On the Defensive

Last weekend I headed North for a variety of fun events. The first stop was at my parents house for supper and a short birthday celebration. I swapped cars with my mom and continued North toward the Porath's cabin. There was a detour along the way that added some extra time, since I didn't have a phone to tell me a good way to circumnavigate the detour I decided to wing it and after a couple wrong turns and some fun gravel road adventuring got back on course and made it to the cabin before it got too late. Rob, Nate, and Nichole where there when I arrived, and Nate's parents arrived soon after. They also brought birthday cake for me, so we celebrated and headed off to bed.

The next morning I was up bright and early to go defend my first ever marathon win, the Birkie trail marathon. Rob was running the 100k, so he was already racing by the time I woke up. It was a perfect day for running, cool and clear, and the Birkie trail was gorgeous as always. I knew there would be a couple of speedy fellows there, so I mentally prepared myself to go out in control.

Start of the race - Photo: Birkie.com

Of course when the gun went off that didn't exactly happen. There is a lot of climbing in the first few miles of the course, and while I did mostly keep things in control I still pushed harder than I probably should have. There was a young guy who got away almost right from the get go, and I settled in behind a bearded fellow completely decked out in Scott racing apparel. The 3 of us quickly distanced the rest of the field, so the podium seemed pretty much locked up by a mile or so into the race.

I lost sight of the leader pretty quickly, but kept the Scott runner in sight for quite a long time. We hit the first section of single track and it felt great to just let the trail dictate the pace and flow through the fun switchbacks. Back on the Birkie trail I caught the Scott runner at the OO turnaround, but he slowly opened up a gap on me again during the long push North on the classic trail. At mile 16 he had about 20 seconds on me, at mile 18 it was about 40 seconds, and I didn't see him again until the finish after that.

Once he was out of sight I tried to push myself just in case someone was coming up behind me, but I could tell that I was struggling. It was close enough to the end of the race though that I was willing to be in pain for a while.

Nate found me about 1/2 mile or so from the finish and cheered me in. He said he though I was in second, but I figured he missed the kid in the lead because he was quite far ahead of the other two of us.

I sprinted past a couple of kids running the 5k to finish strong. The Scott guy looked like he had been done for a while, and about a minute after I finished the kid who had been in first came in. He took a wrong turn and added almost 3 extra miles.

Finishing! - Photo: Birkie.com

I had found out just before the race that there was going to be prize money this year, so I got my first ever paycheck from running; $250, not too bad for a race that I got to run for free. I got to stand on a pretty sweet looking podium, and then I had to fill out tax forms. While they were processing the forms I was chatting with the winner. Apparently he is from Germany and just ran the Run Rabbit Run 100 miler the weekend before. He took 5th there despite getting quite lost. I could still feel my 50 miler from 2 weekends ago, so to double back from a 100 miler and take on the Birkie trail was impressive.

The Podium - Photo: Birkie.com

While we were waiting I also heard that runner #10 (Rob!) was in the lead and due to be at the Boedecker road aid station soon. Nate, Nichole, and I booked it out there to see if we could catch him. We were there well ahead of him and had some time to chat with the aid station workers and the 2 girls who were there crewing for their boyfriends.

Rob came through cool as a cucumber, although I could tell the miles were starting to get to his legs a bit. That is to be expected 40 miles into a race though I'm sure. He moved through in good time and didn't have any nagging issues. The second place runner was arriving just as Rob was leaving, but he took a good 10 minutes or more of chair time before walking out of the aid station, so I figured he wouldn't catch back up to Rob any time soon. That did prove to be the case, Rob won the race, his first race win, by over an hour, and was the only runner to finish in the daylight!

After that I headed back to my parents for the next event. My friend Adam is getting married next month, so we held his bachelors party out in the woods behind my parents. We headed into town to go mini golfing first. Cary and I had a good duel for a while before I finally got the edge in my group. I tried some pretty risky shots, and a few of them even paid off. I got a bit sloppy in the last few holes, but by that point my lead was insurmountable. Then we grilled some food and got the bonfire going. Rob stopped by to spend the night as well. We turned in a little after 1:00 AM. Most other folks were up until the fire died down a little after 3. I woke up early to check on breakfast and see Rob on his way. I had briefly considered going rollerskiing, but had more fun hanging out and watching some blurry eyed boys wolf down egg bake.

Sunday afternoon I headed to the cities to hang out with Eva. We got a little frisbee playing in and went out to watch the super blood moon eclipse. It was a really amazing event. We headed out to the ag fields at the U of M, the place with about the least amount of light pollution that we could walk to. It was a perfect evening for laying out and gazing upon the heavens.

October promises to be a busy month, but I have no more races on the schedule as of now. Next weekend is Twin Cities Marathon, a chance to dust off the cow suit and get a practice ride in before heading down to Chicago the weekend after.