William O'Brien 10 Mile

I was really on the fence about even going to this race given the sore foot and hip thing that I've had going the last couple of weeks. Haven't been sleeping well either, which can also be a contributing factor for getting trigger points. I actually turned my alarm off, deciding that it would be foolish to run/hike 10 miles feeling miserable. Pity party of one, your table is ready.

Decided at the last possible minute that I'd go check this race out, since it's a new trail/park that I haven't run yet, and Wayne sent me a last minute message the night before that he would be there too. (By the way, we are all anxiously awaiting your race report from your first 100 mile finish at Kettle a few weeks ago. No pressure).

Got to the park and saw lots of unfamiliar faces along with a handful of very fast friends (Wynn won, Lisa took 4'th female, and Marise had a fast time too). About 70 degrees, very humid, but breezy with clouds peeking in and out. RD Jeff sent us down a gravel path that ran parallel to the beautiful St. Croix river for about a half mile before turning toward the interior of the park. There would be about an 8 mile loop before we would return to the start/finish the same way we came. Wayne and I were both taking it easy since I was feeling gimpy and he's still recovering from Kettle, so the wide and non-technical trail made it convenient to run/walk and chat. We ran through hardwood forest, past a pond full of very loud croaking frogs (reminded me of the reverb from a 1970's P.A. system), then into open fields full of yellow and purple wild flowers, back into the forest again - all with gently rolling hills. My hip and foot did pretty well most of the way, though I was feeling some twinges towards the end. Probably had just as much to do with deconditioning as anything else. We finally got to the finish as they were wrapping up the awards ceremony - and somehow, as slow as we were, we weren't dead last!

Thanks to RD Jeff and his crew for putting on a fun race! It turned out to be a great day - nice to find a new trail relatively close to home! I'll definately be heading out to this place more often to get some training runs in. Glad I didn't stay home feeling sorry for myself - got to catch up with a few friends and spend another day in the beautiful North Woods!