On July 25, I ran the
Xenia Avenue Marathon in Brooklyn Park, MN.
I’ve run this race every year since its inception in 2020. It’s close enough to home that I don’t need
to stay in a hotel. It’s just too
convenient to pass up.
I could’ve waited until
Saturday morning to pick up my race packet, but I chose to drive up to Brooklyn
Park on Friday. That gave me a chance to
stop at one of my favorite pizza places, which is also in Brooklyn Park.
The race started at 6:30
AM on Saturday at Orchard Trail Park. I
left home a little after 5:00, so I could get there about 45 minutes early. Parking was available across the street at
Champlin Park High School.
I saw several other
runners who had done one or more races of the Summer Camp Series. They all knew this was going to be my 600th
marathon or ultra.
This race often has hot
weather, and this year was no exception.
The temperature at the start was 70 degrees, with high humidity. I expected it to get into the 80s by the time
I finished.
This was my seventh
marathon in a span of nine days, so I had tired legs. Between that and the hot conditions, I wasn’t
aiming for a fast time. I just wanted to
finish.
The course was one lap of
a 2.2-mile loop, followed by five laps of a 4.8-mile loop. Both loops started by running around Orchard
Trail Park and then heading out to the Rush Creek Regional Trail.
On the shorter lap, we
left the trail to run a loop of some residential streets. This loop included two blocks along Xenia
Avenue.
After leaving this
neighborhood, we returned to Orchard Trail Park, where there was an aid
station.
My pace so far was faster
than the pace I typically started during the Summer Camp Series, but I was
really feeling the high humidity. After
that short lap, I slowed down.
The remaining five laps
were all on paved bike paths. We once
again got onto Rush Creek Regional Trail.
We followed this trail through a tunnel under Douglas Drive and then through
Oak Grove Park.
There was an aid station
set up at a junction in the park that we ran through three times on each
lap. On my first big lap, I drank every
time I came through this aid station. That
seemed excessive, so on subsequent laps, I only drank there twice per lap.
After running through the
park, we did a short out-and-back. When
we returned to the park, we turned at the aid station to run past the pavilion
and playground. There was also a
building with bathrooms.
Next, we ran a loop
around a meadow on the south side of the park and eventually returned to Oak
Grove Park.
Then we followed the Rush
Creek Regional Trail back to Orchard Trail Park.
There were mile markers
on the path. That was new this year, and
it’s something you don’t usually see in a race where you’re running multiple
laps.
On some sections of the
course, there was two-way traffic, so I often saw runners who were ahead of me
or behind me. The runners who knew me
were all congratulating me on my 600th marathon. As the race progressed, I was also
congratulated by a couple runners I didn’t recognize. Maybe word got around.
Early in my third big
lap, I reached the halfway point. So
far, I was on pace to have a faster time than I did in any of my Summer Camp
races. I expected, however, that I would
slow down as it got hotter.
In the first half of the
race, I was stopping to take pictures. I
also had to make a few bathroom stops.
In the second half of the race, I was able to get into a more consistent
rhythm.
I didn’t get as hot as I
thought I would. It was a cloudy day, so
even though the temperature was rising, it didn’t feel nearly as hot as it
would on a sunny day. We also sometimes
had a cool breeze. I was still running
at the same pace, but without all the stops, my average pace was now faster.
I was paying attention to
my lap times on the big laps. With two
laps to go, I realized I could run negative splits if I kept running without any
stops or walking breaks. That became my
goal.
I focused first on
getting through one more lap without walking breaks. Over the last seven years, I’ve run this loop
more than 30 times. I can visualize
every part of it, and I always knew what was coming up. Instead of focusing on miles, I focused on
where I was in the loop.
There were a couple
points on the course where volunteers were reading our bib numbers and keeping
track of how many times we had passed.
When I reached the turnaround of the out-and-back section, the volunteer
greeted me by name and said I would see him one more time.
When I finished that lap,
I saw that it was a few minutes faster than my previous lap. Now, there was no doubt that I would run
negative splits if I kept running without walking breaks.
I needed to make another
bathroom stop, but I wanted to wait as long as possible. As I started my last lap, I committed to
waiting until I reached the bathroom in Oak Grove Park.
When I reached the
turnaround for the last time, the volunteer again greeted me by name. He said, “This is the last time you’ll see
me.” I said, “until next year – maybe.”
When I got to the
building with bathrooms, I made my last bathroom stop. I had been worried that my legs might get
stiff after stopping. When I resumed
running, my legs still felt fine, and I quickly got back into the same pace.
On my last trip around
the meadow, I reached the 24-mile marker.
My watch had been reading high, so I depended on the mile markers to
know how much I had left. I checked my
watch. It looked like I would run
negative splits by about nine minutes. I
wondered if I could shave off another minute and make it ten.
I picked up my effort as
I ran back through Oak Grove Park for the last time. When I got back to the aid station, I didn’t
stop to drink. I didn’t want to do
anything that would slow me down.
From the aid station, I
had about 1.5 miles to go. I was done
with loops and out-and-backs. Now, I
just needed to run back to Orchard Trail Park and finish.
At the 25-mile marker, I
checked my watch again. I didn’t speed
up at all in that mile. I could’ve just
taken it easy the rest of the way, but I tried harder to pick up my pace.
When I ran through the
tunnel, I had just under a mile to go. I
was pouring it on now. I started looking
for the mile markers from earlier laps.
They were staggered by about two tenths of a mile. When I saw the “11” marker, I had eight
tenths to go. When I saw the “16”
marker, I had six tenths to go.
Just after the “21”
marker, I came around a bend and saw the junction where I would leave the Rush
Creek Regional Trail and run back into Orchard Trail Park. On my way to the park, I saw the “26” marker.
I accelerated all the way
to the finish. I finished in
5:10:17. I ran faster today than I did
in any of the Summer Camp races. I also
ran negative splits by more than 10 minutes.
I finished before the
temperature reached 80 degrees, but I always felt the high humidity. When I finished, my clothes were soaked and I
was dripping with sweat.
Two of my friends from
Summer Camp were still there when I finished.
Eleven runners were still on the course.
Everyone else had already left.
Because of road
construction, I knew the drive home would take longer than usual. Rather than have lunch somewhere in the area,
I drove straight home. I was still
soaking wet when I got there.
My July schedule has been intense, but August will be easier. I only have one marathon scheduled in August, plus a couple of shorter races at the Minnesota Senior Games.
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