Urban Trail 1/2 Marathon

My plan after the Ngede challenge was to set aside a training block to hopefully put in a couple
good mileage weeks before cutting back for Birkie marathon next month. I’ve still struggled a bit
getting out and running fast however, so when Chris Sachs offered showed up to rollerski a week
ago Sunday and offered a deal for signing up for the Endurance United Urban Trail Races I jumped at the chance. I need to sharpen my trail running skills and a training race is a great way to get a hard workout in.

St Paul - A nice look back at the race start. Photo: Bruce Adelsman - Skinnyski.com

The race started in St Paul, right near downtown. By next year there will be a baseball stadium here for
the St. Paul Saints, but right now there is a lot of construction going on between the stadium, a newly
installed light rail line, and a major road construction project on Hwy 52. This gave the start a very
urban, industrial feel, but within a 1⁄2 mile of the start we cut into the Bruce Vento Nature Sanctuary, and
from there into the Indian Mounds Park, so the race quickly took on a much more scenic feel.

I took the lead almost right from the start, but was followed closely by two other runners until we
entered the first singletrack portion of trail. After Mounds park the course dropped into a municipal forest that has some great single track going up and down a bluff. There were steep ups and downs, stairs and fallen trees to navigate, and plenty of rocks and roots to dodge. This was my favorite section of the course, partially because I had never run any of the trails before and because it had a nice flow for running if you were confident carrying some speed. By the time I exited this section there were no other runners in
sight, I would run the race by myself from here on out.

Even though I was running by myself it didn’t get lonely. I was passing runners doing the full marathon
at a pretty regular clip, and there was a pace bike leading the way for me once I got back to the paved
trail. After leaving the woods and crossing a pedestrian bridge over Hwy 61 there were a couple miles of
flat, paved bike trail where I could really push the pace, then it was in to Battle Creek park where the course immediately turned onto some sandy single track. This section also had some big climbs that I hiked a couple of, and some fun descents that required fast footwork. There were a couple of trail signs missing, so I had to slow down to search for the trail once or twice, but course markers were frequent enough that even with a couple missing navigation wasn't hard. My friend Rob also popped up a few times through this section to cheer me along. He knows these trails well, so he would follow me for a little, then cut off on a shortcut and find me further along the course.

A few final hills in Battle Creek Park. Photo: Bruce Adelsman - Skinnyski.com

The final 4 miles of the race were on the Battle Creek ski trails where Vakava practice is all winter, so
I knew these trails well. There were a couple of long climbs in this section that were not quite steep
enough to justify hiking, even though I really wanted to hike by this point in the race. I tried to keep the pace high for the descents. I actually find running downhill on trails easier than on the roads since my attention is focused on not falling over so I tend to take shorter, faster strides than I do running down hills on the road.

All in all course navigation was very easy. The only times I was uncertain about turns are where markings
were taken down as noted above, or when I was not paying attention. There were a couple instances
of that. Rob ran a couple short sections with me at Battle Creek, and I almost missed turns while I was
talking to him. I also made sure to smile for Bruce Adelsman when I saw him out taking pictures, and
almost missed a turn because of that as well.

Smiling for the camera, and about to miss a turn. Photo: Bruce Adelsman - Skinnyski.com

I finished in 1:23:49, almost 10 minutes slower than my road half marathon this spring, for what that's worth. Going back and forth between fast, flat paved trails and hilly, technical dirt trails meant there was very little rest on this course. There was also a net elevation gain which slowed down times as well. Rumor is next year the course will run the opposite direction, which could make for a much faster race.

For a bit of extra fun (and a few extra miles) I decided to run back to my car near the starting line instead of taking the shuttle. It was nice to enjoy all the beautiful views of the river and downtown St. Paul that were beyond my scope of attention while I was racing.