After running Grandma’s Marathon on June 20, there was a little bit of the post-race blues and wondering what big thing I could aim for next. I have the California International Marathon on my schedule but that’s way off in December. I’m not doing any triathlons this summer because I’ve been favoring running so much that I’ve neglected swimming and biking. I found a few races to put on the calendar as possibilities and one of them was Kona Running Company’s Aloha Run on Sunday, July 26. It offered a 5K, 10K, half marathon, and 30K. Of course I like to go big when offered the chance, so it was the 30K that got my attention. It’s a pretty random race distance and I’ve only raced it twice at the Milford Labor Day 30K that doesn’t exist anymore. It was kind of funny that this 30K would also take place in Milford but on a totally different course.

It wasn’t until my friend Lisa brought it up that I really started to consider the race. It would be two loops around Kensington Metropark and although I like to get out there for runs occasionally, I didn’t know if I was excited to do two loops. Between the recent heat, humidity, and wildfire smoke, I figured I didn’t want to commit to anything in advance. Lisa let me know mid-week that she’d signed up for that weekend and there were only 24 spots left. If I was going to do it, I probably better decide. Thanks to her influence, I signed up.

Following Grandma’s, I’ve run as long as 12 miles a couple times so running 18.6 miles would be a bit of a jump. I’ve been running consistent mileage though and figured I could treat the race as more of a training run. A couple days after I registered, I jumped at the opportunity to get free tickets to see the band Metric the night before the race which would make things a little more challenging. Lisa had her own concert planned for Saturday night (Jack White) so we’d both go into it with a sleep deficit. We’ve made that questionable choice many times before and managed somehow though. It’s pretty clear that we’re on the same page and it explains why we’re friends!

By the time my body finally shut down after the concert on Saturday night, I got about 3.5 hours of sleep. It took a minute to get my bearings on Sunday morning when the alarm went off. What day was it and why was I getting up so early? There was some groaning and swearing involved, but I dragged myself out of the house around 5:00 to make the hour-long drive to the park.

The race started and finished at Maple Beach which has a ton of parking. I went to collect my bib and shirt then caught up with Lisa.

We did a brief warm up jog, and as 7:00 rolled around, we made our way down to the start where it seemed like very few people were lining up close to the front. The 30K started first and I didn’t know until later that just over 30 of us were running that distance. That explained the sparse crowd at the start.

We started with a little climb as we headed out for the first of two clockwise loops around the park’s main path. Lisa and I tend to hover somewhere around the same pace but we didn’t plan to race together – we aimed to do our own thing. It felt kind of funny starting the first mile right by each other but not truly running together. No chatting like our casual runs together, although Lisa did point out some sandhill cranes with babies when we ran past them. I had told her earlier that I’d probably be tempted to take pictures of some of the birds along the course like I would during a normal run around the park, but these were just far enough off the path that I wasn’t going out of my way for them. That’s okay – many more opportunities would follow!

I ran the first couple miles at just over an 8:00 pace, but it was a warm and humid morning and I didn’t know if my body was truly ready to cover nearly 19 miles. The park also has a good number of rolling hills. I didn’t want to crash and burn later in the race so I figured I ought to slow down a little bit. Lisa kept rolling along and soon enough I was basically on my own. So much for worrying that the path could be too narrow for a crowd of racers. Maybe that was more of a thing for the 5K and 10K runners, but not for us. The half marathon started five minutes after us so it took a few miles for some of the fastest people to catch up. Otherwise, I mostly saw non-racers out there using the park’s path. Most of the time it felt like a typical training run around the metropark, just slightly faster than I probably would have normally run out there. It was also nice to have water stops nearly every mile.

The normal loop around the park is somewhere around eight miles but we needed two 9.3-mile loops to add up to 30K. Island Drive branches off the path and was the perfect spot for an out-and-back to add some distance. As we passed in opposite directions, I cheered for Lisa and told her she was going to get our age group win. I didn’t know that she was already feeling it by that point.

When I came to the end of my first loop, I was pleasantly surprised that someone cheered for me. It was my friend Louise and her husband Graham! They were sporting their medals from the 5K. At that point I was running on the opposite side of the path as 5K and 10K runners headed back to the finish. That created a bit of a mental battle as I wished I could turn around to finish too. Seeing so many people finally helped distract me for a little bit, and soon after I started the second loop I passed Lisa. I jokingly told her to come get me!

I saw some of the half marathon leaders once they reached their turnaround point, then it was back to mostly other park patrons. I did catch a few 30K runners on the second loop though. It had been a wise move for me to back off the fast pace early on.

Because the park is an hour away, sometimes I only get out there a time or two each year. I was actually okay with two loops because I don’t run there very often. It’s a challenging path and my pace varied depending on whether I had more uphill or downhill stretches. I got to see plenty of sandhill cranes along the way as I always do there. When I took photos, I got them on the go because I wasn’t going to stop. It may have felt like a training run but it WAS a race.

I was very fortunate that I held pretty steady the whole time. The humidity left me soaked, but thankfully it stayed overcast so the sun didn’t create an additional challenge. Training through plenty of warm and humid days recently has paid off because it got me acclimated.

A couple of us cheered for each other as we passed in opposite directions down the island road, then we had less than two miles to go. I finished strong in 2:37:01, an average of 8:25 per mile. A photographer took pictures at the finish but I never saw anything about them being shared. I guess it’s a good thing I have a bunch of my own photos for something to look at here!

In the meantime, my watch had been showing me that I was averaging 8:15 per mile and that I had run 19 miles. When I checked later and zoomed in on my map, it was clear that my Garmin veered off the path at times. That was frustrating because I can usually count on the mile splits being right on when I run the metroparks. I blame my watch for this one.

In addition to the medal, we got a mug for running the 30K.

After drinking some water and stretching for a bit, I saw Lisa after she had finished. Results were a little iffy at first because the top two times were so fast they clearly had to be half marathon times. Eventually it must have been corrected and I found that I had placed fourth overall and was the second female! I received an Igloo cooler as a prize, and Lisa got a towel for placing second in the age group. 

We took some pictures, got some flavored ice and pancakes, and hung around for a little bit. Considering our lack of sleep, I think we both considered it to be a win that we successfully ran the 30K regardless of our times!

I had averaged around an 8:15 pace for the last Milford 30K I ran so that was in my mind as a possible goal, even though they were two completely different courses. My watch lead me to believe that’s what I was doing, but I mostly ran by feel. I wasn’t in a position to aim for marathon pace, and I’m glad I found a good middle ground between an average training run and doing something a little faster. I may have been pushing it a little to jump up to 19 miles and I was slightly sore the next day, but maintaining a steady and consistent base has certainly paid off. This was good training for the Crim 10-mile race coming up in a month, and I suppose I’ll see if I hop into any other races prior to that!

– Janet

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