Minnesota Half Marathon - StPaul - 2019 - Race Recap

Brutal. That's what this year's Minnesota Half Marathon was, on 3-Aug-2019.

July had been rather cool, not hot at all. Race morning however was all hot & steamy. Still it looked manageable. There was Sun out in open and I guessed it would be 70'sF. I did not expect it, but it was the rising humidity which took the toll. Race started as usual and I kept the usual pace while being on the sunny side of the road. After the turnaround, made it back to the Science Museum side, which is 8th mile. Now the breathing seemed labored and I took my first walk break. Here on I saw many stops where medic van was helping runners. My run buddy who ran a 10 miler, actually saw many people throw up.

So by 9th mile, I decided that this slow pace is fine. I only need to cross the finish line. The real torture began after the turnaround on 11th mile. On this last stretch, Sun was on our back. No big deal. But gradually after 5-10 minutes I could literally feel all of my back - from my head to the heel - was on fire. I let out a yelp and turned around. This was totally real. But there was just no escape here - no trees, no building shades to hide behind. I don't know how I went on. Everyone on this stretch was red-faced, feet jogging ahead. On the 12th mile, a young girl was red-faced and crying. I tried screaming some motivation stuff, but within a few minutes I felt like I would breakdown. So I stopped and inched away from her but in forward direction. Every moment that I am talking about here, should be imagined in slow-motion. Anyway finally made it to the finish line.

And it shows up in my race time - a never before 3:15:33 hours.

Brutal & Horrifying - that what this race was.

Race gear is the same design as last year, which is great because it's a lovely cut & great material.

Past Minnesota Half Marathons: 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2014 |

Minneapolis Halloween Half Marathon - 2018 - Race Recap

Fantastic race at Minneapolis Halloween Half - 2018 this year. Very similar to my experience last year in 2017. Actually no. My run-time was better - a sub-3 time of 2:54 hours.

Also the very first thing was very different. Usual parking lot was in construction, and there were long waiting lines on the roads. Even though we came in early, it was a huge shocker, unexpected surprise. I barely made it with minutes to spare for the start. Hence not too many start line pics of costumed runners.

Inspite of my usual cold-anxiety, race day weather was a perfect early 30F & no wind but no sun too. Fantastic road conditions. Very enthusiatic & efficient volunteers everywhere. And the organizers has taken my feedback and put in more turn markers at the Stonearch Bridge.

Race Gear was neat again this year. Scary pumpkin on the spoon on the shirt & medal. Very pumpkin-y twist to the Minneapolis symbol of Cherry-on-the-spoon. Shirt material, design & cut were fantastic as usual for MN Run series.

Minneapolis Halloween Half Marathon - 2017 - Race Recap

Minnesota Half Marathon - StPaul - 2018 - Race Recap

Fantastic Half this year's RBC Minnesota Half Marathon.

After a long time, my race time was satisfactory - 2:57:28 hours.

Race gear is the same design as last year, which is great because its a lovely cut & great material.

Past Minnesota Half Marathons: 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2014 |

Lake Minnetonka Half Marathon - 2018- Race Recap

My third time running Lake Minnetonka Half Marathon. Results were on Athlinks. While I miss the flexibility of MTEC Results, in terms of reordering the entire result list to analyse different criteria, I am happy with the finish-line photos they have shared on Athlinks.

Race had an early start this time at 7am, which was good. It has been only 2-3 weeks since good weather landed in MN, and yet it has caught up to 80s by the afternoon. So with 7am start, it was mild chill at the start and pleasent at the end.

Wayzata - start corrals

Lake Minnetonka Half Marathon route is breathtaking - even when not running. Its only filled with real estate or lakes or lake facing real estate. You could spend the entire stretch till 11 mile admiring the properties and guessing their prices. Mile 11 is on a LRT trail and the last stretch is through the suburbs, to end at Excelsior by the lake, which is a perfect picnic spot.

Excelsior - finish location

A lot of the route stretches were on open roads with traffic while we ran on the shoulder or sidewalks. But most went through closed roads and some trails.Throughout there was beauty to see. Maybe because the trees are not in full foilage by this time this year, I saw something new - "North shore" which was a boat parking, all large boats packed in white covers for the winter and racked on 3 levels of stands. I want to explore that and see which machine did this stacking of 100s of large liesure boats to upto 3 levels ?

On the Crystal Bay Rd, there are houses facing the lake. And this happened in 2015 but I remembered it while running.
So a father & boy were working on their driveway and the boy asks, "Who are these people ?"
Father replied, "They are running a race."
A pause, then the boy says, "But they are not running."
All runners started laughing. Then father replies, "They are tired by now.":D

I finished at 3:02:39 hours, which is much better than a lot of Halfs in the recent past. But uff I narrowly missed being sub-3hours. The mile-wise breakup clearly shows what happened on the route ?

At the start line, there was a 2:30 pacer and a "Last Runner" pacer, and I placed between them. For the first time, I was in a suitable corral. But by the time of start, I realised I was standing very close to the last finisher pacer. That realization really scared me. I was sure, soon I would be behind her. So I took off as fast as I could, to increase the distance between us. Hence the increadibly fast I-saw-Ghost pace in the first few miles.

Wayzata - start corrals

And later I was in my usual cadence. Everything was cheerful till mile 10-11, when negative clouds started to engulf me. By Mile 11 milestone, I started to fast-walk. Eventually it turned out to be my sole planter fascia pain. It took another day to go away. Maybe its time for me to change my shoes and increase my reduced run training.

Race swag was a good quality shirt and medal.

Finish line at Excelsior included the usual perks of banana, chips, bars & water. Medical aid was available throughout the route and finish line. Volunteers were a cheerful lot and very helpful. My Lifetime Run club too turned up to cheer us at Mile 7 and the Finish line.

My Lake Minnetonka Half: 2018 | 2017 | 2015 |

Goldy's Run - 10 mile - 2018 - Race Recap

My first time running Goldy's Run 10 mile. I can't think of why I avoided it so far. Maybe it was the brown full-sleeve shirt, because I lean more towards the half-sleeve shirts. But after running this race, I am thrilled, for many reasons.

And I loved the official finish photo they shared on the result board. A1 click.

First off the weather scare build-up to this race on 8-April Sunday morning. There were predictions of sub-20F cold morning and heavy snowstorm. Numerous backup plans about the clothes to wear till the last minute. Eventually things worked out. I ranged from 16F to 25F, but the running experience was just like in the 30s.

After parking in one of the lots in UofM, we moved to the 3M Arena, where all runners could wait in warmth.

The indoor stadium was soon tightly packed.

But this was the place with the smallest line for the restroom and water fountains.

Starting point was right outside TCF Stadium. Bag-drop was here too. Afterwards I came to know there were 9000 runners that day.

The 10 mile route was scenic. While I enjoy the riverside part of the route, I sickening hate those steep mountains by UofM. Other races have hills. These are mountains yes.

View from the Franklin bridge, shows there is still some snow drifting in Mississippi.

And in this one, I was trying to capture the monorail on the bridge with UofM logo. This is on the loop back at about 7 mile.

The last mile was a loop around the TCF Stadium, on the cobbled stone/tiled paths, which felt boring, being the last mile & all. And then we entered the tunnel and moving towards the finish arch, right in the middle of Stadium. This stadium finish was oh so thrilling. My finish time was 2:20:58 hours.

Couldn't get enough pictures in the stadium. The temps, in this race, ranged from 16F in the morning to close 25F at the end of the race. My race gear was perfect. It was the same I use for runs in the 30's, but it worked in the 20's as well. The only new thing were Hand-warmers my run-buddy brought for all of us. They were a life saver in the morning and I hung on it till the end.

The race swag was a very good quality full-sleeve technical shirt and light-weight square medal. I signed-up for Mail-my-BIB, so shirt pickup was after the race.

Minneapolis Halloween Half Marathon - 2017 - Race Recap

Ran the Minneapolis Halloween Half Marathon this year. I was sure this race is 2-3 years old but turns out it was the inaugural race ! Big surprise when I found out. This race is definitely a great alternative to Team Ortho's costumed race on the same day. MN Series have a great reputation and great races as such. I do have feedback for them at the bottom of this post.

Most costumed runners were for the shorter distances. There were some interesting ones in Half as well. Nurse costume, set of 4 guys in super-hero shirt & cape, Giraffe onesie, some with Pizza-doughnut add-on strapped to their chest. A Harry Potter lady  I met at 10th mile (complete with round specs, wand, scarf and robe). A lady in Red Riding Hood costume with a cuddly wolf in hand. Lot of folks in colorful wigs.

Weather as usual, built-up in the week till the race. The previous weekend was like a perfect summer day, even though it was Minnesota October. Then on Mon it was like dementors had descended and transformed the place into 24/7 dark & rainy. Thursday night and all of Friday was Snowfall day - which thrilled the kids as there was enough to build a Snowman. But boy, the stress it caused all registered runners. Finally on the Sat race morning, it was clean, dry, cloudy and a constant 35F throughout the race & rest of day. Thank god for no rain !

Route was entirely on Riverside. Only the start and finish was on the North of the river. Soon the course crossed the river on Central Avenue and went on the South side of river. At the Stone-arch Bridge entrance, there was a volunteer holding the 5K turn board. I was not paying attention and ran towards it when my run buddies corrected me.  There was timer-carpet at 4th mile. After the turnaround for 10K, it got lonelier, with sparse crowd going further for Half. The turnaround for Half was further up at 7.5. Surprisingly there was no timer-carpet here. So much scope here for cheating.

And around this point my watch started showing, off from the mile markers by around 0.1 mile. I would usually expect it because I often forget to start my watch and do it much after start-line. But this time, I was careful to push the start at the exact time I crossed the start line carpet. Later in the day, I got organizers email that their route measurement was off and compensated by $10 for the next race. They know how to please us runners :) (notoriously chindi-chor/cheap crowd).

But most notably, the riverside route was unbelievably hilly. Just rolling ups and downs. Thankfully it was not windy, expect for a patch in the last 4 miles, when it was exposed.

I pretty much walked the miles 11 and 12. My thighs felt like they were frozen solid. Since this real cold morning came up after a spell of great weather, I was not 100% sure what to wear or discard ? So I had laid out Plan A to Z options of gear, which I kept switching till the point I locked the car and left. Eventually I stuck to my usual fleece jacket for outer layer and also kept the gloves on (which I was unsure about). This is in-addition to 2 layers of tech shirts, compression pants & cap. And my choice turned out perfect for me. Even though it felt warm for the first few miles, it worked perfectly when it got cold in the second half and saved me from the chill caused by wind and sweaty shirts. It was also important for all the time spent outside, before and after the race. So. Leaving an extra layer for packet pickup would have helped. Helpful volunteers stuck around even till noon, so no tension of loosing your packet coz am a last finisher.

After the turn on StoneArch bridge, the last mile, I was still waddling along, when #LadyCrew, my Run club buddies came along from the opposite side. One had finished her Half and the rest had completed 5Ks. They brought the energy boost, so I could start jogging again. And then further up the bridge I saw a glimpse of the Finish line arch and was totally surprised - coz I thought it's further up half mile at the same place we started. That sight made me sprint and I could cross the line at 3:06:25 hr. Wow ! I watched my video in results later, and my sprint looked like the slowest jog in the world - but hell it felt like a high. 

Volunteers were great throughout. Helpful before the race, in sharing information. Numerous porta--potties, so very minimal wait. Very frequent water-stops. The first one did not give Gatorade, so I was stressed out there won't be any and I had brought only 1 Gu, but turns out all other stops have Gatorade as well as water. There was even a water-stop on the last mile and 3rd hour. So thankful they waited.

But some very crucial feedback.

1. There was no sign at a crucial last turn on Stonearch bridge. My friend & a Red-Riding Hood lady who were ahead by atleast 30 minutes, but they missed this turn and went on further & added 2 miles to their run. Not to mention spoilt their finish times. Getting lost on a run is the worst feeling and that too in a race, is shocking. This turn is on the last mile. For the last batch of runners, its their 2nd hour. Brain is not going to remember every single turn, even if you prep & study the course map. Proper direction signs are needed at this point.
2. No parking ramp info on the website. Only pointer on generic map but not by name or address. I parked at St Anothny Parking Ramp (Parking: 215 2nd St SE, Minneapolis, MN 55414). Very low rate & lot of spots available. And just a short distance from the start & finish line.
3. Facebook responses were very controlled. Not responsive enough.

Race gear was smooth full-sleeve shirt and a nice Halloweeny medal featuring scary pumpkin. I plan to wear it for the actual trick-or-treating trip.

Minnesota Half Marathon - StPaul - 2017 - Race Recap

I really really enjoyed this year Minnesota Half Marathon on Shepard road, St Paul. Multiple factors.

For the 7:15am start, I left home at around 5:40am. For the first, it was a carpool commute with my run buddies. It lightened the stressful morning ride and was fun laughing at different experiences on the way back.

Parking for this race is in Rivercenter ramp. Vehicles going in, queued up on the 7th Street W. I did get anxious and thought should park at the lot opposite Excel Energy, but I was stuck anyway, so crawled to the Rivercenter ramp. It wasnt so bad. Loads of free parking space. Parked it closer to the lower level, because exist it o lower level. Don't want to climb the stairs up after the half race.

Run crowd was not very large. It did not feel crowded and pressured to push fast in the begining. nor was it lonely in the last 3 miles. I am amazed by the paces of the first half. The extra long time in the last 4 miles, I think I took extended water breaks and yes slowed down the pace. But mentally I was better focused than I have been in past years races.

The race in itself was fun too. Loads of fun cheering squads, who had come to inspire their family/friend. 2 ladies holding a glittering stone covered Flamingo on a stick. A duo holding Unicorn helium balloon. And in my pace group, there was as Blind runner with her guide. Such an inspiration.

Historically, this race has always been the hottest - being in August. I think that is why I skipped it in 2015, or maybe it was some other reason. But the spectre of heat was always hovering around. Last year, they did take some temperature control measure. Same thing this year. 7:15 am start. Route winding westward. More trees lining the sides and center dividers. But the biggest unexpected surprise of all, was the cold-wave that came in that mid-week. Coldwave ? In August ? In Minnesota. Yes. Thunderstroms dipped the temps to 50s and it never went above 70F that week. The effect of that on race morning was so very useful for us runners. Throughout the race duration, it was supercool, cloudy hence hardly any sunny patches, and breezy thanks to the River by this route. I forgot my cap in the car, and I did not miss it at all.

My finish time was exact same as last year - 3:05:01. Yet instead of disappointment , I am more accepting. Coz I actually enjoyed this race.

The race gear. Ah, I cant stop gushing over the shirt. Its is such a geat design - the sleeves, round collar and the hem-cuts. Just perfect. Material is perfect - not too filmsy that it would be see-through on being sweaty, but very lightweight. Medal was cute too.

Past Minnesota Half Marathons: 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2014 |

Lake Minnetonka Half Marathon - 2017 - Race Recap

Having quit Get in Gear Half at 10 miles last week, I was so unsure about Lake Minnetonka. I had signed up for the thrill of it - 2 Half Marathons in the space of 8 days, yeah ! I had done this in 2015. But with the GiG outcome and plantar fasciitis after, I was in panic mode and trying to cancel-refund my registration for this one. My email got a standard response - they would not refund. Very obvious, being so close to the event date.

So with this in background, I whiled away the week in vacation mode. No thinking about the race at all. La la la la. I got in a 3 miler on Thursday because there was nothing else to do and by now the feet-sole pain had reduced. Still not thinking far, I decided to pickup packet on Sat morning. There was absolutely no crowd at the school location, very peaceful. So at night I decided, I will show up at the start location and see how it goes. Star aligned and I could get my hubby to drop me off. Plus point here, was not carrying my car-key in water bottle through the race.

Race morning my hubby dropped me at the shuttle pickup point. And shuttle bus took us to the start line. Among all the races, I find this one unique about its energy of racers converging. It could be because of the location, but this one seems seamless. Runners parking in different streets and converging towards the school for shuttle bus. And then after drop-off near Wells Fargo bank, gathering on the Wayzata Blvd. Its a great place for race start. Wide streets, cozy but spacious for such a large gathering. I guess the residents are inconvenienced only the first few hours, till the last runner has left and cleanup crew has finished. This race is point to point - it starts at Wayzata and ends at Excelsior.

Where is Waldo ?

Race kicked off in pace waves. Winding out of Wayzata through Orno, the first 5-6 miles was like being in Mahabaleshwar. Houses were all cozy hill-station type with perfect natural greenery around. This race is a tour of great real estate. Other runners too felt it so. Afterwards, my run clubbers were posting some of the estate listing on FB to each other saying "This is the one I was talking about".

At the Relay exchange point, I kept wondering if it was the real mid-point, in terms of miles. I don't know the exact mile it was on and since my math-brain stops working when I run, I could not figure it out for the next few miles. That way it kept me occupied. My Run club came to cheer us from the same club. They are awesome ! They clicked me here, as I barreled down hill.

Then came the Tonka bay area. Till here, the views were all of different parts of lakes, boats, piers, fishing groups, people relaxing in their garage on Sunday morning. The Final 12th mile was on Minnetonka Trail. And 13th mile was in residential area, slowly winding to the Finish Line at Excelsior Park. Only in this mile did I felt like yes I am actually going to make it ! This pic was clicked by the MN Series photographer Dave Cameron. He is my favorite coz he has got some great pics of mine in the past races. I am unbelievably serious about it - "no sarcasm" (like I have to add everytime, for my kids).

When I rushed through the last 0.1 mile, I tried to avoid looking at the clock, but a glimpse showed something like 3:12. I did not mind it. I was glad I actually finished. I was still in the race (so to speak). Later when I checked the result online, it was 3:01:53. Woohoo ! That's even better than some of the Half's of last year. And considering the hilly route for this one. Wow myself !

Finish area park was void of past runners. They must have obviously rushed to the return bus. Volunteers were still around, and they had not started packing stuff, so that's positive note. Got my chips and banana. Family was late. I borrowed a phone from a volunteer to call Hubby and joked, "My family thought I will finish at noon haha". This race had a right start of 7:30 for this kind of weather. Ended the morning with a picnic in the park, watching the Lake, sitting by on the bench, facing cool breeze. Beautiful.

Did I talk about the race swag ? The shirt is awesomely cut, very unusual from standard design. Material is perfect - not too flimsy to be cold, not bulky thick to be hot. Medal has a lovely fish design.

My Lake Minnetonka Half: 2018 | 2017 | 2015 |

Minnesota Half Marathon - StPaul - 2016 - Race Recap

I will say this in the beginning. I am not feeling any thrill. Disappointment actually, about the unsurprising result. I guess I knew it would end up this long. But I zoned out thanks to my stubborn refusal to look at the watch in the middle of a race. I did not try any harder.

This year, my strides have shortened. I refuse to stride farther, for fear of tiring out. Its more like a power-walker - one feet refuses to leave ground till the other one touches ground; both are never in the air at the same time. I continue to take walk-break. I am beginning to doubt that slow but steady approach I adopted this year. And the part, that I skipped every single speed workout in the training cycle. And that I stick to treadmill, and not run outside much. I mean, there is only so much you can stride on a treadmill, without the risk of falling off.

All these emotions are about my race result from last Saturday. No passionate emotions, I refuse to do that. Maybe if I did bring in some passion, I might speed-en up ! Anyway ... I completed the Minnesota Half Marathon in 3:05:54 hours. I ran the same race 2 years back. It was HOT that day ! Killer hot. And that one, I finished in lesser time - 2:49 hours. What's the logic ! I am lost really.

The organizers took loads of steps for the temperature control.
Start time was earlier this year, which is a brilliant change. The start time was 7:15 am vs (if I remember correctly) it was 8:30 am or 9 am last time, so by the end time of 12 noon, I was baked in the sun.
The course had a new loop for the same Shepard Road. We started westward and turnaround was around 4.5 miles. The return lap was not as sunny as it used to be. There was even a huge stretch of woods in the middle divider, so it helped. Then we ran 2 miles further from the start point and turned around the bridge. This lap was by the river again. So this time, it was more time spent facing west. And also on the side closet to the river, so it was cool & breezy. And a huge stretch had trees vs last time when it was bare throughout. The temps through this race was 70F-75F range.

Rest of the arrangements were also first class. Packet pickup at Running Room in St Paul, the previous night, gave us an opportunity to explore Harriet Island Park, which was crowded with youngsters peering into their phone while walk aka Pokemon Go hunting. Water stops were perfectly spaced. Some of them had a new sports drink ASPIRE, which was lemony good.

Personal Nutrition wise, I am beginning to hate those Gu things. I stuck to only 2 i.e. 1 per hour. I don't think they help in anyway. I should go back to eating a Cliff Bar through the race. Other thing, I missed on carb loading the previous night. Indeed I ate less than I usually eat, on a non-pre-run night. Well so the result of the experiment is that yes I should dine my fill on a pre-race night.

This year's shirt is very different good. I am thrilled actually. It has a great fit and the hemline is a trendy cut. I feel like I can wear this for casuals, not just running. Medal was the same Minnesota map one, only larger. I actually love this medal.

Okay, sounds like a good quality ranting post after a long time. And first one for Running category :)

Past Minnesota Half Marathons: 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2014 |