On October 5, I ran the
Twin Cities Marathon, which starts in downtown Minneapolis and finishes in
front of the State Capitol in downtown St. Paul. This is one of my favorite races. It was my first marathon, back in 1983, and
I’ve run it 15 more times since then.
I belong to a club called
the 50sub4 Marathon Club. Its members
all have a goal of running marathons in all 50 states with times under four
hours. I’ve completed two circuits of
50sub4.
The 50sub4 club has two
club reunions each year. The spring
reunion is always at the Boston Marathon.
The fall reunion moves around.
This year, the club chose the Twin Cities Marathon for their fall
reunion.
I live in the Twin Cities
area, so I usually sleep in my own bed on race weekend. My usual routine is to drive to St. Paul on
race morning and park my car in a lot that’s near the State Capitol. Then I walk over to the Radisson to take one
of the free buses to the start. After
the race, I only have to walk a few blocks to get back to my car.
This year, I decided to
stay in a hotel. The obvious choice
would’ve been the Radisson, but they were already fully booked by the time I
checked on availability. Instead, I
stayed at the St. Paul Doubletree. It
wasn’t as close to the finish line, but it was only a few blocks from the
Intercontinental, which was another location where I could catch a free bus to
the start. I paid extra to get a 2 PM
checkout, to make sure I would have time to shower at the hotel after the race.
The expo was held at
RiverCentre in downtown St. Paul.
RiverCentre is only about half a mile from Doubletree, so I checked in
at the hotel first, left my car there, and walked to the expo.
Some of the other 50sub4
members had dinner at a restaurant in downtown Minneapolis. I was tempted to join them, but it would have
been a pain to have to travel to downtown Minneapolis and then travel back to
St. Paul later in the evening. I opted
to have dinner in St. Paul and hope that I would see most of the same friends
at the post-race party on Sunday.
Since I was already in
downtown St. Paul, I had dinner at Cossetta’s.
Cossetta’s is a family-owned Italian restaurant that’s been in business
for more than 100 years. It’s near
RiverCentre, so I often go there for dinner after the expo.
The disadvantage of
staying in a hotel is that I rarely sleep as well in hotels as I do at
home. I slept OK for about half the
night, but I woke up at 1:15 and couldn’t get back to sleep. I spent the rest of the night resting in bed,
but never getting back to sleep.
The buses to the start
were leaving continuously from 5:00 to 6:45 AM.
The earlier buses were mostly for runners doing the 10-mile race, which
started at 7:00. The marathon didn’t
start until 8:00, so I could take one of the later buses. I waited until 6:00 before leaving the hotel
to walk over to the Intercontinental. Then
I got in line to board a bus. Fewer runners
take buses from the Intercontinental. At
the Radisson, you can easily spend 15 minutes in line waiting to board a
bus. At the Intercontinental, I was on a
bus right away.
As the crow flies, it’s
only 10 miles from downtown St. Paul to downtown Minneapolis. The buses took the freeway, so it didn’t take
long to get to the start area. When I
arrived in the start area, I still had an hour and a half before the race. When I wasn’t in a bathroom line, I sat on a
bench inside the Viking ship that’s outside the football stadium.
When it comes to weather,
one day can make a big difference. On
Saturday, it got up to 90 degrees, which was a record high for St. Paul. Had the race been a day earlier, it might
have been cancelled. By Monday morning,
it’s supposed to cool down to 49 degrees.
Had the race been a day later, we would’ve had ideal temperatures. Instead, we got something in between. When I
arrived in the start area, the temperature was in the upper 60s, and it was
forecast to climb into the upper 70s by noon.
That’s obviously much warmer than ideal, but I tolerate warm conditions
better than most runners.
It was a little windy, so
I wore a light jacket to keep warm in the start area. I could tie that around my waist, so I didn’t
need to check a gear bag. That saved me
some time both before and after the race.
I saw a few runners I
know before the race. One was Jeff Hill,
who was the founder of the 50sub4 club.
I was in the first of
three start corrals. They had several
pace groups, including a 3:50 group and a 4:00 group. Between the warm temperatures and the lack of
sleep, I didn’t think it was a good day to set an aggressive goal. I want to break four hours if I could, so I was
planning to start with the 4:00 group.
From what I read online,
I expected there to be 3:50 and 4:00 groups in both corral one and corral two. I saw a 3:50 group in corral two, but the
slowest group I saw in corral one was 3:45.
That was too fast, so I started on my own.
As I was running through
downtown Minneapolis in the first mile, I spotted Eliot, who is also a 50sub4
member. I sped up a little to catch up
to Eliot, but that led me to run the first mile too fast.
In the second mile, there’s
an uphill section where’s we’re running past the Walker Art Center and then turning
onto Douglas Avenue. On this section, I
eased up and let myself drift back in comparison to the runners around me. After running mile one in 8:30, I slowed to 8:55
in mile two. That was still faster than
the pace I needed to break four hours, but it was much more reasonable.
The next few miles were
relatively flat. I settled into a pace
that was between 8:45 and 8:50. I wasn’t
trying to go this fast, but I was influenced by the pace of the runners around
me.
Midway through mile
three, we turned left to head toward the chain of lakes in south
Minneapolis. For the next four or five
miles, we had a headwind. I was
partially sheltered by the trees and the other runners, so I never found the
wind to be too tiring.
Running past Lake of the
Isles, I saw some spectators who set up a mimosa stop. It was much too early in the race to indulge
in something like that. I stuck to the
official aid stations, which had water and Nuun.
A couple miles later, near
the southwest corner of Bde Maka Ska, I saw another mimosa stop. This one also had pancakes. I don’t think I’ve ever seen pancakes at a
marathon before.
I felt the wind the most
as I reached the north end of Lake Harriet.
Here, the wind was blowing across the lake.
After Lake Harriet, we quickly
reached the Minnehaha Parkway. Now, we
were heading east, so the wind was at our side.
Along the parkway, I found the wind to be helpful. It kept me from getting too hot.
The Minnehaha Parkway is
mostly flat, but there are a few small hills in mile nine. On these hills, I again allowed myself to
drift back in comparison to the runners around me. That mile was a little slower, but it was
still fast enough. So far, every mile
was faster than nine minutes.
Just past the nine-mile
mark, we ran under the Nicollet Avenue Bridge.
As usual, there was a band set up under the bridge.
The next mile was fairly
level, and I got back into a nice rhythm.
For the second straight
year, the Minnesota Vikings were playing a game in London on the day of the
Twin Cities Marathon. It was an
afternoon game in London, but in our time zone, it was an 8:30 AM kickoff, so
the game was going on at the same time as the marathon. Along Minnehaha Parkway, I started seeing
spectators holding up signs with the score.
After 10 miles, I asked
myself how I felt. My pace was taking
some effort. The question was whether it
would be sustainable for 16 more miles.
I felt OK for the time being, but I expected it to get warmer in the
second half. In particular, I expected
to feel the sun more as it got higher in the sky.
Just before 11 miles, we
turned onto Cedar Avenue to begin running around Lake Nokomis. It was here that I noticed a pace group
catching up to me.
The leaders of pace
groups carried signs that listed their goal time on one side and their average
pace on the other side. This was a 3:50
group. Their pace was 8:46 per mile,
which was pretty close to the pace I had been running.
I had seen a 3:50 group
in corral two, but they started five minutes after I did. I didn’t expect them to catch up to me until
much later in the race. I asked the pace
leader if she started in corral one or two.
This group started in corral one, just like I did.
I wanted to run with a
group, but I didn’t know if 3:50 was realistic.
As we ran around the west side of the lake, we were running into the
wind. Against my better judgement, I
kept up with the group, even though I was fighting a headwind. Then I got ahead of them.
The 12-mile mark was near
the south end of the lake. I saw the
pace group next to me again, but a different runner was carrying the sign. I didn’t realize it at first, but this was a
different pace group. This was a 3:45
group, but they started in corral two.
Without realizing this
was a faster group, I kept running with them.
That led me to run the next mile in 8:29. That was my fastest mile of the race. When I realized this was a 3:45 group, I
eased up and fell behind them.
On the east side of Lake
Nokomis, we had the wind at our backs.
That may sound good, but I started to get hot. When I had a tailwind, I missed the cooling
effect of the wind.
At the halfway mark, I
was on pace to finish in 3:51. I
expected to slow down in the second half, as it got hotter and sunnier.
Just past the halfway
mark, there was an aid station that had pickle juice, in addition to water and
Nuun. I drank a small cup of pickle juice
and then followed it with Nuun.
As I was leaving Lake
Nokomis to get back onto the Minnehaha Parkway, it suddenly got cloudy, and I
felt some light sprinkles. That was a
game changer. Now, I was no longer
hot. It remained cloudy for the rest of
the race, and we had intermittent light rain.
It was just enough to keep me reasonably cool.
Between 15 and 16 miles,
we left Minnehaha Parkway to get onto the West River Parkway. We followed the west bank of the Mississippi for
the next few miles.
At 16 miles, I once again
asked myself how I felt. I wasn’t any
more tired now than I was at 10 miles.
With the change in weather, I was much more confident that I could sustain
the pace.
At 17 miles, there was an
aid station that had gel packets filled with maple syrup. I had a syrup packet and then followed it
with some water. That was a nice treat.
In mile 18, I slowed to
9:00. That surprised me, because I didn’t
feel like I was going any slower. As I
thought about it more, I realized I wasn’t working as hard. I had inadvertently allowed myself to relax. After that, I picked up my effort again.
When I reached the 30K mark,
I knew I was getting close to the Franklin Avenue Bridge, where we would cross
the river. Before I got there, I saw a
runner ahead of me wearing a 50sub4 shirt.
I couldn’t recognize him from behind.
I yelled, “50Sub4, I see you.” Then
he turned his head, and I recognized him.
It was Rainer, who I met earlier this year.
I ran up the ramp to
Franklin Avenue and crossed the bridge.
As I got onto the East River Road, I knew the next mile would be
slightly downhill. At 20 miles, I
reached the lowest elevation on the course.
The next three miles were each uphill.
This is the make-or-break part of the course.
I didn’t slow down much
in mile 21. Then I turned the corner to
begin a long gradual hill where we climb away from the river and up to the
University of St. Thomas. My pace going
up this hill was slow, but steady. I kept
up with the runners around me, but most people slow down on this hill.
When I reached the top, I
knew the toughest hill was begin me. I
turned right, ran half a block, and then turned left onto Summit Avenue. Summit Avenue was still uphill at first, but it
was more gradual.
Mile 22 was my slowest
mile of the race, but I expected that. I
needed to average 9:09 per mile, and this was the only mile that was slower
than that. It was 9:12.
Just past 22, I saw
another pace group coming up on my side.
Was this the same 3:50 group I had seen earlier, or was it the one that
started in corral two? I didn’t know,
and I didn’t ask. What I did know is
that their target pace was 8:46. I
challenged myself to stay in front of them.
I had one more uphill mile. Then
it would get easier.
At 23 miles, I knew I had
reached the highest elevation on the course.
I was still in front of the 3:50 group, and now the course was leveling
off.
It occurred to me that I
hadn’t seen a score for the Vikings game since halftime. The game might be over by now. I later learned from another runner that the
Vikings won. For what it’s worth, they’re
5-0 in games played in London.
In mile 24, I sped up by
15 seconds. I was still in front of the
3:50 group, and I was motivated to keep up my effort.
Just past 24, I saw a
large sign on the left that said “Free beer.”
It was late enough in the race that I was willing to indulge in a beer
stop. I almost bumped into another
runner as I angled over to the left side of the street.
When the spectators with
the beer saw me heading their way, they got excited. I may have been the first runner to stop
there. One asked me, “Do you want a beer?” Another opened a cooler and took out a
16-ounce can.
I was expecting beer
poured into a small cup. I wasn’t
expecting a whole can. I told them I
couldn’t drink that much, and I continued running. Instead, I drank water at an aid station that
was a few blocks away.
After another half mile,
I saw a beer stop on the right. These
people had poured beer into several plastic cups. I happily drank a small cup of beer and continued
running.
The last three miles have
a slight downhill trend, but it’s not all downhill. The last hill on the course comes just before
the 25-mile mark. I know this hill
well. 35 years ago, I walked this hill,
and I missed a Boston qualifier by 11 seconds.
Knowing it was the last
hill, I was able to keep up a steady pace.
Then I just had to grind it out for a little over a mile.
Just before 26, the
street bends to the left, and we ran by St. Paul’s Cathedral. From there, it’s downhill, and you can see
the capitol in front of you.
I saw someone holding up
a 50sub4 banner in the crowd. As I got
closer, I saw it was Gwen. She ran the
10-mile race, so she had been done for hours.
I continued running down
the hill, finishing in 3:51:30. I slowed
down in the second half, but only by 32 seconds. Mile 22 accounted for most of that.
The finisher medal
featured a maple leaf. Autumn colors
used to be a regular feature of this race.
In recent years, the leaves have been changing later. Ideally, this race should be held two weeks
later. That would also ensure cooler
weather. This year, we got lucky, got it
could easily have been hotter.
As luck would have it, the sun came out right after I finished. I had my phone with me during the race,
but I didn’t want to stop to take pictures. As I continued walking through the finish
area, I stopped to take a picture of the capitol.
Not checking a gear bag
made it easy to get out of the finish area quickly. I picked up a few post-race snacks, but then
I started walking back to my hotel.
I got back to the hotel
little earlier than I expected. I had
time to take a hot bath and do some stretching.
My Achilles tendons both felt tight.
After changing into clean
clothes, I packed up and checked out.
Then I drove to St. Paul Brewing for the 50sub4 post-race party.
I arrived a little bit early, but Gwen and Jayde were already there. Eventually, several other 50sub4 members joined us, and we traded stories for most of the afternoon.
