Syttende Mai 20 mile 10 mile run

Around the beginning of May, I signed up for the Syttende Mai 20 mile run.  This was before I had run the marathon, and I was ambitious.  There weren't many runs in general that are 20 milers, and I didn't really want to miss it.

But a week after the marathon, I was doubting it.  On a five mile run, something went wonky and my knee was giving me some issues.  Nothing serious, per se, but I noticed it when I had been sitting for a long time and put pressure on the kneecap by crossing my legs.  I started to rethink my choices.

Button to get into festival events.

Come Friday, I email the Stoughton Chamber of Commerce and ask to downgrade to the 10 mile run.  It took me a while to make that decision.  It was hard to determine if the reluctance to take on the 20 mile run was out of deference to the limits of my body and possible injuries or if it was a lack of faith and willingness to take on difficult tasks.  Ultimately, what convinced me was logistics.

The 20 mile and 10 mile run are both point to point.  The 20 mile run starts at the Capitol in Madison and ends in downtown Stoughton.  The 10 mile run starts at the midway point and has the same course.  There's also an untimed 17 mile walk that starts at the Badger Bowl.  The runs and the walk are both part of the Syttende Mai (Seventeenth of May in Norwegian) festival in Stoughton.  There are shuttles before and after the race that runs from Stoughton to Madison.  Since my friend Barry was running the 10 miler, I figured logistically, it'd make more sense to stick with him.

Black Earth 10 mile race

This past Saturday, I ran the Black Earth 10 mile race with Jesse, Regina, and my friend Barry.  This was my first race and I'm glad I did it.  I haven't really been timing myself accurately for any of my training runs.  I tend to forget to look at the clock before I leave the house.  Plus, I walk about 3 blocks before I start my run, and walk 3 blocks afterward, and I have to estimate how much time that actually takes.  The kitchen clock is also some number of minutes ahead of my computer clock.  I look at the computer clock before I get ready for my run, the kitchen clock when I get back.  It's all very non-scientific.

Anyway, I was guessing that I'm averaging about 10 minute/mile on these runs.  That seemed to be on track despite the distance I was running.  I was quite happy with this since I started last fall with the idea that I was probably going to run the half marathon at a pace of 12 min/mile.  That is, I was happy with this pace until I ran Black Earth.  The course for Black Earth is an out and back course.  It kind of took the wind out of my sails when at about 3.5 miles, these elite runners were already on their way back.  And then there was John Heim.  At about 2.4 miles, a runner passes me with the sign "Blind Runner" running with someone else while holding onto a short rope.  John Heim, who's blind and 52 years old finished at about 1 hour 27 min.  I had a final time of 1:34:28.