St. Croix Runner: Countdown to Curnow

Well, the Countdown to Curnow is really on now! I've got just under three weeks until the race. About ten days ago, my wife suggested that we drive up to the Duluth area for the day on Father's Day so that I could run on the Superior Hiking Trail - part of which makes up the Curnow Marathon race course. Have I mentioned what an awesome wife I have? I was super pumped to get this opportunity.

On Sunday, June 21st, we got a slightly later start than planned. But that didn't matter - I was just excited to have the opportunity! My plan was to start at the headquarters of Jay Cooke State Park, run out as far as time would allow and then return. Due to our slightly later start, I was able to make it just over 7.5 miles out from the park hq and then ran back.

From park headquarters, I ran up the paved Forbay Trail just under a mile to where it joins the Munger Trail. The Munger is a paved bike trail that now extends nearly to Hinckley MN and all the way to Duluth. From there, I followed the Munger for almost three miles to the Palkie Road Trailhead and jumped on the dirt Oak Trail that led me to the SHT. Once off the pavement, I had enough time to run for about 4 more miles. The path took me through the relatively smooth forest of the state park and then became more hilly (mainly downhill on the way out) as I neared Mission Creek. Along the way I came across a handful of switchbacks and man-made log stair steps intended to make the descent easier. Near my turnaround point, I took a wrong turn and ran up a different trail for about .5 mile - but I realized what I had done and it was no big deal.

On the way back, I first had to deal with ascending the hills I had run down on the way out.This was no small task and caused my pace to slow considerably. I also consumed more water during this stretch - probably more than I realized. Once I crossed back into the state park boundaries, things started to level off somewhat. After another couple miles I was back out on the Munger trail with just over 3 miles remaining. Dang, it felt hot on that pavement! With about 2 miles remaining, I realized I had run out of water and boy, was I thirsty! This was a problem. At that point, I started to walk a bit and then alternated walking and running back into the park headquarters area. All told, I covered just over 15 miles in about 3 hours and 22 minutes. I didn't really care about the time or distance, frankly. I was just really glad to be able to experience this trail before running a race on it.

Once I had had a chance to cool off and drink some water at the park hq, I met my family and we headed to Gordy's Hi-Hat in Cloquet for a late lunch before hitting the road to home.

A few things I learned:

It's much more hilly in this area than where I normally train - I need to switch things up a bit and run the hills in Stillwater more while training.
Aid stations will be very welcome during this race. On Sunday, I (obviously) was running self-supported. I carried 70 ounces of water in a hydration pack and one 16 oz bottle of water. Normally this would have been enough, but it was warm and I was working pretty hard on those hills.
I cannot survive on gels alone (I did eat one mini clif bar)! I started to have some stomach cramping issues near the end of the run. I plan to keep the gels to a minimum and incorporate more real food like bananas, chips, melons, etc. Also electrolyte replacement drinks. I did dump a heed disk into the bottle, but could have used more.
It's beautiful out there! I can't wait to go back!

Here are a few pictures from the run: