This 30K was a very low key race;
maybe 20 people ran the race. It's an inaugural event, but you'd think
with the Lakefront marathon 6 weeks away people would want to use it for a
training run. I think the race director thought the same thing because he
was a little surprised by the low turnout. I got to the race early to do
a warm-up. I was worried about how bad I've felt on my last 3 runs so, I
really wanted to prep myself for a solid effort. Temps were low 60's and
windy for the race. I was happy because it was much better than 90-100
degrees like we've had most of the week. I started to run and felt a
stabbing pain where the hamstring and upper calf meet. It gave me some
concern about actually running the race and I decided to take the warm-up very
slow. I was able to get the calf warmed up with only a minor discomfort
when going uphill (more like a loss of power). I cut the warm-up short
and went into the fitness center to see if I could work it out with some
stretching and massage. I must have done a good job because I was able to
get the start line and run the race with little to no pain and some loss of
power when climbing the hills.
We started the race on some gravel, which we ran for about a
mile. The rest of the course was on a bike trail and through a park where
we ran in the woods for a couple miles. The 1st mile was with the wind
and went out conservative to make sure the calf didn't cause any problems.
I ran with another runner named Gabe who was from Madison and we talked a
little bit about marathon training and pacing for the race. He wanted a
6:50 pace and I was shooting for a 6:20-6:40 pace. I figured that would
be a pace that gave me a good workout and wouldn't put me in a hole, since my
real focus is the Twin Cities Marathon in early Oct. Gabe and I split a 7:06, but got a little lost
because the path to the bike trail wasn't marked for the 1st mile. So we added about .2 to
our total distance and everyone else followed us the wrong way. Somehow I
had a hunch we went the wrong way and I turned everyone around to join the
trail. The rest of the race was straight forward. Gabe dropped back
to 6:50 pace after 1.5 miles and I went toward 6:30 pace splitting a 6:34 for mile 2. I made a
quick stop in the woods to use Mother Nature’s bathroom and Gabe passed me.
He held his lead through mile 3 and mile 4 when I finally caught back up
with him. I split a 6:41,
6:44. for those 3rd and 4th miles going up some hills. Also the
way out was into a strong wind, which was nice to have on the way back.
Those 1st 5 miles were about the flattest part of the race. The
course got much more difficult than any average marathon for the rest of the
way out. I passed Gabe going 6:32
for mile 5. The 1st long climb came at mile 6 and I was able to put a
lot of distance between Gabe and splitting a 6:46. The 7th mile
was a steep downhill and I split a 6:28.
My splits stayed
pretty much where I wanted to be other than a little slow down in the
park/woods we ran through. The rest of the way I ran alone, but I loved
having the aid stations every 1.6 miles. For a race that only cost $35.00
it was well worth doing for the aid stations alone. The rest of the
splits went:
Mile 8 6:33
Mile 9 6:21
Mile 10 6:29
Mile 11 6:24
Mile 12 6:55 (lots of steep up hill)
Mile 13 6:18 (more steep up hill)
Mile 14 6:00 (lots of downhill)
Mile 15 6:34
Mile 16 6:20
Mile 17 6:19
Mile 18 6:28
Last .98 6:12 pace
Average 6:30 pace
The race turned out just the way I would have hoped. I
finished feeling pretty good and won a $50 grocery gift card and a $10 lunch
along with a fitness membership and massage. The gifts were worth well
over what I paid in gas and entry fees to race.
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