I know that everyone is looking for those VT race reports but I woke up early and decided to get this one written. Minnesota does look a little bit like Vermont, but I don’t have very many pictures. Skip to the end for the stats if you want. Three races in a month for me, that is a record!

Stillwater Log Run 10 Mile

This was race number Ten for my entire running career, so how appropriate to run Ten miles to commemorate my Ten years running while trying for that elusive Ten minute pace.

I entered the lottery drawing in July for the 10 mile race at the Twin Cities Marathon but did not get into that race. Since we were travelling to the Cities for DGS3’s 1^st birthday party I decided to enter this race. We booked a campsite for Thursday – Saturday nights at a State Park north of Stillwater.

Stillwater is an old historic river town with many quaint shops, restaurants and bars.  The scenic lift bridge and park along the St. Croix River is a tourist attraction.  The highway going into town is under construction as is the new bridge across the River.  At this point we were looking for a diesel gas station but unable to pull off the road easily.  As it turned out we nearly ran out of gas before we found a station in the middle of nowhere.  We were so thankful that we were not running out of daylight too.

The weather was unseasonably warm, just the way I like it!  The sumac have turned completely red and the maples are in various stages of red, orange and yellow. Not peak leef peeping season, but getting close. We had a nice steak dinner at the campground Thursday night. Friday we spent going to Erik’s Bikes and some other stores in the Cities and then drove by the park (out in the middle of nowhere) where the race was to start.  This is a point to point race and all runners are supposed to take the bus from Stillwater but I got permission to come over from the campground.

From there we found our way to packet pickup which started at 3pm downtown. Wow, what a crowd of people in the little town! Parking was difficult and MrStarr was recovering from foot surgery on Wednesday so wasn’t up to a lot of walking. Needless to say I did not make him go shopping along the main drag.  We did get find a bread store for a loaf of fresh bread, sun-dried tomato sourdough.  I cooked spaghetti and we had another pleasant evening by the fire.

That night I had a dream nightmare.  I was at the start of the race without my bib, then looked down and discovered I was wearing flip-flops!  There were many pairs of green and white shoes all over the parking lot but none of them were mine.  Then I woke up and quickly located my shoes so that I didn’t really have to run barefoot.

I wasn’t that nervous as race time approached. Maybe running three races in three weeks had something to do with that. MrStarr dropped me off at 7:30 with a half hour to warm up. I didn’t know a soul there but chatted a few people.  It was sunny, 55°and quite pleasant.  The race is all on roads so we were instructed to run to the left of the cones, then off we went. No music or many spectators out here in the middle of nowhere.

My “easy” pace recently has been around 11:20-11:30 so figured I could do that for 10 miles. I ran a 10K in 10:59 two weeks before this race.  I intended to start slower, but that didn’t happen! Average pace for first 4 miles was 10:08, not quite what I had expected maybe the slight downhill helped. I passed many people more than once. There was Thumper, the guy you could here coming 100 yards back; Hunter, the guy in blaze orange tee shirt; Geeky guy with 4-bottle water belt and Miss Jacket-tied-around-the-waist. I didn’t feel like I was in a race, just kinda zoned out for a few miles. The steady uphill in mile 5 slowed me down but the downhill part in mile 7 was truly fun to run 7:45 for a bit. So that is what it feels like to be fast! The last 3 miles we could see the river and were back on the highway, mostly single file but room to pass which I did some.

It was a wonderful feeling to cross the finish line and have MrStarr there to greet me! I figured he’d wait in the truck and we’d meet at the spot we picked out by the bridge. My Garmin showed 10:40 pace, but 10.1 miles. Official results were a bit slower but I was happy. Age-graded results were 1:24:41 (58%) but I don't really know what that means.

This was a no-frills race with just pretzels and bananas at the finish. We could buy breakfast at The Freight House but opted to go back to the camper. We had a “Holly Day” lined up....Showered with MrStarr – he needed help with the bandaged foot- those family shower areas are great! Farmers Market in New Hope for kettlecorn and mini-doughnuts (DS sells kettlecorn there), pick up my bike in Maple Grove, pick up party supplies, help DD2 get ready for Rocco's birthday party.

Results: 1:47:32

267/342 Overall

156/212 Females

11/15 AG (50-59)

My splits and HR:

Mile 1 - 10:09 (141)

Mile 2 - 9:58 (148)

Mile 3 - 10:07 (150)

Mile 4 - 10:17 (149)

Mile 5 - 11:48 (149)

Mile 6 - 10:58 (149)

Mile 7 - 11:07 (147)

Mile 8 – 10:13 (149)

Mile 9 – 11:07 (150)

Mile 10 – 11:03 (153)

Up next: December 6^th, 6:00 PM - DeLIGHTful 5K, Luverne, MN

Interesting Trivia:

There were only 4 women older than me in the race and they all ran it faster!

Great report, Starr!  Congratulations on a great race.  And that sure is a cute grand baby!

That night I had a dream nightmare.  I was at the start of the race without my bib, then looked down and discovered I was wearing flip-flops!  There were many pairs of green and white shoes all over the parking lot but none of them were mine.  Then I woke up and quickly located my shoes so that I didn’t really have to run barefoot.

too bad. running shoes are definitely overrated but,

since I"ve been mostly barefoot or in thongs since 1990, I might be out-of-date.

they must be good for you though if you're pulling sub-10 minute miles.

However, how're ya going to keep it up for the December Lights' 5K?

Starr - unseasonably warm is my favorite weather too!  Sounds like a nice race.  Well done on your first 10 mile race and 3rd race in 3 weeks!  And you know, I don't really understand that age graded stuff either....Adorable grandbaby!