7 Minute Miles

Milk Run 2014


It’s funny, I just read my 2013 Milk Run post and this year was similar in a lot of ways: it was very hot for the race (making a PR unlikely), it got a lot hotter as the day went on, I got my free shake at the Dairy Building and I tried a bunch of new foods afterwards. MK joined me for her fourth year in a row, while SK said she was sick and stayed home (breaking her streak of seven years). Former Olympian Carrie Tollefson was also there, chatting with us afterwards and posing for a group photo.

The quest for a state fair age group ribbon continues. My watch time of 24:10 showed splits of 7:10, 8:35 and 7:30, which barely kept me in the seven minute range (7:47 pace). That was good enough for 85th out of 549 male finishers, though, and 8th in my age group (which had 44 finishers this year). The top four guys in my category finished with times of 17:47, 20:34, 20:41 and 23:16, so it’s still in the realm of possibility. My middle mile was slow this year primarily because I stopped to get water in order to prevent premature death. I also decided easing up was a smarter plan than getting injured before New York.

Changes this year included a slightly altered course that started and ended outside the new West End Market and very different early morning access to that entire part of the fairgrounds (the gate near the start is now closed to pedestrians and cars). I’ll write more about my West End opinions in another post – I was opposed to the removal of Heritage Square, but it’s turned out different than I expected. The new course is probably a little faster than before, with a bigger downhill in the last mile.

MK walked most of the course this year, finishing in 45:36 (a bit slower than her 43:55 PR last year). SK’s name was actually announced during the awards ceremony as winning third place in the under 20 age group, but that was obviously a technical glitch. Carrie Tollefson won the women’s race in 18:27 (5:56 pace), which must be just like winning the NCAA 5000m championship, no?

My three new foods were the chicken in a waffle cone from the Blue Barn, walleye mac and cheese from Giggles and the pizza tots from Green Mill. All three were OK, but nothing I’d add to the regular rota. Foods in that category that I did eat on Sunday included Sweet Martha’s cookies, a Pronto Pup, a frozen cider pop from Minnesota Apples and a small order of Fresh French Fries.

We return again on Saturday for Minnesota Music on a Stick and on Monday for the Journey/Joan Jett concert. I’m sure there will be more food involved somewhere in there too…

Originally published by DK on August 26, 2014 at 9:13 pm in Family, Food, Longform, Running


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