Finn & Reba Chronicles (formerly Adventures of Swirl's Serfs): Lake Minnetonka Half Marathon Relay

All I can say is THANK GOD WE DID THE RELAY! I had tossed around the idea of running the Lake Minnetonka Half Marathon (LMHM) since the Hot Chocolate 15K would have been a good training run. And after the Hot Chocolate 15K, I thought maybe I could do a half marathon. I had the endurance. I just had to get over the mental hurdle. Thankfully Eric and I drove the course and thought maybe not for my first time half. I’m so glad we didn’t do the whole thing. I WOULD HAVE DIED. I felt dead when I got the relay exchange point and that was only mile 5.6. There was still over 7 miles to go

Pre-Start

Starting line selfie

This is a busy half marathon and a driving and parking nightmare. DJ said she would chauffeur us around which was a blessing. We parked the car and walked down the staging area. We made sure Eric caught the Relay bus and DJ and I hung around the back of the pack as I was in the last wave. While waiting for the Biff, DJ got a call. It was Ethan. His car died at an intersection in Shakopee (when the mechanic told DJ that car didn’t have much life left, who would have thought that meant a couple days). So she had to leave me and go back to Shakopee to rescue Ethan.

The Start

This is the first race I have been in that had pacers. I went with the 2:30 pacer as that was a comfortable pace for me…or so I thought. They walked us from the staging area to the start line and then bang we were off. I started off slow. I had almost 6 miles to cover so I didn’t want to go out fast and Eric wasn’t there to push me. The first mile was fairly flat with a slight downhill but right before the end of mile one was the first of many big hills. This is by far the hilliest course I have ever run. Omaha was nothing compared to this. It was very hard. It was also very humid. I should have worn a tank top and brought my own water. Bad move on my part. My first mile was 11:41 which I thought was really slow. Mile 2 had more downhill than up so my pace for that mile was just over 11. This was the mile I met Linda. She came up to me and said keep your head up, you are the queen. I have a horrible habit of running with my head down. Eric tells me to keep my head up all the time. I just can’t seem to do it. I guess my brain is so heavy from all my smarts. LOL! Linda ran with me the rest of the way. She used the Galloway method (run/walk). And to be honest she was the best person to buddy me up because with all the hills, this was the best method for me on this day.

The Middle

I really don’t remember much about the middle miles. It was on a straight road and was constantly up and down. Every hill looked like the next one. It got so bad before mile 3 we started walking up the hills. I was soaked with sweet from the 85% humidity. I really wished it would have rained to cool me off. Mile 3 had the first water spot. It was a God send. I grabbed three glasses, two to drink and one to throw in my face. It was refreshing but immediately after the water stop was another damn hill! This one was doozy, 80 feet in 4 hundredths of a mile. I know that doesn’t seem like much but at mile 3.1 it was like torture! The downhill of this hill was fun but of course it didn’t last long as there was another hill. (Do get the theme here?)

My Finish

I wasn’t 100% sure where the relay point was. I mean I know where it was on the map but as far as the distance I wasn’t sure. I just knew it was under 6. The last two miles I kept thinking to myself “Thank God I only have 2 to go.” Just like the mile 3 water stop, the mile 5 water stop had the same thing. It was at the bottom of a long downhill, just before another horrible uphill. I wish the water stops were at the top of hills because I can walk up the hill, grab water and sprint down the hill and have momentum to go up the next hill. By having the water at the bottom of a hill, all the momentum of the downhill is crushed by slowing down and for me walking to get water. That is probably my biggest complaint. Anyways, I did the same thing again, 2 to drink and one over my head. Shortly after that was the relay exchange. I said my good bye to Linda and wished her well. I was never so happy to see Eric in his bright lime green shirt in all my life. We did a quick switch and he was on his way to the finish. I’m not sure what my overall time 1:04 (11:30 per mile pace). I’m pretty proud of that because it was a tough course. Here is my elevation chart:

Eric’s Run

Although Eric’s leg was longer, it was not as hilly and he actually got to run along the lake so he got some breeze. My leg was in a wooded residential area with no breeze and lots of bugs. Eric started off strong. I was tracking him on my phone and he improved my 11:30 pace to almost 11:15 but then it started plummeting. I was so confused. After two miles the pace was back around 11:30 and every time I looked at where he was at, the pace was getting closer to 11:40. I was so confused. Eric is a pretty fast runner and he should have been killing my time but he wasn’t. Something was wrong, very wrong. I was a bit concerned but he was still moving so I knew he would eventually get the finish. He sped up a bit near the finish and came in with a time of 1:26. After the first mile and half he got shin splints. He was in pain for most of the run. So I died from heat and humidity and he died from shin splints.