Well, another celebration of summer's presence was held a couple of weeks ago in the Lebanon Hills Regional park in Eagan, MN. Endless Summer Trail Run Series, version 3, check.
I had plans to skip this one with the Voyageur 50 Mile coming up a week and half or so after, but Ashley talked me into it. Which, I will admit, wasn't difficult. Only one-word arguments were needed: trails, racing, outside, summer, friends, pizza, beer, etc.
Plus, Sam and Jocelyn love the outdoors:
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| Sam hanging out with his friend Molly |
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| Happy Jocelyn. She did get sorta stung by a yellow jacket at one point, but that didn't seem to steal her summer joy! |
The Start
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| And we're off! |
Here's a video Ashley shot of the start:
And Sam may have been slightly upset that he wasn't able to join in on all the running yet:
The Middle
Every time I race one of these trail runs I'm always surprised by how much fun it is to cover trails at speed. Just something about all the twisting and turning and needing to find the right foot placement and line through the woods. 95% of my trail miles are slow and steady, just wanting to enjoy the scenery and think mostly. But it is a unique joy to try and fly across the dirt on occasion.
This wasn't a focus race for me (or anyone else)—casual competitiveness is how I'd describe the atmosphere—but I was happy with my effort. Mile splits: 6:25, 6:36, 6:37, 6:47, 6:47, 6:37, and 6:19 for the last 0.8. Decided early on that I'd just try to stick to sub-7:00 miles and then race it in the last couple miles, if I felt okay. Sometimes it's difficult for me to convince my body to race with an evening start time as I'm usually winding down the day around 6pm or so. Never know what to expect standing on the starting line, but usually have a good idea after the first mile.
The women's lead was right on sub-7:00 pace for that first mile, so I thought it'd be fun to watch their race unfold for a few miles. But then the 2nd place female started to fall off the pace shortly thereafter. So I just stayed with the pack I was in until the halfway aid station. After the aid station, I started to pick off a few people who looked like they were slowing under the heat and humidity. The vacation south a few weeks ago probably helped re-acclimate me to my southern roots. The heat and humidity slows everyone down a bit, but for some reason I do enjoy running in it.
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| Turning the corner for the aid station |
The Finish
Didn't get any shots coming across the line in 4th, but did get this one after with Sam. We had fun cheering in all the other runners coming across the finish. I bet Sam's not too far off from being able to run one of these himself! Official, casually competitively time: 44:51.
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| The finish line scene: yay for summer!! |
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