Strong to the Finish

We couldn't have asked for a better day: blue skies, light wind, no bugs. With temperatures in the low 50s, it was perfect race weather. Today was the Wells Fargo Lake Minnetonka Half-Marathon, which starts at the Wells Fargo Bank in Wayzata and ends at the Wells Fargo Bank in neighboring Excelsior. Two towns on the shores of Lake Minnetonka, one of the largest lakes in the metro area. Minnetonka is an Indian name; Minne means water and Tonka means effing big. It's a beautiful lake and a beautiful course.

AmyBee ran with me, although she was nervous about it since she hadn't been training. Gun-time was 8 a.m. and we arrived twenty minutes prior to pick up our race number and go to the bathroom. Long lines drove AmyBee to the woods, but I couldn't bring myself to do that. I was still in the queue by the time she returned, but we managed to get to the starting line on time.

This was the first time I ran in this race, but AmyBee had run it before. She told me it was a fast field and that in the past she was quickly left behind. Since she's faster than me, that really worried me. The time limit was 2:45, so there was no room for straggling. If we could run a 12 mm pace, we'd be able to finish on time. AmyBee parked her car at the finish line and I drove her to the start so that we would have a ride back to Wayzata in case we missed the bus. The gun went off and we were behind in no time. I could hear the familiar sound of an engine, which I assumed was the pace bus. Crap. I was tempted to run faster to get away from it, but kept to my plan. No sense in tiring out within the first mile. Fortunately, we turned off onto a narrow road and the "pace bus", which was actually a fire truck staffed with 5 firefighters, stayed on the main road. They caught up with us later.

Someone had told me that this race was hilly, which had me baffled because Highway's 15 and 19, which hug the lakeshore, are flat. But we didn't run on Hwy. 15, we ran in a neighborhood on a road parallel to 15 and it was hilly. As if running 13.1 miles at 5 miles an hour isn't challenging enough; we have to throw in some hills. The walking breaks helped--we'd run 9 minutes and walk 1.

Still, the miles went fast. I know AmyBee from my old running club and I've always liked her but we never really got to talk much to each other. So we self-disclosed along the way and discovered that we have much in common.

At mile 6, eagle-eye AmyBee spotted a couple of port-a-potty's and we dashed over to them. How do you spell relief? B-I-F-F-Y. Good thing we stopped, because the next one wasn't for another 4 miles, and I wouldn't have been able to "hold it" until then.

Although I had the CrapCam with me, I didn't want to stop to take pictures because of the time limit. But at one point we ran on a road that was flanked by marshland. Someone had made a sign to protect the wildlife and I took a picture of it with AmyBee posing alongside. Can you read the sign? It says "Caution. Slow Turtles."



By mile 8 my legs were starting to fatigue, which had me baffled until I remembered that I was running about two minutes per mile faster than I normally do on a long run. Plus, yesterday when my running group was running 18 miles, I was told to run 3 miles, since I would be racing today. Three did not sound like enough, since I had skipped a run this week, so I cleverly ran 5 instead, with the second and third mile at 12 mm to get an idea of what that pace would feel like. Then I did three sets of squats because I was feeling so good, which made for soreness this morning.

We came to a water stop and I refilled my water bottle and poured a packet of Ultima into it. Ultima is the sport drink they're using at Grandma's, so I want to start getting used to it. I lost a little time doing that, and AmyBee kept on going, but I was able to catch up to her when she took a walking break.

After a while AmyBee needed to walk and told me to go on. Since she wasn't in pain and there were other runners around, I did. I know if I'm tired and people insist on staying near I feel pressured to run faster and I didn't want to stress her out. But if she had been hurt I wouldn't have left.

There's not much to report on the balance of the race. There was a hill to climb and I swore at it as I approached but I made it up with ease. I ate a gel at 1 hour, then 50 minutes later, which helped. I didn't experience any muscle cramps and I think that was because of the sport drink.

The final stretch was on a crushed limestone trail, which my legs appreciated. Although I know Excelsior, I wasn't really sure where I was, but I kept my eye on the big, blue water tower. Then I could see the finish line, and while I didn't sprint, I did finish strong. Stopping the Garmin the moment I crossed the finish line (there was no ChampionChip for this race), I looked at my time--2:40:48. Holey Moley! Then I remembered that my Garmin is set for autopause, so I checked and it showed a rest time of 2:40. That would be the bathroom break and water bottle fill. But 2:43:18 is still the fastest I've ever run a half-M. Last August I ran one in 2:47:53 and the year before that my time was 2:48:22. My training appears to be paying off.

I waited at the finish line for AmyBee and she came in shortly behind me. I took her picture as she crossed the finish line, but unfortunately I forgot to save it. I was pretty tired and not thinking clearly, but I'm disappointed that I didn't get the pix. I was going to send it to her so she could have it for her race report.

My splits ranged from 11:41 to 12:32, with mile 10 recording 13:03, but I think that's where I filled my water bottle. Average pace was 12:09, so pretty much right on plan. I couldn't do that pace for a full marathon, but hopefully I can do a consistent 13 mm. Six more Saturday's until Grandma's!