Day 529 – US – Minnesota [Alexandria to Sauk Center]

15/09/21

46km

  From Alexandria (Minnesota) to Sauk Centre (Minnesota)

North America

The fastest run of the journey so far, on a day with ideal conditions… Minnesota in September

These shoes had a life of their own today!

Today was one of these days. The weather was perfect, temperatures cool but not cold, the course was flat, I would be running on empty bike tracks all the way, away from traffic, cars and noise. That’s a storm of favourable elements. As you know, I don’t have access to my data as I run (I only see: kms run, time of the day and elevation). Ie: no speed or pace. So, I ran today as I do every day, with all my heart, and listening to my body, keeping all the indicators in the comfortable range. And how surprised was I to find out that I ran these 46kms at a pace of 5:50mn per km…It’s only the 3rd run of my journey below 6:00/km. And it’s way faster than any other run. It’s hard to explain. There is a combination of factors, sure, and probably also being in a good place mentally, psychologically. Though… I can’t say I have ever been in a bad place since the start of the journey…

Onto the Lake Wobegon Trail – so quiet

Anyway – I enjoyed the day greatly. It has been a long time since I have been running on a bike track, a country road closed to traffic. It felt freeing. I did not have to think about being next to traffic and keeping myself safe – which I do instinctively by now, it does not really affect me anymore. But still, running out of it had a very uplifting effect. I was able to push the stroller ahead of me (flat course) and run in a more “natural” fashion, with a more constant arm swing for instance. Maybe that also contributed to making me run better.

The view from the office today

The “Lake Wobegon Trail” is a 105 km trail which I will be able to enjoy all the way to St Cloud. It’s essentially an abandoned railroad corridor which was converted into a trail between 1994-1998. Only open to pedestrians, bikes, rollerbladers and snowmobiles. I only met 1 bike today! That was awfully quiet.

The journalist from Voice of Alexandria has posted an article and a video interview, which I have added to the “Media” section of the website. It’s a good thing every time the word about my journey goes around. Today I received many messages from people near the vicinity of Minneapolis wanting to run with me or take me on a tour of the city on my next rest day. More work for me… but good times ahead, that’s for sure!

Enjoy the video of today’s run: https://www.relive.cc/view/vWqBr7rPjYq

Check my daily run GPS data on or

Here is the map of today’s run: