Today was the last day of the Summer Camp series. Since I was already in St. Cloud for yesterday’s race, I thought I might as well do today’s race too.
Today’s race was in
Quarry Park. This is a park that
contains several old granite quarries.
Over time, the quarries filled with rain water, and some of them have been
converted to swimming holes. There’s a
network of trails in the park that can be combined in different ways.
Over the years, I’ve run
about a dozen marathons in this park.
Mainly Marathons has experimented with different routes. They’ve tried at least six different routes,
but they eventually settled on the one that was most popular.
Our route started in the
parking lot, where the aid station was set up.
From there, we ran though the main entrance to the trails, but instead
of taking the trail that leads to the middle of the park, we took a trail that
goes past this small picnic shelter.
From there, we ran
downhill until we reached a clearing where there’s a wooden bridge that crosses
a marshy area.
After the bridge, we ran uphill
until we reached Quarry #11. This is one
of the old granite quarries that has been turned into a swimming area. Next to the trail, there’s a pavilion and a
dock. On the opposite side, people sometimes
dive into the water from the cliff.
After running past the
quarry, we continued deeper into the park until we reached the turnaround. This part of the park is densely
forested. The trail has several bends in
it, so you can never see very far. It
also has several undulations. This route
is the least hilly of the various routes through the park, but that doesn’t
mean it’s flat.
Coming back, we had to
cross a berm that I call the “speed bump.”
Going out, it’s no big deal, because it’s in the middle of a downhill
section. Coming back, it’s in the middle
of an uphill section, so the additional rise feels more tiring.
Our out-and-back route
was almost a mile each way. To complete
a marathon, we had to do 14 laps.
It was a warmer day
today. The temperature at the start was
10 degrees warmer than yesterday. Fortunately, this course has a lot of shade. Yesterday’s route had very little shade, so
the extra shade helped offset the warmer temperatures.
For the first lap, I was
stopping occasionally to take pictures.
The frequent stops made that lap slow.
After that lap, I stopped at the aid station long enough to put my camera
in my drop bag. It doesn’t weigh much,
but I didn’t like how it felt bouncing around in my fanny pack.
By the middle of my
second lap, I caught up to Tim. Tim is
one of the faster runners, and he usually starts faster than I do. Catching up to him so quickly made me wonder
if I was running too fast. I wasn’t. Tim was going slower than usual, because he
was running with Cheyenne, who was pushing a stroller.
After catching up to Tim
and Cheyenne, I decided to slow down and run with them. The three of us ran together until Tim made a
bathroom stop. Then I continued to run
with Cheyenne for the next two laps.
Because of the stroller,
Cheyenne’s pace was slower than I’m used to running, but it was a good way of
making sure I kept the pace easy. In the
early laps, I also stopped briefly to eat a bratwurst, and I made a bathroom
stop. It was a pretty casual morning.
In the 5th lap, Tim
caught up to us and ran past us. By
then, Cheyenne was needed to slow down more on the hills, so she told me to go
ahead. After that, I picked up my pace a
little, so I could catch up to Tim. I
ran the rest of the lap with Tim.
When we got to the “speed
bump,” Time told me he was going to walk it.
That sounded like a good idea to me.
I’ve often walking up that small hill in the past. After that, I walked up the “speed bump” in
about half of my laps.
At the end of that lap,
Tim made another bathroom stop, and I went ahead on my own. For the rest of the race, I ran by myself.
As I was crossing the
bridge during my 7th lap, I noticed the wind was picking up. Most of the time, we were sheltered by the
trees, but this was an open area. It was
also getting cloudy, and it felt like it might rain soon.
When I finished that lap,
I was half done, so I looked at my watch.
I was surprised to see how slow I was going. If I kept running at the same pace, I would
take more than five hours to finish.
That distressed me a
little. After the race, I still needed
to go back to my hotel to check out. I
had arranged for a late check-out, but I wanted to have time to bathe, stretch,
get dressed, and pack. I had been
assuming that I would finish the race in five hours at the most. If I took longer than that, I would be
pressed for time when I got back to the hotel.
After that, I made an
effort to pick up my pace. I wasn’t going
all out. I just wanted to pick up my
pace enough to finish in five hours.
Earlier in the race, I
was noticing some minor soreness in my quads when I was running uphill. After picking up the pace, I never noticed
that again. That’s counter-intuitive. If you’re sore in the first half of the race,
you wouldn’t expect to feel better in the second half. You also wouldn’t expect to feel better when
you’re going faster. Running can be
funny that way. When I focused more on
picking up my pace, I probably tuned out the soreness that I felt earlier.
My 8th lap took about
21:30. At first, I thought that was fast
enough. Then I did the math and realized
I needed to average 21 minutes per lap for the last six laps if I was going to
break five hours. I needed to pick up my
pace a little more.
By now, the sky was
clearing up, and the sun started to feel intense when I crossed the
bridge. It no longer felt like it would
rain. Now it felt like it was going to
get hot.
In my 9th lap, I picked
up my effort a little more. I didn’t
want to run too hard, but I wanted to get back on pace to finish in five
hours. At the end of that lap, I needed
to refill my bottle. After refilling it,
I looked at my watch. Including the time
it took to fill my bottle, that lap took 20:20.
That was fast enough.
I ran another lap with about
the same effort. That lap took about 20
minutes. With four laps to go, I did the
math and realized I could afford to slow down a little. I only needed to average 21:30 per lap.
For the next two laps, I
was telling myself to ease up a little, but I continued to run laps that were
faster than they needed to be. My lap
times were between 20 and 21.
In the last few laps, I
could tell it was getting hotter. The
heat was tiring, so I felt like I would need to pick up my effort a little to
keep running at the same pace. I felt
particularly hot when I crossed the bridge.
Not only was that section exposed to the sun, but I’m sure the humidity
was higher there. There was a lot of vegetation.
As I was finishing my 12th
lap, I saw runners leaving the aid station with watermelon. I love eating watermelon when I’m
thirsty. When I was at the aid station,
I saw a wedge of watermelon with the rind trimmed away. That was perfect. I was able to eat that as I resumed running,
and I didn’t have to worry about disposing of the rind.
With two laps to go, I
could afford to slow down to 22:30 per lap, but I kept going at the same pace. As I started my last lap, I just needed to
run it in 24 minutes. My previous five
laps had all been faster than 21, so I was pretty confident I would easily
break five hours.
Since the 6th lap, I had
been ahead of Tim. There were a few
runners who were going faster in the early laps, but they were doing the half
marathon. For the second half of the
race, I knew I would finish in first place.
I was only racing the clock.
It’s slightly uphill
going to the turnaround. Then it’s
downhill coming back. As I made the
turn, I looked at my watch. The first
half of that lap took just under 10 minutes.
That’s the tougher half, so I was pretty sure I would also run the
second half in 10 minutes or less.
I finished the race in
4:55:36. I was almost nine minutes
faster in the second half. I needed to
make a bathroom stop, and I drank some chocolate milk, but I had to be careful
not to linger too long in the finish area.
The medal for today’s
race featured Babe the Blue Ox. For
people who ran the entire series, there was an additional medal, but I didn’t
get one of those. Maybe next year.
After I finished the
race, other runners were congratulating me on running so fast. That actually made me feel uncomfortable,
because I didn’t consider my time to be fast.
I wanted to hold back in these races.
If I ran the same time in a race where I was trying to go fast, I would
be disappointed.
What’s considered fast is
relative. I was the fastest runner in
the marathon two days in a row, but average times in these races tend to be
slow. There are two reasons for that.
I only ran the last two
races in this series, but most of the other runners ran marathons or half
marathons on five consecutive days. Some
of them also did the 7-day Heartland Series, which took place immediately
before this one. Those runners were
racing 12 days in a row. When you’re
running that far for that many days, you’re forced to slow down.
There’s another reason
why average times tend to be slow at these races. They don’t have time limits. That makes them popular among runners who
need more time to be able to finish a race.
I’m in my 60s, but I saw a lot of runners who are older than me.
I don’t feel like I’m
fast by any objective standard. At best,
I’m fast for my age. There was a time
when I was faster than average, but that hasn’t been the case for the past few
years.
Yesterday, I had some minor
discomfort in the arch of my right foot toward the end of the race. I was worried about that, but my foot felt
fine today. That was a relief.
I have another race on Saturday,
but I have two days off before that. I
could do light training, but I might just rest.
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