About 3 weeks ago, I decided to add a 3rd State to my Marathon collection. I drove the 20ish miles (very runable this summer) over to Lake Benton, MN in order to run around the lake to add up the miles to just above 26.2 so that i can count it to my 50 states/50 marathons goal. The day was very beautiful and very sunny for the first couple of hours.
I listened to a few popcast and went with a very easy pace (about 10min/mile). Compared to the runs around Brookings, this seemed a little "hilly", even though it was only a few hundred feet of gain overall, but i did notice it taken a toll on my untrained muscle groups in my legs. I think this will be good to repeat more often to make sure I don't only run with my calves, but also with my thighs. Somewhere between miles 10-12 I was joined by two "pacers" as two farm dogs accompanied me for about a half mile. I noticed that they would go the entire way with me, so i turned around and tried to find their house. I think the one was maybe 1 year old and the other probably 12. So the little one snuck out and the old one stuck around to take care of the little one.
I did find their home and was off again to the close-by Tyler, MN, where I stopped at the gas station for a coke, sandwich, candybar and gatorade, as I had just finished the one bottle I brought along. I think drinking coke towards the latter stages of a 4+hour run can give me a nice little energy kick without getting jittery.
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| Beautiful look at Lake Benton |
I listened to a few popcast and went with a very easy pace (about 10min/mile). Compared to the runs around Brookings, this seemed a little "hilly", even though it was only a few hundred feet of gain overall, but i did notice it taken a toll on my untrained muscle groups in my legs. I think this will be good to repeat more often to make sure I don't only run with my calves, but also with my thighs. Somewhere between miles 10-12 I was joined by two "pacers" as two farm dogs accompanied me for about a half mile. I noticed that they would go the entire way with me, so i turned around and tried to find their house. I think the one was maybe 1 year old and the other probably 12. So the little one snuck out and the old one stuck around to take care of the little one.
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| My four-legged running partners |
I did find their home and was off again to the close-by Tyler, MN, where I stopped at the gas station for a coke, sandwich, candybar and gatorade, as I had just finished the one bottle I brought along. I think drinking coke towards the latter stages of a 4+hour run can give me a nice little energy kick without getting jittery.
From here it was a straight shot back to Lake Benton, MN and I decided to pick up the pace on the last mile and came in with a 7:51min/mile. It had started getting dark out and I was glad that I wasn't outside for much longer as it was only an hour later that the area was hit by sleet and ice with heavy winds.
Overall, I think I could've run this a little faster, but I think the drive to run close to peak performance is hard to come by outside of an actual race. I am happy though. Now I am 3/50 on US states. Miles year-to-date: 398.
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