Race #4/17 Spring Superior Trail 25K

This weekend I ran my 4th trail series race in Lutsen, MN on the Superior Hiking Trail. This was the first time that I have ran this trail that far north. I decided to make a weekend of it and drove up Friday afternoon with a friend and met many other friends up there that evening. We started out with dinner, pre-race meeting and then a walk about a mile up the trail to check out the raging Poplar River and to get look at the trail conditions.

Me, Robyn, Stephanie and Mike

Poplar River

Poplar River

With the race starting at 7am for the 50k runners (Mike and Robyn) and us 25k runners at 9 am we called it an early night going to our rooms.

Woke Saturday morning earlier than I needed to so I went down to registration and watched the 50k runners start their race. The weather was great, the sun was shining and there were not many clouds in the sky.

Mystery Mountain (the first hill to climb)

Moose Mountain (the second hill to tackle)

After relaxing for about another hour I got ready for my race. It was hard deciding what to wear as always. I decided on full tights, calf compression sleeves, thick wool socks (expected to get very muddy and was not at all disappointed!), Short sleeves, thin running jacket, thin gloves, buff and my Nathan hydration pack. I packed my wind/rain jacket just in case the wind picked up and it got cold on the top. Ended up not using that jacket at all and peeled off the running jacket rather quickly.

Pre-race; Stephanie, Melissa, Janet, Nora and Shawn

Nora's friend, Shawn, planned on running the race in the hopes of finishing in 4 hours which was exactly what my goal was so we planned to run together. We left the others behind right away as we took off down the road to get onto the trail.

I felt great for all of this race, similar to running Chippewa. It was definitely great having someone to run with and we kept pace with each other fairly well. At one point we were in a train of runners with one runner ahead of Shawn setting the pace. This continued on for most of the way up Mystery Mountain and then across the top of Moose Mountain. Finally, while we were walking up a small hill I was ready to run again and the lead runner was walking so we found an opportunity to pass her up. We picked up the pace quite a bit and realized that it was possible her pace was just slight slower than we had wanted as we lost the group pretty quickly. We made one wrong turn coming off one hill and realized our mistake and was able to correct it quickly. At this point in the race we thought that it might be possible to come in sub 4 hrs and this became our new goal.

We got into the aid station at the turnaround and both decided that we would not spend any extra time there. I had my bladder refilled to the half way point grabbed a few peanut butter and jelly wedges, had some coke and was back out of the aid station in a matter of minutes.

Out of the aid station we had a steep climb up the Oberg hill which was very challenging. I was still doing well at this point and Shawn was starting to struggle. We stayed together for the most part but I started to pull ahead. He caught up again somewhere during one of the incline's but I soon passed him and then by mutual decision I pulled ahead as I was ready to move on at a quicker pace. According to my Garmin it looked like we would miss our sub 4 hour goal as our average pace was around 17 minutes instead of the 16 minutes we needed. I readjusted my goal to 4:15 and just powered on, power walking the major inclines and running the flats and downhills. My downhill running has improved and I am now less timid on the downhill's which is giving me quicker finishing times overall. (It turns out our Garmin's were not keeping accurate distance so this average pace was slower than our actual average pace.)

Walking up the very steep hills

We encountered lots of mud on the trail.

Awesome trail conditions on most of the trail.

There was still snow on the trail but not enough to really slow us down

Coming down off Mystery Mountain I was still feeling great and a friend told me that when I started hearing the roar of the Poplar River I would know that I only had about a mile left. After crossing the river there was still a little trail left and a small climb but all of a sudden I popped back out onto the gravel road and I knew I was getting close. I picked up my pace and was running sub 10 minute miles trying to speed up my finish. I was no longer paying attention to my time and just pushed myself trying to get under the 4:15. I crossed the finish line at 4:02:42 and was very shocked that I had made up so much more time than I had anticipated.

I am very pleased with how well this run went and after peering at the mountains in the distance pre-race and being told stories of how rough the climbs were I am thrilled that I finished this race so strong. I waited for Shawn at the finish line and he came in only about 6 minutes behind me. I will definitely have to run this race again and who knows maybe next year it will be the 50k instead!

The trails were very muddy in spots. Too busy navigating the ankle deep mud to get good pictures.

Memorial Park Trail Review

Memorial Park Trail Report

Red Wing, MN

Memorial Park is on the bluffs and is located south of Hwy 61 just outside of Red Wing, MN. There are two ways you can get to the trails. You can drive to the top and start at the trail head at the Lower Quarry parking area or you can drive to Mississippi Golf Links and start at what is considered the Clubhouse Trail head. If starting at Mississippi Golf Links you will be climbing the bluffs at the start of your run whereas if you drive up to the top you will be running on the top of the bluffs on the trails. There are still many hills to traverse on the trail so it really just depends on whether you want to climb the bluff for about 2/3 of a mile to start your run.

Clubhouse Trail head with maps

Map showing the Bike trails in blue.

This is ascending the hiking trail to the top of the Bluff. Pavement changes to dirt quickly

 

Hiking trail to the top of the bluff.

There are many trails available to run while out there;

The Mountain Bike trail is single track and includes many switchbacks. It is fun to run. There are a lot of rolling hills along this route. There are some difficult offshoots to the bike trail which includes steeper hills so if you are looking for some more intense hills the black diamond paths are the ones to take.    

Single track Mountain Bike Trails

Single Track Mountain Bike Trails with Switchbacks

There is the hiking trail which is geared more towards hikers and includes more of the Prairies with grass and less dirt. These are also wider trails and do not include the switchbacks like the bike trail. 

Prairie Sections of the trail. There are three Prairies,

Prairie sections. Mostly you just run small sections of Prairie before getting back on the bike trail.

Snowshoe trail has sections that are single track dirt and skirt the Prairies. If starting at the Clubhouse trailhead you can actually take the snowshoe trail up the bluff. This is a steeper route than the hiking trail to the top. It is also single track with lots more branches and leaves on the trail. This is a fun trail to run down but definitely more technical than the hiking trail to the clubhouse. 

Snowshoe Trail I discovered while running back down to the Clubhouse Trailhead

The terrain on the Mountain Bike trail includes dirt, many roots and sticks with some possible sections of meadow running to link up the different sections.  

Each time I go out there I find myself on a different trail. I like to run the Mountain Bike trail counterclockwise as the bikers ride it clockwise. It is safer to run opposite so you can see the bikers coming and can get out of their way. It is the runners that need to yield the trail to the bikers.  The bike trail is marked as a 7 mile loop but when out there running I tend to get about 6 miles on my Garmin watch. This may be because I do not always run all the difficult (black diamond) sections.

Here is a map for the Mountain Bike Trails:

http://www.livehealthyredwing.org/originals/maps/Memorial%20Park%20Trails%20-%20M.B%20LQ%20location%20final2.pdf

Here is the map to the Ski and Snowshoe Trails:

http://www.livehealthyredwing.org/originals/maps/Memorial%20Park%20Trails%20-%20Winter%20clubhousefinal.pdf

Overlooking Red Wing as you run the edge of the bluffs

Overlooking Red Wing residential areas

Overlooking Hwy 58 which goes south of Red Wing

Today I ran 5.8 miles and discovered new trails that I had not discovered last year. This is a fun trail to run and it is fairly technical. Each time I run this trail it seems I get my foot caught in one of the many roots and end up in the dirt. This time I only fell once and practiced my tuck and roll technique! Must have done well as only managed to carry out some trail dirt with me and left no blood behind. 

This is a great trail to run and I would highly recommend it.

Just a little bit of dirt

Good thing I did not hurt myself when I landed on my hands.

Garmin Elevation Chart for my run today.

Just a quick selfie after my run!

Race #3/17 7@7 Trail Race

After the anxiety and anticipation of my last 50k race going into this race was much less stressful. I saw this race as mostly a fun run on a new trail and I was looking forward to an easy race.

This race was held at Seven Mile Creek Park between Mankato and St. Peter, MN. It was a 2 hour drive for me so not a very close race. With a later start at 9 am I did not have to get up super early which was nice.

Upon arriving at the park I picked up my race packet and started looking for the friends that would be running the race. Nora had brought the UMTR banner to get a picture and I figured with a similar pace Kelly and I would run the race together.

This race advertises itself as a hilly challenging course. I studied the elevation chart before the race so knew there would be 4 major hills.

My Garmin Elevation Chart

Without elevation markings it was hard to determine just how steep the hills really were

We started the race and ran out towards the highway to hit the trail. The first hill was right after we turned onto the trail. I know better than to make judgements about the course but after tackling that first hill I told Kelly "was that the first hill? That was nothing." I would soon be eating my words.

Kelly and I kept a pretty good pace and at times were running 10 1/2 minute miles. It took about 2 miles for my calves to loosen up and my ankles to quit hurting. At one point I told Kelly that she was a hard task master and she said she was trying to keep up with me. It seems we were both thinking the other was pushing the pace. Funny how that happens when you run together. We walked a few of the small hills but otherwise ran for quite awhile. There were several water stops on the trail (more than were necessary) but I wore my Jurek waist belt so did not stop at any of the aid stations. It was my goal to see if I could get this race done in the shortest amount of time possible. This race also included a stream crossing that could not be avoided. It was fun to run through it even if my socks and shoes were wet for the rest of the race.

The second hill was also moderate but the third and fourth hill were long and steep. After power walking the third hill you ran a loop at the top and then descended the same hill. This was also true for the fourth and final hill. These two hills were long and quite steep and were definitely hills for walking. As I ascended these hills I made it my goal to power walk them and not to stop to rest until I got to the top and then I walked until I could catch my breath to start running again.

Somewhere along the way I had decided that I would try to beat Kelly to the finish line. We are in the same age bracket of the race series and I had decided I wanted to try my hardest to come in ahead of those I knew to be in the trail series (it turns out that Erica, whom I thought was in my age bracket is actually not).  I pulled out ahead of Kelly a little before the fourth hill and wanted to stay ahead of her both going up and coming down the hill. I managed to stay ahead (just barely). With only about a half mile to go I picked up my pace to try to get ahead. I figured she would be doing the same. As I rounded the last corner and off the bridge I totally expected her to come flying by me. This never happened. As I came up to the finish line I saw the timer said 1:23:17. I sprinted into the finish to try to make it in under the 1:24. My official time in the results shows 1:24 with a pace of 12 minutes miles. I had come in before Kelly and was very pleased with myself.  Overall I am very pleased with how well this race went.

At Kelly's suggestion we snapped this picture at the finish line.

Race number with the tech shirt.