Twin Cities and Blue Sky Marathons 2018

Part 1 of a 2-part blog: 

Before I go into more detail about competing in two trail races in southern Missouri this past weekend (part 2), a life update is needed. A few months ago, around the end of August, a relationship that meant a lot to me came to an end. I don’t want to write about exactly what happened because it’s personal. I want to keep this blog focused on my training and racing endeavors. The fallout, and the lessons I’m learning, shaped my approach to this fall. I’m happy to report I only broke down once on the phone, and I successfully restrained myself from buying a puppy. With the help of my family and a few close friends, I have been working to learn from my experiences and focus on doing things that give me purpose. I’ve spent a lot of time reading (for enjoyment), training with friends, and competing in races I haven’t experienced before. 

Some day...

I planned an ambitious (for me!) fall race schedule focusing on running and trail races. In the span of five weeks, I raced the Twin Cities Marathon, Blue Sky Trail Marathon in Fort Collins, Colorado, and the Dogwood Canyon 15k + 50k Trail Races. 

Twin Cities Marathon

The Twin Cities Marathon had been on my radar for a few years. I have enjoyed being able to work out of Burns and McDonnell’s Minneapolis office a few times since August which has allowed me to scout the course and spend quality time with my parents. 

Scouting out the TC Marathon Course with Mom

If you don’t know my parents, they’re awesome. They both have their Ph.Ds and work very hard. They bike. A lot. Their house is filled with lots of books and postcards from their travels. Recently, they started taking spin and body pump classes at the gym. Like I said, they’re pretty cool. The TC Marathon course is awesome. The first half of the race winds around several iconic lakes (which are very beautiful in October) before going along the Mississippi river. I have rather painful associations with the last few miles of the course, so I will let the first picture below explain. 

Strava file here

This is Dave Katz. We used to play hockey together. He signed up for Twin Cities less than one month before. Much respect, dude!

I’d never raced an “open” marathon. For 10 days, my legs were wrecked. Adding to the immediate pain, six hours after the race I had to catch a flight for field work in the state where owning a lifted truck is a requirement; Texas. It was a rough week, but life is all about overcoming setbacks. When I almost fell down the stairs on a daily basis the hotel in Texas, and I was reminded that I had to (got to, Steve, got to) run another marathon in two weeks, I forced myself to find confidence that my legs would recover and function once again. 

Blue Sky Trail Marathon 

I originally needed to travel out to Colorado for personal reasons and decided to make the most of my time in/near the mountains. I was very grateful to reconnect with a place, and the people there, that had been center of my world for 6.5 years in college. 

Horsetooth Reservoir from the "A" #happyplace

I hiked the “A” twice, read a book at Horsetooth Reservoir, swam with the local masters group, and caught up with good friends who I hadn’t seen in far too long of a long time. A few easy days leading into Blue Sky left my legs feeling decent. I decided I needed to treat the event like a long training run. Dogwood Canyon was a more important goal to me. My legs, not to mention my traumatized mind, were still reeling from 26 miles of pounding pavement just 13 days prior. 

Strava link here

The race was a blast. I slowly built my effort, ate and drank consistently, and felt strong the last 10 miles despite hills and technical trails. Most importantly, I enjoyed myself. I took in the mountain views and conversed with the other runners around me. I got lost thinking about nothing but where I needed step next to avoid falling on my face. 

Recovery from Blue Sky progressed much faster than Twin Cities. I was able to run “easy” two days afterwards without much soreness. Another positive was that I had the luxury of two full weekends before the Dogwood Canyon races. 

Because I was planning to camp at Dogwood, I wanted to test out my camping gear. My first full weekend, after a long ride on my gravel bike, I drove the 40 minutes out to a state park at Clinton Lake in Lawrence, Kansas to camp for a night. The park had an awesome system of trails. After setting up camp the evening I arrived, I went for a walk to get a sense for the trails. At some point I stopped and ended up enjoying a long, peaceful moment in the woods. I have a lot of good memories from growing up, camping with my family, going on backpacking trips with friends, and just being generally IN nature. It was nice to slow down and appreciate everything around me. Then the sun went down and I got hungry. 

I slept for almost 11 hours. I woke the next morning, drank some coffee, crushed a Clif bar and a spoonful of peanut butter, then headed out on the trails. I had come to test my camping gear, but I also ended up getting a great run in. 

Part 2 about the Dogwood Canyon trail races will be ready in a few days. More pictures are needed!