon Visitor Center. The
first half of our route had a lot of turns. We ran halfway through the parking lot before
turning onto the trail. After a short
distance on the trail, we looped around onto an adjacent street. We ran on that street for one block before
turning back onto the trail. Then we
followed the trail the rest of the way to the turnaround before coming back the
way we came. To complete a marathon, we
had to do this 22 times.
At first, I wondered why the
loop was so short. After all, the Lake
Wobegon Trail goes for several miles.
Then it occurred to me that we turned around just before crossing a
road. The loop was short, but it allowed
us to avoid crossing any roads that might have traffic.
If you’re looking for a wide
variety of scenery, this race isn’t for you.
What you do get on a course like this is the opportunity to see all the
other runners. You see everybody else on
every lap, so you’re never running by yourself.
Mainly Marathons races have
sort of a cult following. You’ll see a
lot of the same runners every day. If
you do every race in a series, the other runners become your extended family.
I plan to run tomorrow’s race
as well, so I didn’t want to get too ambitious today. I stayed in my comfort zone and didn’t worry
too much about my pace. Rather than wear
a GPS watch, I opted for a plain stopwatch.
I didn’t want to pay too much attention to my pace. I ran by feel and made sure I always felt
comfortable.
During my first lap, I stopped
a few times to take pictures. When I
finished that lap, I stopped to put my phone in my car. I didn’t want to carry that extra weight for
the rest of the race.
I glanced at my watch at the
end of my first lap, but I knew my time for that lap wouldn’t be
meaningful. That was the only lap where
I was stopping to take pictures.
Beginning with my second lap, I
was running continuously, but my pace could be best described as relaxed. My goal was to run easy enough that it didn’t
feel like I was running a marathon. I
wanted to feel like I was just out for an easy training run.
Several other runners started
at a faster pace. By the time I finished
my fourth lap, three other runners were already a lap ahead of me. In my next lap, another runner lapped me.
One of the runners who lapped
me early was doing the half marathon.
Two others were doing the 10K race.
As those runners finished their races, I discovered that only one of the
runners ahead of me was also doing the marathon. That was Tim.
By the time he was half done, he was already two laps ahead of me. I wasn’t going to try to compete with Tim.
After my eighth lap, I had to
stop to refill my bottle. I accidentally
spilled some Gatorade on a concrete bench, and it splashed onto my knees. My knees were sticky for the rest of the
race.
Up until now, I was only
drinking after every other lap. As I finished
my next lap, I noticed the sun was higher in the sky. It was also getting warmer. After that, I started drinking after every
lap.
When I finished my 11th lap, I
was half done. Then I looked at my
watch. I was surprised how slow my pace
was. I was averaging about 10:40 per
mile. I knew I was going at an easy pace,
but I didn’t think it was that easy.
I could’ve sped up in the
second half, but that would’ve been contrary to my goals. This is my first of four marathons in seven
days. I didn’t want to go at a pace that
would have me feeling sore or tired tomorrow.
In the second half, I kept going at the same easy pace.
With seven or eight laps to go,
I started to notice some mild achiness in the arch of my right foot. I didn’t notice it all the time. It was just occasional. It wasn’t a big deal, but it worried me. It could be an early warning sign. I don’t want to develop a case of plantar
fasciitis, so I’ll pay close attention to how the same foot feels tomorrow.
With six laps to go, I needed
to refill my bottle again. I didn’t feel
like I was drinking an excessive amount, but I had to make a bathroom stop.
After finishing my 19th lap, I
had just three laps to go. I was about a
quarter mile into the lap when I saw Tim coming back from the other direction. Earlier, he had been two full laps ahead of
me, so I assumed he must be on his last lap.
I asked Tim if he was finishing.
He said, “I still have one, no two, no three laps to go.” He seemed momentarily confused about his lap
count. I was even more confused. How could he possibly have three laps to
go? He was two laps ahead of me earlier,
and I still had three laps to go.
Two laps later, I saw Tim at
about the same point on the course. I
was in my last lap. Was he
finishing? I asked him again. He said, “No.
I still have another lap. You’re ahead
of me.”
I wasn’t sure how or when I got
ahead of Tim. I would’ve needed to pass
him three times, but I didn’t remember passing him at all. I continued with my last lap and finished the
race in 4:39:57. I was first overall,
but it’s worth noting that this was a small race, and most of the other runners
were already on their fourth day. I had
fresh legs. What seemed like a nice easy
pace to me was a fast pace to anyone who had run marathons the previous three
days.
The finisher medals for these
races form a chain. The top piece goes
to anyone who does at least one race of this series. The artwork for this piece was new this
year. The T-shirt featured the same
artwork.
The next piece in the chain was
for today’s race. In a multi-state series,
the medal for each race is in the shape of the state you ran in. This series is all in Minnesota, so each
medal features a Minnesota icon. Today’s
medal was a loon.
When I’m racing on consecutive
days, my top two priorities after each race are refueling and then getting back
to the hotel quickly to take a bath and stretch. Today, I didn’t do a good job of either of
those. After the race, I stayed in the
finish area for about half an hour to talk to other runners. When I finally left, I realized I neglected
to eat anything before leaving. I drank
some chocolate milk, but I didn’t eat any solid food. As I was driving back to my hotel, I saw a
Taco Bell, so I stopped to get some food.
While I was in line at the drive-thru, I realized I left my drop bag in
the finish area. I parked my car long
enough to finish eating, and then I drove back to the race to retrieve my bag.
When I got there, Tim was still
there. We ended up talking for another
30 minutes. I finally found out how I
managed to pass Tim three times without every realizing it. Tim made several bathroom stops during the
race. Each time, I must have finished a
lap while Tim was in the bathroom and then started the next lap ahead of him.
When I finally got back to the
hotel, I took a warm bath and did some stretches. Later this afternoon, I’ll probably do some light
strength training exercises.
Tomorrow, I’ll be running the
next race in this series. Expect another
race report.
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