Today was the third race in
the Summer Camp Series. Our race venue
was River Bluffs Regional Park. We were
running on a paved trail near the Mississippi River, but we couldn’t see the
river from the course. As usual, the
course was out-and-back. For the
marathon, we had to do 14 laps.
We started at a trailhead
that has a small parking area, but it’s only big enough for the aid
station. We had to find parking on the
street. I made a point of getting there
early, so I wouldn’t have to park too far away.
Most people knew that
today’s medal would feature Prince. Many
of them were dressed in purple for the occasion. At the aid station, they were playing Prince
songs.
The weather today was
brutal. It was hotter than the previous
three days, and this is the most sun-exposed course of the series. I expected the hot sun to take a toll on me,
so I brought a supply of crushed ice.
Most of the course was
through and around a meadow. Running
across the meadow, we ran down a hill on the way out, but we had to climb that
same hill coming back.
A good portion of the
course was near the tree line, going around the edge of the meadow. This part of the course had shade, but only
while the sun was still low in the sky.
There was one spot where
we briefly ran through the trees. This
part of the course was always shady.
Later in the race, this became my favorite part of the course, but it
was too brief.
I always walked up the
hill going across the meadow, but in the early laps I was running everywhere
else. When I reached the midpoint of my
fourth lap, I was one fourth done with the race, so I did a time check. I was on pace to finish in 5:25.
I was in my fifth lap
when I noticed that clouds had moved in.
That gave us relief from the sun for a few more laps.
It wasn’t sunny yet, but
it was still getting warmer. Over the
next few laps, I slowed down a little.
It didn’t help that I had to make a couple bathroom stops. At the halfway point, I was on pace to finish
in 5:32.
That’s when the sun came
out again. It was high enough in the sky
now that it was shining over the trees.
The temperature had climbed into the 80s, and the sun was intense.
Starting with my eighth
lap, I put ice in my hat every time I started a lap. The ice was effective in cooling me
down. It did a lot to counteract the
heat of the sun.
The hill in the middle of
the meadow was the biggest hill, but there were a few other uphill
sections. One of them was right at the
turnaround. In the second half of the
race, I walked this hill as well, giving me two walking breaks per lap.
When I was halfway
through my 11th lap, I was three quarters done with the race, so I did another
time check. I was surprised to see my
pace had improved, in spite of the extra walking. Now, I was on pace to finish in 5:31.
That gave me the
motivation I needed to keep up the same pace.
My usual pattern has been to do more walking in the last few laps. Today, I was determined not to slow down.
I checked my watch again
with two laps to go. I wasn’t sure, but
I thought I was on pace to break 5:30.
After that, I was checking my time after every half lap. I was motivated to break 5:30.
When I finished lap 13, I
had just over 24 minutes for the last lap, but I still needed to stop at the
aid station to drink some Gatorade and put ice in my hat. When I started running again, I had less than
24 minutes. I didn’t know if that would
be enough.
I lit a fire under myself
to pick up the pace in my last lap. In
the first half, that was easy, because that was the downhill direction.
I needed to see my time
at the turnaround before deciding if I could afford to walk the first small
hill. I had more than 14 minutes for the
second half of that lap, and it was less than a mile.
I went ahead and walked that hill.
When I resumed running, I
picked up the pace as much as I could.
When I reached the longer hill in the meadow, I ran halfway up the hill
before walking the rest of it. Shortly after
that, I got my split for mile 26. It was
my fastest mile of the race, even though it included both of those hills.
After that, there’s a
nice gentle downhill section at the end of the lap. I continued to push the pace, and I finished
the race in 3:25:43. Clearly, I ran
harder than necessary.
I was expecting this to
be my slowest race of the series. So
far, it’s the fastest, and it’s the only one where I’ve run negative
splits. I may regret that tomorrow. Ideally, I should always be staying in my
comfort zone, so there’s still gas in the tank for the next day. Today, I got a little carried away.
Today’s medal depicts
Prince and the "Spoonbridge and Cherry" sculpture. Also notice the purple rain.
No comments:
Post a Comment