On October 21, I ran the Mankato Marathon. I’ve done this race before, but not since they redesigned the course. The old course started near the university and finished downtown. It was net downhill, but there were some tough hills in the first half of the race.
The new course is a loop
that starts and finishes downtown. There’s
no longer any net elevation loss, but it’s also less hilly overall. I was cautiously optimistic that I could run
a fast time on this course. After qualifying
for Boston in my last four marathons, I wanted to see if I could keep that streak
going.
Mankato is about 75 miles
from where I live. I was originally planning
to get up early and drive to Mankato on the day of the race, but I was able to
get a room at the last minute at a downtown hotel.
My friend Cade flew into town
for the race, so I picked him up at the airport and we drove down together.
The expo was in the Mayo
Clinic Health System Event Center, which was only one block away from my hotel. Cade and I picked up our race packets, and we
met Cade’s friend Todd, who gave Cade a ride to their hotel.
After unpacking and
getting my clothes organized for the race, I went out to see the start of the
5K race.
Then I had dinner with Cade
and Todd at one of the downtown restaurants.
I didn’t sleep great, but
I didn’t have to get up early, so I rested in bed until it was time to get
up. I felt like I got enough sleep to
get by.
The temperature at the
start was about 50 degrees with a cold breeze in the river valley. I expected it to warm into the mid-50s during
the race, but no warmer. I wore tights,
because I would rather risk being too warm than too cold.
The start was less than
half a mile from my hotel, so I didn’t leave until 20 minutes before the race. They had a gear check, but I didn’t bother to
check a bag. Instead, I wore a Tyvek
jacket to the start and tied it around my waist before I started running.
The race had pace groups,
and one of the groups was pacing for a 3:50 finish. That’s the pace I need for a Boston
qualifier, so I started the race with the 3:50 pace group. My last race gave me confidence that I could run
that pace, but it wasn’t going to be easy.
Each of my recent races have been all-out efforts. It’s tough to do that every weekend.
I was starting at the
same pace as my last race, but this time it wasn’t as tiring. Instead of starting with three uphill miles,
we started with four mostly flat miles.
After leaving the
downtown area, we ran a loop through the neighborhood immediately west of
downtown. The old course ran through
this neighborhood at the end of the race, so I was familiar with the
streets. I wasn’t used to running through
this neighborhood at the beginning of the race, and we were running some of these
streets in the opposite direction.
The early miles were
mostly flat, but not completely flat. On
the occasional small hill, I found I had to work much harder to keep up with
the pace group. Running downhill, I
would get ahead of them.
In my last race, I could
run in front of the pace group, but I would still hear them. It was a large group with multiple pacers,
and one of the pacers was always talking to the group. In this race, it was a much smaller group,
there was only one pacer, and he didn’t talk much. Consequently, I couldn’t tell if they were
right behind me or if I was pulling away.
In the fourth mile, I inadvertently
started pulling away from the group. I
didn’t realize it until I saw my time for that mile. I ran that mile about 10 seconds too
fast. I knew the next mile was uphill,
so I wasn’t too concerned. I tend to run
faster than most people going downhill and slower than most people going
uphill. I knew the group would catch up
to me on the big hill that was coming up.
Going through aid stations,
I usually slowed down for a few seconds while taking a drink of Gatorade. I started mile five with a small lead over
the pace group, but my lead evaporated at an aid station. By the time we reached the base of the hill,
the group was right behind me.
This was by far the
toughest hill in the race. It was a rise
of 224 feet. I lifted my effort as much
as I could, but I still couldn’t keep up with the group. The best I could do was to keep from falling
too far behind.
The five mile mark came
just before the end of the hill. I ran
that mile in 9:22. That was 36 seconds
slower than the pace I needed to average to break 3:50. Overall, I was off the pace by 20 seconds,
but I knew the next several miles would be relatively flat.
As I crested the hill, I
was about 50 feet behind the pace group.
Now that the course was leveling off, I was able to put in the additional
effort to catch up to them.
Staying with the group
was easier now, but not as easy as I expected.
The group sped up to 8:30 in the next mile. That was 16 seconds faster than our target
pace of 8:46. By the end of the seventh
mile, we had already made up the time we lost on the long hill. It was nice to know we were back on pace, but
the faster miles forced me to work harder.
I was able to keep up with the group, but I felt like I never got a
chance to recover from the hill.
This section of the
course had numerous turns, as we snaked through residential neighborhoods. Our pacer reminded us to run the
tangents. I was already doing that. Each time I came out of a turn, I looked
ahead to the next one and took the most direct line to the next corner.
The next two miles weren’t
as fast, but I still felt like I was running pretty close to my limit. A week ago, I was 10 miles into the race when
I started to question whether I could sustain my effort for the whole
race. This time, I was only nine miles
into the race when I started to doubt whether my effort was sustainable.
After about 10 miles, we
turned onto the sidewalk of a busy street that runs through the university campus. Before, we were either on paved trails or
residential streets that weren’t busy.
Here, there was enough traffic that we had to stay on the sidewalk.
We ran right past the
parking lot where the race used to start.
We went a little farther east and then turned right to begin a long
section running south. This section was
similar to the early miles of the old course.
I often found it easier
to run in front of the group than to run behind them. I had been running just in front of the group
for at least a mile when I started to follow two runners who were running
together in front of me. They were going
a little faster than the pace group. I
didn’t realize I was speeding up until I reached the 11 mile sign and saw that
I ran that mile in 8:24. That was 22
seconds too fast.
I eased up a little in
the next mile, but it was also a little fast. I didn’t know how far back the group was, but
I assumed I was about 30 seconds ahead of them.
We were far enough south
to be out of the city. Now, we were
surrounded by farmland. I started to
notice the wind pushing on my back. The
tailwind might have explained why I sped up so much in the previous two miles.
It was an unusually windy
day. I first noticed that when I was
walking from my hotel to the start.
Early in the race, we never ran in the same direction for very long, so
the wind wasn’t a big factor, other than feeling cold. Now, we were surrounded by open fields, so we
were more exposed to the wind. We also
weren’t turning as frequently.
Just before the 13 mile
mark, we turned right. Now I really felt
the wind. It was a cross wind, but it
was so strong that it was still tiring.
It felt like a headwind.
I was disappointed to see
that I slowed down to 8:57 in that mile.
I gave back some of the time I gained in my previous two miles. I may have started getting lazy when I
realized I had a tailwind.
At the halfway mark, I
was almost a minute ahead of schedule.
That should’ve been encouraging, but I also noticed that the 3:50 group
was right behind me.
This part of the course
was familiar to me, because it was also part of the old course. The wind was tiring, and it knew we would be
completely exposed to it for the next mile or two. In the distance, I could see some trees, but
they were still far away. I knew we
would eventually begin descending and we would start to get cover from the
trees. I couldn’t wait to get there, but
it would take a while.
In the meantime, I picked
up my effort enough to get ahead of the pace group again. Following them always seemed to take more
effort than running in front of them. I
knew that was psychological, but that didn’t make it any less real.
I always run races much
faster than I run my training runs. I do
that even though I’m running more than twice as far. To do that, I have to coax myself to run at a
pace that’s just barely sustainable.
Continuing to pour it on when you’re tired has a huge psychological
component. Realizing that I seemed to
struggle any time the pacer got ahead of me, I worked hard to keep that from happening.
After about a mile, the
road began bending slightly to the right.
We were on the right shoulder of a highway. On the other side of the highway, there were
trees. On my right, it was open
farmland. The wind was coming from my
right, so I was still completely exposed to it.
As we turned slightly to our right, the wind became more of a headwind.
About half a mile after
the 14 sign, I saw another banner that looked like a mile marker. It was much too soon to be the 15 sign. It was a mile marker, but it wasn’t one of
ours. It was the 8 mile sign for the
half marathon course, which had recently merged with the marathon route.
The road started to turn
downhill. That helped, but running
downhill with such a strong wind was still tiring. What I really needed was to get out of that
wind.
Eventually, we left the
highway to turn onto a paved trail that followed the road. It was still downhill, but now we had trees
on our right, which gave us some relief from the wind.
When I saw the 9 mile sign
for the half marathon, I started to look for the 16 mile mark of the marathon. Before I got there, we reached the point
where the marathon and half marathon routes diverged again. The half marathon route went straight, but we
needed to turn left and go through a tunnel under the highway. I was disappointed that we weren’t going
straight. I was familiar with that
section of trail. It was part of the old
marathon route, so I knew it had a downhill trend.
Miles 15 and 16 were both
a little fast, but only because they were downhill. I sped up, but the 3:50 group also sped
up. They were right behind me as I
reached the 16 mile mark.
I started hearing other
runners talking about an uphill section coming up. Starting at 17 miles, we would begin a long
uphill stretch, but it would be gradual.
That was still a mile away. In
the meantime, it was flat.
We were running on a
trail though the forest. This was among
the most scenic parts of the course, but I was struggling to keep up with the
3:50 group.
We crossed a long wooden
bridge over the Blue Earth River, which meets the Minnesota River on the west
side of Mankato. Crossing the bridge, I
watched my footing carefully. In the
past, I’ve been known to catch my shoe on a gap between the boards. I breathed a sigh of relief after getting
across the bridge safely.
At 17 miles, we began
running uphill. It was so gradual that
you could barely see that it was uphill.
I knew it was uphill only because I could feel the difference in my
effort. We were going the same pace, but
it was even more difficult to keep up with the group.
In the 19th mile, I finally
put in the extra effort to get out in front of the group again. About halfway through that mile, we finally
reached the top of the gradual uphill section, and we turned onto a road. I slowed down to drink at an aid station, and
just like that the group caught up to me again.
Our next turn brought us
onto a road that had traffic. There were
traffic cones between the driving lane and the shoulder, and we needed to stay on
the shoulder. It was a narrow shoulder,
so it was tough to get around slower runners.
I put in some extra
effort to get around a few runners, so I had daylight in front of me. As result, I also got out in front of the
pace group again. I managed to stay
ahead of them for the next mile, but I never knew if they were right behind me. At 19 miles, I knew I only had seven miles to
go, but I questioned whether I could keep up my effort for that many miles
without running out of gas.
I turned a corner just
before the 20 mile mark, and a volunteer said it was all downhill from here. Then a runner behind me said, “except for the
hill at Mount Kato.” Having looked at
the elevation profile, I already knew there was at least one more hill, but from
what I knew of the area, it seemed likely that it was mostly downhill. Already, I could see the beginning of a
downhill section that started a short distance after the mile marker.
In contrast to the long
gradual uphill section we ran earlier, this section had a noticeable
grade. Here, I was able to speed up, and
it was downhill all the way to the 21 mile sign. I ran that mile in 8:16, which was 30 seconds
faster than my target pace. It’s
possible the 3:50 group also sped up here, but I suspected I had put some
distance between us.
The next mile wasn’t as
sharply downhill. The road briefly
turned uphill in one spot, and other sections were level, but into the
wind. I felt myself slowing down at
times.
After crossing another
bridge over the river, we came back onto a section of trail we were running
earlier, but now we were going in the opposite direction. We were almost to the end of a six mile loop. Volunteers at an aid station said we were
almost to 22. I saw a banner, but it
wasn’t 22. It was 16. We had seen this mile marker right after
going through the tunnel. Now, we were
about to go back through the same tunnel.
After the tunnel, we
turned left. Earlier, I was disappointed
that we weren’t going to run the same section of trail as the half
marathon. Now, six miles later, we were.
This trail has a downhill
trend, but it’s not all downhill. Just
before the 22 mile sign, I had to go up a short but tiring hill. I remembered seeing a 50 foot hill on the
elevation profile. Was this it? If so, was this the last hill?
I took the hill at the
best pace I could and then endeavored to pick up the pace again when the trail
turned downhill again. I once again
questioned how much longer I could keep up this effort. It helped to know that I was still in front
of the 3:50 group.
We eventually came
alongside the highway, and I saw a billboard for Mount Kato, which is a ski
area. We began climbing another short
hill. As I reached the top of this hill,
I crossed a driveway and looked to my right.
I saw ski lifts and a hill that was definitely steep enough for ski
runs. It just needed snow.
I had just over three
miles to go, but I was fading. After
running mile 22 in 8:54, I ran mile 23 in 8:51.
I was no longer keeping up the same pace. I built a nice cushion in mile 21, but I was
slowly giving it back. I wondered if I
was subconsciously giving myself permission to slow down, knowing I was still
ahead of the 3:50 group.
Mile 24 was also a bit
slow. I ran that one in 8:57. The next mile was mostly downhill, and I
picked up my effort to make sure I would stay ahead of the group. If they caught me in the last mile, I would
have enough fight in me to stay with them to the finish. If they caught me now, I might not. Staying in front of them seemed easier than staying
with them.
I ran mile 25 in
8:44. I had mixed feelings about
that. On one hand, it was reassuring to
know that I had brought my pace back down to my target pace. On the other hand, I only beat that pace by two
seconds in a mile that was mostly downhill.
I should’ve been able to run faster in a downhill mile.
It was during that mile
that I recognized a stadium with a track on my right. I didn’t know what school this was, but we
had run past the same track early in the race.
Now I had a good feel for where I was in relationship to where we would
finish.
When I reached the 12
mile sign for the half marathon, I looked at my watch. If I could run the last 1.1 miles in 11:06, I
would break 3:50. That’s more time than
I had at the same point in the Baltimore Marathon. It’s worth noting, however, that the last
mile of that race was sharply downhill, and I expected the last mile of this
race to be mostly flat. Still, I only
needed to average 10 minutes per mile. I
had yet to run a mile slower than 9:22.
I crossed a street and
turned left. Immediately, I felt a
strong headwind. It was slowing me down,
but I only needed to run into that wind for one block. Then I turned and ran up a short hill.
I turned again and ran
downhill for one block. Then I had
another right turn and another left turn.
All of this was unfamiliar. I
knew I was close to the downtown streets, but I had never come from this
direction before.
Ahead of me, I saw a right
turn onto Front Street. I knew we
finished on Front Street, so this was the last turn. After the turn, I could see the 26 sign. The street bent slightly to the left before
the finish, so I couldn’t see the finish line yet.
When the finish line was
finally in sight, I did my best to keep up my effort all the way to the line. I had been running on empty for a long time,
but I finished the race in 3:48:28. The
second half of the race was difficult, but I came close to running even
splits. I only slowed down by 16 seconds.
I felt completely spent,
but I needed to keep moving. I stopped
just long enough to get my finisher medal and pick up a few post-race
snacks. Then I kept walking until I
reached my hotel.
The hotel had given me a
12:30 checkout, but I knew every room was booked for Saturday night, so I did
my best to be out by noon if I could.
That would make it easier for housekeeping to have the room ready for
the next guest.
After a quick shower, I
got dressed and finished packing. I was
out of the room and down to the lobby by noon.
After checking out, I
drove to Cade’s hotel. He was ready by
the time I got there, and we left for the airport.
After dropping off Cade,
I was tempted to go somewhere for pizza.
I decided to get home quickly instead.
I’ve qualified for Boston
in my last five marathons, including three straight weekends. Each one has been more difficult than the previous
one. I have another race next weekend,
but I don’t think I have another BQ in me right now. I’ll probably stay in my comfort zone next
week and save my energy for the next one.
Still, it’s been four years since I last qualified on back-to-back-to-back
weekends, and I’m pretty happy about that.
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