Category Archives: Race Review

Race Review: 2009 Human Race 8K

It was a gorgeous morning to go for a run, the afternoon was excellent as well. 54 and sunny are pretty nice conditions for a race. The Human Race 8k is excellently managed by The Sporting Life (TSL) Events, a local race management company. This year’s event featured biodegradable water cups and lots of compost trash receptacles. The University of St Thomas makes a pretty nice staging area as well, headquarters are in the fieldhouse and the campus is pretty to walk through.

The starting line is on Summit Ave, home of the famous Twin Cities Marathon hills. The Human Race starts around the 22 mile mark and goes out about 2 miles makes a square around the William Mitchell College of Law and heads back down Summit. Summit Ave is split on two sides of a grass boulevard for much of the race. The start is split with the male and female on two different sides of the boulevard joining together about 1/2 mile or so into the race.

I started a few rows back and planned to take it fairly easy out of the start, especially given that the whole first mile is uphill. My pace seemed pretty solid without being overly fast. Blogger Chad Austin ran by me and for some reason I thought it might be a good idea to try and pace off him – he’s definitely faster than me, even coming off ski season! I came through the first mile in 6:35.

The second mile is pretty much all downhill. It doesn’t really feel like it though. I was just trying to stay relaxed and using people to help block the wind. Nothing too exciting happened during this mile. I was still passing people and getting passed. Was pleasantly pleased to see an even split time of 6:35.

The third mile includes the little square part around the Law school. It is a one block square with a water stop on the Summit Ave side. This square is an easy way to make a fast turn-around on an out and back course. Much preferred to the traditional cone in the road method, especially with this sized event! I saw the leaders coming back by at this point too. This is an up and down mile and I was starting to feel pretty tired. Somewhere in the last half of the race my upper body got really tight and I kept dropping my hands to try and relax it. I went through mile 3 in 6:49.

The fourth mile is all uphill again, but knowing that the final mile is all downhill makes it a little better! I really started struggling and was getting passed a lot more. Thinking back though I recall that my breathing wasn’t labored but that my legs really hurt and I just felt bad overall. Somewhere around here I got a cramp on my right side. I came through in 6:53. Glad to keep it under 7.

The last mile is all downhill with 80 feet of elevation loss at a -4% grade (see chart below). Before the race started I thought downhill with the wind at your back you can fly to the finish. I tried turning it on, but that didn’t work too well. Some people passed me and I tried to stay with them and they pulled away a little bit. It is a little deceiving because the road makes a quick little jog and so you can’t see the finish line, but then you see it for a really long time. You also run past the starting line. Finally with about 1/4 mile left I realized that I had to pass all these people and dropped the gears down. My final 1/4 was 1:21 (which was almost 10 seconds faster than the previous). The Garmin records your fastest pace (you only have to hit it for a second) and today’s fastest was a 4:24 pace! The final mile was 6:07.

Overall race pace was 6:35 for a 33:02 overall time. Which was a little disappointing. Everyone was pretty encouraging and reminded me that this is the first race of the year, so not too put much weight on it.

You can see the 2008 review here.

Comparison Chart	2008	2009
1	6:20	6:35
2	6:12	6:35
3	6:25	6:49
4	6:34	6:53
5	5:51	6:07
Final	31:27	33:02

[tags] Human Race, 8k, Race Review, The Sporting Life [/tags]

Race Plan: Human Race 8K (teamcrossworld.com)

Race Review: Frozen Half Marathon

5 Replies

You know the race will be interesting when the website offers this warning:

Extreme Weather

This is a cold weather race! Temperatures have been at or below zero for this race in the past. Hypothermia could be a definite concern. Make certain that you are dressed properly for conditions on the day of the race. In case of extreme weather conditions this race could be canceled or shortened. All entry fees are nonrefundable. An accurately measured 1/4 marathon course may be used as a short course option. Check with active.com for up-to-date weather information and changes in the race schedule.

The Securian Frozen 5K and Half Marathon is a part of St Paul’s Annual Winter Carnival. Well sadly, we had those “extreme” weather conditions and the 1,200 pre-registrants got the following e-mail from Mary Anderson, race director.

Hi All,Just a note to let you know that the half marathon course has been shortened to approximately 6.5 miles (or half of the marathon distance) for tomorrow. The start time will remain the same at 9:00am.

The 5K race will go on as scheduled and start at 9:15.

The half marathon turnaround is just East of 35E on Sheppard Road and will be at the break in the median there so that runners can go westbound on the way out and eastbound (or with traffic ) on their way back. We will move the water stop to this point and will be serving individual bottles to the runners. This should make it easier for volunteers.

Thank you participating in the 2009 Securian Frozen 5K and Half Marathon!

A wise decision given the fact that the actual temp was officially -15 with a wind chill in the -20’s. The morning broke with a clear blue sky and lots of shining sun, so that helped make the race bearable! There was some confusion about the actual course distance. The e-mail clearly says 6.5 (6.55 would actually be a half of a half) but the announcements coming over the PA system in the registration area kept calling it a 10k (which is obviously 0.35 miles shorter than half of a half). My Garmin called it 6.46.

Attire? Yes how in the world do you dress to race at those temps? Well ultimately the same as you would to run in those temps! Unlike warmer weather where you could wear less layers, it was vital to keep everything nice and warm. I actually wore the attire mentioned here, minus the silk balaclava and adding a pair of goggles. I wore mid-weight smart wool socks, duct-taped shoes, tights, wind breaker pants, a singlet, long-sleeve dry-fit, long-sleeve cotton, under a wind breaker jacket, gloves, an ear band, and fleece balaclava. I got a new pair of “fog-proof” goggles, but I steamed them up within the first mile.

Pre-Race We were able to park in the Securian building’s parking lot for $2 in downtown St Paul, which was great. Take the skyway over to another building for packet pickup and then stand around and wait. Unfortunately all of the indoor restroom facilities were closed to the public so you had to venture out to the porta-potties lined up on the street. We did a little warm-up jog and then waited for the race to start. The directors were nice to wait until all the runners lined up, but it was a chip race so they should have just started instead of punishing those of us who followed directions!

The Race Almost immediately you go down a hill (about 200 feet in 1/4 mile) from downtown to the river. The race is an out and back along the Mississippi River on Shepherd Road. The first mile came up pretty quickly and I came through in 6:35. I tried keeping my goggles on because the wind was extremely bitey at this point and hurt my face, but I couldn’t really see out of them so I shoved them up on my face. I tried to settle into a pace that would work for the whole race and picked some people to try to stay with. A guy was reading splits at the 5k turn around, which was a little weird but I came through mile 2 at 7:08. The course was a little hillier than I had expected since it was on the river flat. They weren’t anything monstrous, but definitely steep enough to tire you out a bit. I wasn’t really cold anymore at this point although the layers were making it hard to keep up a fast pace. I came through mile 3 at 7:23. The turn around point came pretty quickly after mile 3 and there was the race’s only aid station. Dedicated volunteers passed out bottles of water – caps already off. People were taking them, I did not. Maybe I should have, but I didn’t feel like messing with my balaclava or spilling on myself! 22:34 at the turnaround.

I was actually starting to get tired at this point. I was also getting really hot and raised up the balaclava and un-zipped my jacket a little. This helped regulate the temps as the wind was solidly at my back. Sadly I don’t think the added push of the wind helped my times too much and I came through mile 4 at 7:03. Now I was beginning to get really tired and couldn’t wait for the finish line to arrive. I was a little disappointed when I looked at my watch and saw that we were only at 4.5, yuck 2 miles to go. Around the 5 mile mark we saw the 5k runners. Fortunately we were on a divided road so they weren’t in our way yet (this usually isn’t a problem due to the half-marathon being farther and the 5k starting 15 minutes after us). I came through mile 5 at 6:58. I tried to pick up the pace because I was tired of getting passed, but I was also plain tired! One of the 5k runners was wearing capri tights and the bottoms of her legs were bright red, looked painful. I actually took my gloves off because my hands were sweating, my feet too but nothing you can do about that! I came through mile 6 at 7:25. The last bit was straight back up the hill. We joined the 5k runners. I stayed way off to the side so as to not get stuck behind them and passed a lot of people up the hill which was a nice feeling! I may have passed a couple of half-marathoners on the way too and finished hard into the biting wind for the finish. 3:02 for the last 0.46 miles.

My official time was 45:31 (7:02 pace) [the website said 7:21 pace, but my Garmin and weblog both said 7:02] and good enough for 96th out of 661. (Official results) Evidently the 5k isn’t scored so I don’t know what the total turnout was.

Post-Race I hadn’t heard my teammates cheering me into the finish and I didn’t immediately see them so I wandered back into the buildings to get my post-race food and finisher’s mug! Then I wandered back out and got some pictures of people, including this great one of Mark Deters! I finally caught up with Nathan and we headed home.

A pretty crazy race day!! Did you run it, what were your thoughts?

Local News pieces:

Pioneer Press

[tags] Half Marathon, Race Review, Securian, Winter Carnival, St Paul, Frozen 5k [/tags]

Race Review: Giving Thanks 5K

1 Reply

This race has outgrown its humble beginnings. It wasn’t clear to me when I registered that this was a “fun run” had I known that I might have chosen a different race or just run with another group of friends. Nonetheless, we had a fun time and enjoyed the beautiful Thanksgiving morning!

We arrived in plenty of time, checked-in, and waited around. There was hot water with instant coffee, hot chocolate, and hot apple cider available. I went for the cider and Nathan, Mike, and Emily went for the coffee – I was the only one who walked away happy. Registration went smoothly and Nathan and I did a warm-up lap around Como Lake. It is about 1.6 miles around the lake and we got a little confused by the mile markers. They didn’t represent miles or kilometers….

Como Lake is a nice setting for a race and it was a beautiful morning. Upper 20’s or lower 30’s and a lot wind, with the lake having a thin layer of ice on top. Some snow lingered around the lake and frost on the little dock. The rising sun would have made for an amazing picture – but I forgot my camera and I’m not good at creating a word picture, so just imagine it!

We made our way to the starting line and waited, and waited, and waited some more. They were waiting to get everyone out of the registration area. The race director made some announcements, but some in the crowd were getting a little anxious to start. We finally started exactly 15 minutes late. The director had tried to help the front of the pack separate into some semblance of finish times which if people actually followed would have made for a decent start. At these races though no one really starts in the right spot unless they are super-fast on the front line!

I was on the far outside 3-5 rows deep and was able to dart out and around a huge chunk of slower runners. Paul, another runner in our group, got stuck on the inside and struggled to get around slower runners. I settled into a comfortable pace and started picking off runners, while dodging walkers. Even during the first lap there was a lot of walkers on the trail. Some were neighbors of the lake, while others were wearing race numbers and should have started behind us… For the first lap it wasn’t too much of a problem because they were in small groups. About .75 miles into the race we turned a corner and got hit by a pretty strong headwind which we faced for about the next mile. Shortly before the first mile mark a father was letting his 4 young boys run around with the runners. They paid no attention to us almost cutting me off a few times. I think if this wasn’t a holiday I may have gotten upset. I tried to stay relaxed and have some fun. I was enjoying slowly picking people off! I ran the first mile in 6:37.

It was pretty much more of the same as we came through the finish line area and back past the starting line. At this point the trail started to really be getting crowded with walkers, strollers, and dogs. I tried to stay relaxed and zigged and zagged my way around them without making any quick movements and trying to run the tangents as much as possible. I was feeling pretty relaxed and comfortable as I came through mile 2 in 6:35.

The last mile was all in the wind again which wasn’t overly pleasant and the runners were pretty spread out while the walkers were getting thicker. I looked up ahead and saw a woman running and a man in shorts and set myself to try and beat them both. So I slowly picked up the pace and worked on my zig zag technique and ran mile 3 in 6:16.

As we turned the corner into the homestretch I still hadn’t caught either of the people I wanted to pass and couldn’t see shorts guy anymore but the woman was with in reach – as long as she didn’t kick too hard! I turned it on and went flying past her and strode across the finish line, pretty happy with myself!! The last 0.1 miles was in 0:32 which is 4:41 pace! Overall 5K time was 20:01. I had no expectations for this race so that was fine… it would have been nice to get under 20 since I was so close, but oh well!!

Talking with people who know the race director they said something like 600 people had pre-registered for the event, for smaller events you plan to double your pre-registered numbers, but there was a 700 participant limit. I would wager that they got pretty close. Since this was a fun run they didn’t have an official timing system or results. In his pre-race announcements the director indicated that next year they will be changing the course so that the runners aren’t lapping the walkers and creating a mess in the middle of the race. That would be a most excellent idea, especially if they can keep it flat! I occasionally enjoy low-key events and this would rank up there as fairly low-key. Charities Challenge is trying to encourage everyone to exercise and it is a hard balance between attracting lots of runners (of all speeds) and families who just want to walk together while supporting a good cause.

A lot of the walkers had pinned sheets of paper on their backs which said, “I am thankful for…” It was a good reminder throughout the race that I should be thankful for my abilities. Many of them were too long to actually read while I ran by, but it is nice to see people celebrating family!

Media Coverage Pre-Race on Kare11

Note: if you zoomed in really close on the map you could see the zig and zag but at the zoom level above it just looks like the same course.

[tags] Thanksgiving, 5K, Race Review, Charities Challenge [/tags]

Race Review: USATF-MN 10k

3 Replies

This race served as the USATF-MN Cross Country Championships. As with collegiate championships this year it was a 10k. Fitting for the mid-November race, it was cold and snowy when I awoke. By the time we got to the race course, another golf course, the snow had stopped falling but the ground was very wet and soggy.

The course was 4 laps meandering around the golf course hitting a few good sized hills each time and rarely more than a couple hundred yards of flat terrain. Knowing the course would be hilly and wet I secured a new pair of cross country spikes. They did a good job for me. I didn’t slip and fall and I don’t really remember sliding at all while climbing the hills. The Nike Zoom Waffle XC 7 did an excellent job. With the waffle it is only a 4 spike bed. My toes hurt a little bit from jamming but I think that is due to the hills and I should have cut my toe nails!

Each lap was 2,500 meters long and the only distance marker on the course was the 1 mile mark. So if you wanted to do that math that’d be 1600 meters which means that each lap after passing it you had about 900 meters to get to the finish line. This was helpful on the last lap. I felt really good at the start and went out with a few guys from my team. We sorted around a little and ended up with a pack of 3 until about midway into the 3rd lap. At that point I started dropping back a bit. I tried not to let them gap me too much and we all finished within 20 seconds of each other. It was a little disheartening to see Chris pull off the course in front of me during the 3rd lap as I was starting to get tired, but I struggled on and it looks like he’ll be ok.

I didn’t have much of any kick at the end but the finish was also kind of uphill. The cold made it a miserable day. On the way home a bank thermometer said “32” so it was right around the freezing mark for the run. Most of us ran in long sleeves and shorts. Once you got moving your legs weren’t too cold, until you stepped in a puddle or something! There was no precipitation for our race, it was snowing/sleeting for the women’s 5k.

The course had 2 bad spots. One was over a 90 degree turn around a tree that was on the edge of the rough. The other was a hairpin turn around 500 meters to the finish. Both of these caused me to slow down a little, even though I tried running them a little wide.

I finished the race in 43:09 which is 6:57 pace. (That is faster than last week’s 6:59 pace for a shorter run!) I was 6th on our 3rd place team and 32nd out of 39 overall. The winning time was 33:23 by Christopher Erichsen of Collegeville TC. As I was coming around the hairpin turn on my 3rd lap I saw the gator in front of the leaders and vowed not to let myself get lapped. (I didn’t!) Our women’s team placed 4th in their 5k (which was 2 laps of the same course, run after our race).

[tags] USATF-MN, Cross Country, XC [/tags]

Race Review: Rocky’s Run 8k

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