January in Minnesota isn’t necessarily the definition of “ideal running weather”. In Minnesota, you don’t stop for the cold. I ran the Securian Winter Run in 2013, and all I remember about the race was that it was so cold that I was quite certain at mile 5 that my fingers and toes would freeze and just never be the same again. That year the “real feel” temperature was around -5 degrees, but again, Minnesotans don’t stop for the weather.  And spoiler alert, my fingers and toes recovered.

After that year, I all but wrote off the Securian Winter Run as an option for me just because the weather is so unpredictable and the cold took away from some of the fun. But, when my Oiselle Teammates made this race a meetup event, I found myself registering and committing to the Securian Winter Run once again.

Although I’ve run three full marathons since 2015, I was going into this race not having run a half marathon since September of 2015 (Park to Park Half Marathon). A lot has happened in those 2.5 years: I started training with my first coach, tried to earn a BQ at Grandma’s Marathon and failed, got injured, started training with a new coach (Becki Spellman – she’s amazing!), got pregnant, had a baby, and am now training for my next BQ attempt at Eau Claire. Because of all this change, I had no idea what to expect going into the Securian Winter Run. Lucky for me, Becki had a plan, so the plan was to stick to the plan.

I didn’t stick to the plan. I literally lost the plan at mile 1 and 2. The plan was to start off running an 8-8:10 pace, then if I’m feeling good at mile 6, start pushing below 8s and embrace the tired legs. I did have permission to start pushing the pace at mile 3 if it was clear that 8-8:10s were too slow.

Securian Winter Run Splits

The first mile had some significant downhills and some significant uphills so it was hard to gauge pace, so I defaulted to effort. My first two splits ended up fast at 7:38 and 7:50. From here, it became clear that the hills weren’t going to go away, so I just had to settle in and take the course as it came. I always look up the race course prior to the race, but I didn’t for this one since I thought I was pretty familiar with the course. As it turns out, I’ve blissfully blocked out the number of hills along Shepard Road in St. Paul.

I tried to slow down over the next few miles to start hitting close to the 8-8:10 pace I was supposed to be running. Every mile was still too fast but I was feeling comfortable at that pace, so I just made the decision to go for it and try to keep my splits consistent regardless of the hills. The Eau Claire Marathon, which is my goal race, is a hilly course with ~750 feet of elevation gain, so I was actually happy to get an opportunity to race on a hilly course as a training run. 

This was an out-and-back course, so the wind was only a factor for the first 7 miles. Once we hit the turn-around point, the wind was now at our backs which made the temperature feel so much more manageable. I actually started shedding my gloves and ear band around mile 8. This was also the point where we were able run down the two miles of hills we ran up on the way out, which provided a chance to recover a little bit, regroup, and refocus. My splits on these miles were 7:34 and 7:29, and I was feeling great. This was the point where I realized that my PR was in the bag.

I knew that there were steep hills at the end as they were the popular topic of conversation before the race. Also, given that the Securian Winter Run is an out-and-back course, I ran down the hills in the first few miles, so I had an idea of what was to come on my way back. However, by mile 12 I was riding the pain train and every step was starting to become a little more of a fight. Also, there wasn’t just one hill at the end; there were three steep hills to get up in order to get to that darn finish line. No matter how hard I pushed, I still couldn’t maintain pace and I dropped to an 8:04 and an 8:30 for my last two miles. This ultimately blew my PR.

Although my tangents were great and my mile-to-mile splits were spot on to the markers, for the most part, mile 13 to the finish line was .19, not .10. I wasn’t the only one complaining about this measurement, so I know it wasn’t my tangents in the last .1 of a mile. The extra .09 of a mile, coupled with my slower splits at mile 12 and 13, added just enough time to throw my PR out the window.

Securian Winter Run Elevation Profile – 454ft total elevation gain

My final time was 1:43:25, which is a 7:50 average pace. At first I was kind of disappointed by this, and I really thought I could hit at least 7:45s average (no idea why…that was somehow in my brain). But after digging deeper into the Securian Winter Run course and the elevation profile, I am now feeling great about the results.

My PR course has an elevation gain of under 100 feet and is at the end of summer after a full season of training. Given that I was able to ultimately match that time on a challenging course as my first half of the year and after having a baby 5 months ago, I’m feeling optimistic about what this season has in store for me.

What went well at the Securian Winter Run:

• I felt strong on the hills and was able to maintain a pretty consistent pace regardless of the elevation profile
• There was 450 feet of elevation gain in this half, whereas the Eau Claire Marathon has 750 feet of elevation gain for the full. So this half was worse than the full will be from a hills perspective, which leaves me feeling strong and optimistic
• My mental game was strong. I fought the fight and didn’t let myself start feeling too high or too low. I stayed in the mile and kept pushing forward
• I trusted my training. There were no thoughts of “can I do this?”, which is something that has come back to bite me in the past. I went in with confidence
• Race logistics – the parking was super easy, there was an indoor place to hang out before the race, porta-potty lines were short, and the post-race food/hospitality was great!

What I could have done better:

• Stick to the plan. I was bright-eyed and bushy-tailed and let adrenaline get the best of me. This didn’t come back to haunt me necessarily for this race, however, that will likely not be the case for my goal marathon. I need to stick to the plan
• I didn’t get there early enough to do an adequate warmup, so I just did a few strides and .25 of a jog about 5 minutes before the race. Ideally this would have been much different
• My post-race self-deprecation – I should have felt proud of myself after crossing this finish line, but it took me a full days worth of reflection to truly start realizing that I have something to be proud of vs feeling like I should have done better.

This race kicked off my ramp-up for Eau Claire Marathon training, which is such a motivating way to start a training cycle. I feel like I’m heading into this journey with strength and confidence, which is a good thing because the runs I’m starting to see pop up on my training plan are flat-out terrifying. =)

Terrifying run next weekend! Cant wait!

Good luck to everyone kicking off spring marathon training! Let’s do this!