Nerstrand Big Woods Half Marathon: "How Are the Feet?"

I saddled up this morning and headed due south for a nice fall run at Nerstrand's Big Woods State Park. The drive down was gorgeous, with fog hanging low over much of the route.

I found the park easily enough and parked near...a cemetery next to a church! With fog like split pea soup and frost on the ground, the cemetary was very spooky but admittedly it was also convenient. If anyone went into cardiac arrest or fell off a cliff all the race volunteers would need to do is dig a hole in a nice plot, get a trailer for a four wheeler and go back into the Big Woods and pick them up...HA!

the foggy cemetery

The registration was quick and easy, seeing as this race was a last-minute decision for me. Everyone was so friendly! I guess they had to be, as the race registration, start, finish and post-race meal were in a church. That kindly and giving spirit pervaded the entire race. Going back to my last post...I guess I was indeed divinely inspired to run this race!

Thanks to all of the volunteers and the race director for putting on such a great event!

I arrived pretty early, so I spent some quality time snoozing in the car with the heat on. It was mighty chilly out!

I rousted myself from the warm cocoon of the Subaru and went out to try and acclimate myself and chat with a few other folks.

I chatted with Carl Gammon and his buddies for a while, nodded hello to a few people I knew and also had some great discussions about the Vibram FiveFingers KSO's. Hopefully there will be some new converts out at Nerstrand next year running the race in something more minimal!

I saw my old buddy Tim Larson before the race and it looked like it was going to be a good day for him. Again...everyone was so friendly! Steve Quick looked focused as he always does before races and I only saw Andy Holak a few times before and after the race...but I think he's done well enough to run away with the MN Trail Running Series title this year. Congratulations, Andy!

The race started out behind the church and then hooked out onto a tar road for about a mile. I felt a little sluggish and my calves were quite tight from the get-go, likely the result of some very inconsistent training and a long week. I decided I was just going to run whatever felt good and push if I really wanted to. The line of runners I was with entered the woods and immediately started jockeying for position.

I hung back, not knowing whether they were 10K runners or 1/2 marathoners. I didn't want to get sucked into that pace trap! I was right on the edge of comfortable, which was perfect. I had a little sloshing in the stomach, which was to be expected, considering I've been living on coffee and a pretty poor diet lately. That will change. It was again tempting to do the ol' technicolor yawn, but I figured I'd give it a few more miles and see how things went.

I filled my water bottle with Gatorade at an aid station and it tasted pretty good mixed with half of the water I had in there already. I like it pretty diluted.

The woods were amazing. Fog was still rolling through the trees with the dawn's early light filtering through it. It was quite a sight. The trail was rolling and about as friendly as the people volunteering the race. There were a few uneven spots that leaves hid, but that's all part of the fun!

Mile 6 seemed to come pretty early. Then there was another stretch of dirt road, then some trail which seemed to consist of the same small rock that the road was made up of...Not so friendly on the feet! I popped an S! Cap and slugged down some water and got a little leg back.

I traded positions a couple times with a lady and another guy who I think I also ran with at Trail Mix earlier this year. The lady said it was her first trail race, so I hope she enjoyed it! She finished well ahead of me when it was all said and done!

There were some considerable climbs on the course, not Moose Mountain, but I'll take it! I actually had to fast hike up one big hill where a sweet girl was yelling at the top "You're almost there!" I think this was at mile 9. Not almost there.

Then some guy passed me going up another big hill and asked me if I was "Keith-in-Training." I'm glad I could gasp out that it was indeed me in the flesh! He then asked "How are the feet?" and continued to pass me as I said "Great!", he was obviously unaffected by my less than Z list celebrity blogger status. I'll be doing more hill work this winter.

And of course, there was a math whiz kid on the course shouting at the runners in the middle of the pack "You're in 67th place! You're in 68th place! You're in 69th place..." Ha! What a morale booster!

I made a couple newbie mistakes on the course: I stepped in between an erosion box covered in leaves instead of going over it, not realizing there were large loose rocks in it and turned my ankle, and I made the mistake of taking my eyes off of the trail to sip some water. I stubbed my big toe pretty hard on a rock on that one...worse than I thought at the time. It will be sore tomorrow!

This run was over way too fast. If they can figure out a way to make it a marathon, then I'm all for it.

We shot out onto the road and were treated to a headwind in the last uphill mile of the race. The girl in powder blue kept pulling away regardless of how I willed my legs to go faster and catch her. I was so tight at the end of the race (and showing it) that Steve Quick said "You even looked like a real runner out there!" Ha! That last 200 yards was the longest 200 yards I've ever run.

I hung around outside talking to Tim Larson and his lawyer friend for a bit, then got into something warm and went inside the church to get myself a big bowl of vegetable soup, some cookies, oranges, Kool-Aid and a peanut butter and butter sandwich. Delicious! (But no hotdish?) I chatted with a girl about her marathon adventures and we chatted about our respective lack of consistent training before this particular event. Of course everyone wanted to know "How are the feet?!" Everyone was so nice!

--Please send some good thoughts Tim Larson's way. His son is stationed in Iraq now with his National Guard unit.

All in all, though, I'm actually impressed that I ran this in around the 1:47 and change mark. I was thinking two hours, maybe even 2:12 like I did at Brainerd last year. I guess I did have a little more under my belt than I thought. I'm gonna have to run faster next year if I want that meat market gift certificate.

I was leaving and I saw the vey epitome of the great volunteerism that occurs at these events. A lone woman, seated at the start finish line waiting for the last runners to come in, well over three hours after the event started. I told her I knew how lonely that job could be and thanked her.

Congratulations to the four people who "Shot the Moon" for the MN Trail Series. That's a very impressive accomplishment to run all of the races in the schedule!

What a great start to the weekend. Now it's time for a nap. Oh, and to everyone who asked: The feet are awesome!

UPDATE: That kid was right. Finished in 69th (out of 325 runners) place!