I figured this year could only go better as I was running a reasonable amount this fall. Should have been more, but it was better than zero. Included in this training I was showing up for the weekly trail runs that NMTC was putting on. On the Wednesday prior to the loony challenge, the weekly run was at Bagley Nature Center by UMD. Just to make life interesting, I found a way to roll my ankle at the race.
So, limping around on Friday collecting my packet had me a little worried about the weekend events. Since it was paid for already, I figured I would show up and see how things rolled.
10K
At the start line I figured I would take it easy at the start to see how it felt. I also knew that running uphill or downhill was rougher than flats and the race started with a good climb. After a nice easy first mile I started ramping it up. The foot felt ok, and I finished in a decent time overall.
5K
Less than 45 minutes to wait for the next go round gave me enough time to get something to drink and re-assess my race wear. I then decided to head back to the start line and get ready to run again. Waiting to start I bumped into Stacie from the DRC running group. We chatted about our goals and got ready to go. She was shooting to go a touch faster than I wanted to so she went a couple rows ahead of me just before the gun. I took the start a touch faster than the 10k, but still a touch easier than I might really have been able to. At the top of the hill I once again picked up the pace and held it through the finish.
Recovery
Last year I did not do a good job recovering from the Saturday runs in preparation for Sunday. This year I made a point of getting my legs ready. I rode the exercise bike at the hotel for a bit to get some lactic acid out, and then used my compression socks for a bit too.
10 Miler
So this year I stayed at the Courtyard at the corner of Washington Ave and 35W. This was about 3/4 mile from the start line. With no Metrodome this year, I figured I would simply jog over from the hotel as a warm up and arrive with 20 minutes before the race started. Perfect plan. I packed up my clothes for after the race, got into my race clothes and jogged over. I then threw my bag onto the UPS truck (best race sponsor ever; UPS as the bag transfer folks! Genius!). I then bumped into Tiffany and Leslie, two killer fast ladies from the Duluth area also running the ten miler. They were looking ready to rock, and when I talked to them after the race they both had nailed good times and seemed happy with their race.
I headed over to the start line and got ready to roll. With the road construction, the first three miles were going to be all new until we joined back up to the standard course at the three mile mark. When we hit the flag markin one mile, my watch said 0.86 miles. Based on the reaction of everyone around me, I was not the only one thinking it was short. We proceeded over to the east bank or the river and the U of M campus. It was pretty with the leaves, campus and the river. When we met up with the standard course at mile three, my watch still read over 0.1 miles short.
At this point we were on the only real sustained flat portion of the course so I tried to maintain a nice even pace and assess how my foot and legs were feeling. The ankle/foot was doing ok as long as I did not step on uneven ground. The legs were doing pretty good also. I think the clown shoes (Hoka's) I wore for all three races were helping out in that regard.
Back to the hills with the long slow climb up Summit and I was trying to stay focused. I was able to stay pretty consistent and soon enough I was on the flat portion of mile 9 getting ready for the big downhill to the finish. I kept a smooth and relatively good pace down the hill and the foot still felt ok. Through the finish and I was happy with my time and the weekend of races overall.
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