Afton Trail Run race report

My second 25K on trails is in the books, and I got to eat Mike and Ikes to boot!

The back story: My friend Molly had signed up for the Afton Trail Run ages ago and had been nudging me to do the same for about as long. I had missed all of the early registration price breaks and was doing some hemming and hawing, but eventually came to my senses and realized that running 15.5 miles on Afton State Park trails with Molly would be a trillion times more fun than any route I could concoct for this weekend's scheduled long run. Count me in!

We drove about 30 minutes east of St. Paul to Afton State Park, where I've camped before but never run on the trails. It's a gorgeous park with a huge network of trails for hiking and running in the summer and skiing and snowshoeing on the river. This race offers two distances: a 25K (15.5 miles) and a 50K (31 miles), with about 600 runners total.

The whole morning was wonderful for many reasons. I will recap in list form:

1. The weather. I have to start with this, because it was a tremendous gift. After record-setting heat and humidity all week, the heat broke last night with a line of thunderstorms. This morning, I stepped outside at 5:45 and it was cool. Really cool - as in, we were a little bit chilly at the start line waiting for the race to begin but then kicked ourselves for noting any tiny bit of discomfort about the temperature being too low. It wasn't that cold - probably 67 degrees - but it was so magnificent compared to the humid 80-degree (and higher) mornings from earlier in the week. This race has been super, super hot in the past and there are some stretches of the course in full sun that would've been a lot tougher with 10 more degrees. We really lucked out.

Oh, yes. The morning looked like this:

2. The food. After the Trail Mix 25K in April, I wrote about the fun ways that trail runners approach their races: packing coolers with their favorite treats and eating food like chips and tomato soup and sandwiches mid-race for energy instead of boring gels. I think I was bemused by this phenomenon at Trail Mix - the first time I had really seen it in person - but make no mistake that I embraced it wholeheartedly this morning. Over the course of 15 miles, I ate Mike and Ikes, a Golden Oreo, chips, and watermelon. Mike and Ikes were so much more fun than my Gu gels! I might work these into  future long runs.

At the first aid station, we ran by a homemade sign that said "NEXT BUFFET 1.5 MILES." This was irresistible to me and I vowed to have my camera ready for the next aid station. Unfortunately, that was the last buffet advertisement, but the quality and variety continued at each stop (five or six in total). It was amazing. I had read the night before that the stations would feature a wide range of treats, including potatoes with salt. What? I told Molly about that on the way over to the start and sort of put myself into a corner by saying I was so curious about potatoes with salt that I was dead set on trying them.

We got to an aid station and I wanted to snap a photo of the spread. And then we saw it:

Those little things at the bottom that look like hard-boiled eggs?  Yep, those are cooked and salted potatoes, cut into small chunks. I think I looked at Molly for a long moment and then grabbed a potato chunk and ate it. And you know what?  I prefer the Mike and Ikes, but I get it. I get it!

3. The course and scenery: I thought I loved the Trail Mix course, but I really loved this course. It covered such a wide range of trails. There were wide horse trails:

But there were also stretches of packed gravel, challenging singletrack, steep climbs through the woods, and narrow paths through meadows with the prairie grass brushing your knees. (I grabbed my phone out of my fuel belt for a few scenes on the run during the flat stretches, but I didn't photograph any of the narrow trails because they required all of my energy, mental and physical. And, you know, it was a race!)

Such varied trails made the course fly by, because you never knew what would be around the next corner - and for many of the miles, we were treated to a cool breeze coming off the nearby St. Croix River.

It was really neat to find out that the Afton trail network was so extensive that you could run 25K via one big loop. Hey - how in the heck did the organizers design a course to be exactly 25K, anyway? I'm fascinated! (If this blog turns up in a Google search and somebody knows, please chime in!)

4. The energy: This race was well-organized, low-key and friendly. As you probably know, I appreciate all kinds of running events - heck, I've run a road marathon with more than 40,000 runners and loved that - but trail races have a charming, laidback, fun energy that I just adore. The course was well-marked thanks to lots of volunteers, the runners were working hard and having a good time. By the nature of them, trail races can have long stretches that feel pretty quiet. In this race, we'd enjoy those quiet sections, and then every couple of miles, we'd turn a corner and see an aid station with 20-25 volunteers and spectators cheering us on and handing us treats (and sponges soaked with ice water!).  It was such a fun boost.

After the race, one of the organizers was hanging out in the finish area, asking finishers if he could grab water or lemonade for them, and on the other side of the finish area, volunteers were grilling veggie burgers and hamburgers for runners. I felt like the race struck a perfect balance of presenting the runners with a difficult individual challenge while showing them that they had the support of (and were also truly part of) a broad, kind community as they tackled the run.

5. My running buddy: I love trail running, but Molly really loves trail running, and in the past couple of years, she has really found both a passion and a knack for it. (Can you believe that near the end of the race, Molly started some strange talk about how she'd kind of like to head out for a second lap - i.e. try the 50K?) She is a great friend to have on the trails with you: tough and strong, supportive and encouraging and fun. She loves being out on the trails, and it really shows. (Well, it also shows because we tell each other approximately every 800 meters how much fun we're having!) We treat our long runs like weekly coffee dates and as a result get to combine lots of miles with quality friend time. It's great.

Bottom line: I would do this race again in a heartbeat, and I'll sign up plenty early next year. Kudos to the organizers for such a great event, and a big thanks to all of the volunteers and spectators!