Photo Credit Pat Lehnherr

 

Hi All,

Thank you for taking part in the 2024 Endless Summer Trail Run Series Lebanon 7MI at Lebanon Hills County Park in Eagan last week.

There is an old adage in show business (and race directing), ‘never let them see you sweat’. As such, I did not make mention of this on the start line last Wednesday, but thought I would give you a quick peak behind the curtain in this recap. Lebanon, being a fairly long race at 7 miles, and with so many trail intersections in the park, is a bit of a bear to mark. Because of this, I mark some of the course the evening before race day, then check all of the markings again on race day. Additionally, there is a volunteer position called ‘pre-run course’, this so we end up with a few sets of eyes on the race course just prior to the start of the race. This year, as I was out checking markings a couple hours before the race start, I neared the water stop location at the very busy Schulze Lake Trailhead, and found about a one mile stretch that had been vandalized; course markers stomped and broken, and pulled out of the ground and tossed in the woods. While uncommon, this type of thing is not unheard of at trail races. Luckily, I had a full complement of course marking supplies with me, and proceeded to re-mark this stretch. During this, I was also keeping an eye on the radar as I could hear thunder in the distance. As this was happening the volunteer that was charged with pre-running the course was coming through, everything he saw was still looking good. I also got on the phone and diverted another volunteer to Schulze Lake to check the markings one more time prior to the start of the race in case the vandals were still in the park. While far from an ideal situation, the system worked, and the course was now (re)set for the evenings race.

Thankfully those thunderstorms never made their way to Eagan and the only thing we saw at the park were some light sprinkles. By check-in time the skies had cleared and we were ready for another perfect ESTRS evening. Impressively, we once again hosted 450 registered runners from 14 states, all on a Wednesday night in Eagan – wow, what a unique thing we share! I usually do not take the deep dive into race performances in my ESTRS recap, but this one is a little bonkers. The men’s course record has been stout for years, having been incrementally brought down by a series of exceptionally talented athletes. Last night Ian Torchia lowered the bar again to a staggering 37:15 / 5:19 per mile. As mentioned on the start line, we had runners ranging in age from 13 to 81 and we were thrilled to host the entire Edina girls cross country team.

As always a huge thank you to Dakota County Parks for hosting us and taking such great care of the park and trail system. As big of a thanks to Chapel Hills Church for allowing us to use their parking lot.

All credit is due to our amazing volunteers, thank you!

 

Results:
Results from last weeks race can be found HERE https://www.athlinks.com/event/198966/results/Event/1082032/Course/2479362/Results – please let us know if your result is missing or you see something in error.

 

Photos:
Thank you photographers! Photos from the race can be found HERE https://www.estrs.com/photos/

 

ESTRS Next Up:
We are just over two weeks out from the last event of the 2024 series, the Spring Lake 5MI on Wednesday July 31 at the stunning Spring Lake Park in Hastings – we look forward to seeing everyone for the seasons last hurrah!

 

Volunteer at the Superior Fall Trail Race / Superior 100:
Be a part of it. Help your fellow runners at the 34th Annual Superior Fall Trail Race / Superior 100 (10th oldest 100 mile trail race in the country) on September 6 & 7 – info HERE https://www.superiorfalltrailrace.com/read-first/

 

RSR Online Store:
We have an online store with a few things you might like. https://www.rocksteadyrunning.com/shop/

 

RSR Online Community:
This is just a boring old forum; sans advertising, manipulative algorithms, etc. https://community.rocksteadyrunning.com/

 

Mile In My Shoes:
Get to know our charity partner and get involved! Mile in My Shoes https://www.estrs.com/mile-in-my-shoes/

 

Financial Assistance
Know someone that wants to run one of our races but finances are a barrier? Reach out, we will help.

 

Sponsors:
A huge thank you to all of our awesome Sponsors and Partners!  You can learn more about each, HERE https://www.estrs.com/sponsors/

Twin Cities Running Company
Vaniply / Vanicream
Bridge Realty – Bill Pomerenke
Bell Bank Mortgage – Jerry Schmidt
Trail Transformation
Northwoods Running
Performance Running Gym
Consilience Coaching
Mile in My Shoes
St. Croix Law
Critical Connections Ecological Services

 

In Closing:
It is an honor doing this for you and with you. We are grateful for your support, and we never take that support for granted.  We will see you in a couple of weeks at the Spring Lake Park 5 Miler!

 

Sincerely,

John Storkamp
Race Director
Endless Summer Trail Run Series