Naomeri
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Oct 14, 2019
Maple Grove Lions 10K
It was a beautiful morning for a race, but I was pretty tired from staying up late on Friday looking at Northern Lights (I’ll do a separate post of my best pics)
I had picked up my bib and shirt Friday after work because they really didn’t want people picking them up on race morning, even though that would’ve been way more convenient for me. Maple Grove is 30-35 minutes from me, so spending an hour for a 2 minute errand is irritating.
Anyway, the race started and ended at Maple Grove Senior High, so there was great on-site parking. I dropped my bag at bag check and kind of wandered around for a bit. There was also a Half and a 5K running, the half started first at 7:30, and the 5K started after the 10K at 8:00. After the half runners got on their way, I lined up toward the back and on the right side for the 10K. My goal for the race was not to race it, but to treat it like a catered training run. So I kept my intervals at 30/60, rather than the 30/45 I would normally use for a 10K, but I did run the downhills, regardless of what my intervals were telling me to do.
The race started with a full loop around the track, and my playlist had jokes and started with “Right Round”
Because I chose to stick with my intervals right from the start, rather than keeping up with the crowd, I quickly ended up at the pack of (if not the back of) the pack. It wasn’t a great feeling, but I tried to just keep on keeping on. Luckily, there was a nice downhill less than half a mile into the race and I permanently passed a number of people I had been behind. It was shortly past the first mile that the fastest 5K runners passed me. And occasionally, the half leaders would zip by me when our courses converged.
The course was super clearly marked for all 3 races. You just followed the signs that matched your bib color (yellow for half, orange for 10K, green for 5K). Most of the race was on paved nature trails, with the occasional jaunt into a neighborhood, including one that had a great divided road with a big greenway and paved trail going down the middle of it. There were volunteers at almost all intersections to point the way and cheer people on, and police manning the very few busier crossing points. I would definitely run this course again as an actual race.
There was a nice section along the north shore of Rice Lake.
Someone along the lake path had a little collection of painted rocks, fairy houses, and other random bits of stuff.
Somewhere in the fifth mile, we turned east onto a very sunny trail, and my playlist had another joke: “Soak Up The Sun”
There were some people I was hoping to pass in the last mile, because we’d been leapfrogging for a while, but I just couldn’t do it. But I wasn’t last, and I was ahead of more people than I thought! I finished 229/250 overall, and 136/151 women, in a time of 1:21:10. My watch only measured 6.13 miles, but I think it lost me a few times along the way.
After I drank my water and ate some chips, I walked back to the car and headed home. I ate some more food, got cleaned up, and then had to head out to my great aunt and uncle’s house to do some work for their big garage sale that starts next weekend.
Sadly, we didn’t get a repeat show from the Aurora on Saturday night, just some white streaky bits before the clouds rolled in.
Sunday, I had to help my grandma with her outdoor work (it was Mother’s Day after all) so I didn’t get onto the treadmill until 10 pm, and I only managed 2/3 miles of my progression run. My legs just felt heavy and it wasn’t a very good run, and another mile wasn’t going to make it any better. I feel bad that I cut it short, and that I skipped an easy 3 mile run this week, but, on the other hand, my long run for the week was only supposed to be 4 miles, and I ran a 10K instead, so I’m only short about 2 miles on the week.
And my estimated current fitness changed again, getting closer to where Runna thinks I’ll be at the end of my plan. I’d say that the current 10K estimate is accurate—if I’d been running 30/45, I think I could’ve found 3 minutes to shave off the race on Saturday.
In critter news, one of my chipmunks has gifted me with 2 little babies! They’re too shy to get pictures of yet, but their mama only just brought them out of the den for the first time yesterday, so I’ve got plenty of time to work my Disney Princess magic on them.
Here’s Rocky
Bashful (FKA Happy)
And Mama Red, who isn’t ready to take food directly from my hand, but if I put some peanuts down and back off about 2 feet, she’s happy to sit and munch on them while I watch.
It was a beautiful morning for a race, but I was pretty tired from staying up late on Friday looking at Northern Lights (I’ll do a separate post of my best pics)
I had picked up my bib and shirt Friday after work because they really didn’t want people picking them up on race morning, even though that would’ve been way more convenient for me. Maple Grove is 30-35 minutes from me, so spending an hour for a 2 minute errand is irritating.
Anyway, the race started and ended at Maple Grove Senior High, so there was great on-site parking. I dropped my bag at bag check and kind of wandered around for a bit. There was also a Half and a 5K running, the half started first at 7:30, and the 5K started after the 10K at 8:00. After the half runners got on their way, I lined up toward the back and on the right side for the 10K. My goal for the race was not to race it, but to treat it like a catered training run. So I kept my intervals at 30/60, rather than the 30/45 I would normally use for a 10K, but I did run the downhills, regardless of what my intervals were telling me to do.
The race started with a full loop around the track, and my playlist had jokes and started with “Right Round”
Because I chose to stick with my intervals right from the start, rather than keeping up with the crowd, I quickly ended up at the pack of (if not the back of) the pack. It wasn’t a great feeling, but I tried to just keep on keeping on. Luckily, there was a nice downhill less than half a mile into the race and I permanently passed a number of people I had been behind. It was shortly past the first mile that the fastest 5K runners passed me. And occasionally, the half leaders would zip by me when our courses converged.The course was super clearly marked for all 3 races. You just followed the signs that matched your bib color (yellow for half, orange for 10K, green for 5K). Most of the race was on paved nature trails, with the occasional jaunt into a neighborhood, including one that had a great divided road with a big greenway and paved trail going down the middle of it. There were volunteers at almost all intersections to point the way and cheer people on, and police manning the very few busier crossing points. I would definitely run this course again as an actual race.
There was a nice section along the north shore of Rice Lake.
Someone along the lake path had a little collection of painted rocks, fairy houses, and other random bits of stuff.
Somewhere in the fifth mile, we turned east onto a very sunny trail, and my playlist had another joke: “Soak Up The Sun”
There were some people I was hoping to pass in the last mile, because we’d been leapfrogging for a while, but I just couldn’t do it. But I wasn’t last, and I was ahead of more people than I thought! I finished 229/250 overall, and 136/151 women, in a time of 1:21:10. My watch only measured 6.13 miles, but I think it lost me a few times along the way.
After I drank my water and ate some chips, I walked back to the car and headed home. I ate some more food, got cleaned up, and then had to head out to my great aunt and uncle’s house to do some work for their big garage sale that starts next weekend.
Sadly, we didn’t get a repeat show from the Aurora on Saturday night, just some white streaky bits before the clouds rolled in.
Sunday, I had to help my grandma with her outdoor work (it was Mother’s Day after all) so I didn’t get onto the treadmill until 10 pm, and I only managed 2/3 miles of my progression run. My legs just felt heavy and it wasn’t a very good run, and another mile wasn’t going to make it any better. I feel bad that I cut it short, and that I skipped an easy 3 mile run this week, but, on the other hand, my long run for the week was only supposed to be 4 miles, and I ran a 10K instead, so I’m only short about 2 miles on the week.
And my estimated current fitness changed again, getting closer to where Runna thinks I’ll be at the end of my plan. I’d say that the current 10K estimate is accurate—if I’d been running 30/45, I think I could’ve found 3 minutes to shave off the race on Saturday.
In critter news, one of my chipmunks has gifted me with 2 little babies! They’re too shy to get pictures of yet, but their mama only just brought them out of the den for the first time yesterday, so I’ve got plenty of time to work my Disney Princess magic on them.
Here’s Rocky
Bashful (FKA Happy)
And Mama Red, who isn’t ready to take food directly from my hand, but if I put some peanuts down and back off about 2 feet, she’s happy to sit and munch on them while I watch.
that is so amazing.
