Race Report: French 5k

"Well, I have to be honest. I need to confess that we've been guilty of some false advertising," admitted race director John Storkcamp just before the start of last Wednesday night's French 5k -- the concluding event to the Endless Summer Trail Run Series (ESTR), a series aimed at heightening summer running joys by offering three cross-country races (Murphy 10k, Hyland 10k, French 5k) at different parks around the Twin Cities.

"The summer is going to come to an end."

Oh.

Bummer.

Of course, standing there at the start line, we all accepted his confession with a sigh disguised as a laugh.

But it wasn't because of anything in the air. If anything, it's the beautiful Minnesota weather that's been guilty of the false advertising. After one of those classic early afternoon summer rains, temperatures were happily hovering near +70F. And a 6:30p start time had the leftover clouds in perfect position for some twilight dancing once the sun started its descent. 

And it certainly wasn't because of anything in the race atmosphere. For a 200-person group made up of good friends, random acquaintances, and total strangers, you'd be surprised the kind of camaraderie that seems to grow from the shared loves of trails, body exhaustion, and beer. From the race website:

Remember when you were a kid and the summer days were hot, relaxing and seemingly endless? Well, as adults we still get that, usually just on weekends and holidays...until now. The ESTR was created to provide low-key, low-pressure trail running / racing opportunities for people of all ages, abilities and levels of experience. Whether you are a seasoned trail or road racer, first time trail-racer, need a tune-up for your next race, need to get in some speedwork or just want to have some pizza, pop and beer with us at the finish -- running one or all three of these races is designed for you.

You know you're a part of a good thing when the end of an event is just its beginning. After the finish and some "awards" (overalls and some giveaways), Ashley and I picked up our frisbee and tossed for a good while -- Sam Adams Summer Ale in hand. By the time we left, most of the crowd was still going strong -- well into the evening I can only imagine.

No, standing there at the start, only the cold memory of experience caused us to agree with John. Our minds drifted back to winter parking frustrations gone by, to the inevitable freezing over of our favorite trails, and to the "winter clothes" box we'd all forgotten about in the attic that will be coming down sooner rather than later.

But summer isn't ending just yet. Not tonight. Tonight, with its warm sky and happy-go-lucky crowd, will surely last forever.

"And...go!"

Startled by the surge forward, and ready to lose the chills that may or may not have been developing, I began the race by quickly tucking in behind the lead pack for the long downhill start. I guess you could call it drafting. Having not truly raced cross-country course since high school (and starting today's with some heavy training legs), my pre-race strategy was, nonexistent. I would go with flow. And if things went south, I would simply comfort myself with views of the painting in progress in the sky and happy thoughts of the epic pre-race gift to all entrants:

Frosted, ready for action.

Well, things went south ~1.3-mi into the race. After chasing the leaders through what I guess was a 5:30 mile (no markers), I found myself face-to-face with a short, steep hill that I would probably hike in any other race. Talk about killing momentum. I decided to run up it (mostly out of peer pressure), but quickly backed off the pace at the top when I saw what lie ahead.

From there to the finish, the hills never let up and, therefore, I suppose neither did my backing-off-the-pace. I crossed the finish in 20:44, somehow in 13th place, where the un-quantifiable and seemingly endless summer fun began:

Pizza!

Nothing like a quality, cold beer on a
summer evening. (Props to Ashley for fishing
out this SA hidden in a cooler of otherwise
mediocre beers.)

All in all, an enjoyable summer evening running in Minnesota. I'm happy to have added this race (somewhat spontaneously) to the calendar.

Here's a video someone put together of a previous series event:

*For the sake of clarity, it should be known that Ashley did not herself personally enjoy any beer on this summer evening (due to the pregnancy). She was simply a happy helper to me. All of her enjoyment was thus indirect and vicarious. End clarification.