October 20, 2024
It was a sunny and warmer than seasonal Saturday morning in Helena, Montana, as we toed the line for our Montana 5K. It may have seemed like it was Just for the Helena of It, but it was for a good cause.
Just for the Helena of It is a 5K, 10K, and half marathon event organized by the Helena based Treasure State Runners, whose mission is to fundraise through footrace events in the Helena area for nonprofits who foster the importance and pursuit of physical, mental and emotional health.
All profits from Just for the Helena of It will be donated to two local nonprofits: The Friendship Center and Girls Thrive. The Friendship Center is a safe haven for those affected by domestic violence, sexual assault, and stalking. Girls Thrive works to inspire girls to empower themselves through a variety of physical activities and educational lessons designed to promote self-confidence, self-esteem, and positive body image.
The race began and ended in Spring Meadow Lake State Park, with the middle portion running through the adjacent Tenmile Creek Park.
The course was a lasso with a two-mile loop at the end of a half mile rope. We began at the end of our rope, ran along it to the loop, ran clockwise around the loop, then back down the rope to finish where we began. We ran through the dry yellow grass in the gently undulating open fields of a nature preserve, the bone-dry dirt and stone path crunching with every footfall. The mountains ringing Helena in the near distance and Montana’s ever-present big sky made it all seem wide open and epic.
Julie finished 2nd of 27 in her age group, 15th of 151 females, and 37th of 232 overall. Ryan finished 1st of 8 in his age group, 6th of 81 males, and 8th of 232 overall. The overall winner finished in 18:32, which translates to a 5:59 per mile pace. The top female finished in 21:34, a 6:57 pace. Full results here.
The post-race area was like a mini-festival, with food trucks and tents promoting various local organizations. There were tents for running clubs, yoga studios, and massage therapists. There were, however, no tents promoting local handbasket companies.
Detailed Race Report for Running Nerds
Greed plays a role in the race report for Montana. When we arrived at the race scene, there were food trucks and booths for different local community organizations giving away swag and sharing information about their various important causes.
Then there was a prize table by the race. The swag on this table was not your usual swag of promotional pens or chapsticks. This was good stuff. Stylish Montana ballcaps (Julie has made ball cap collecting a habit on the trip, so her mouth was particularly watering), really nice mugs, high quality Montana apparel. The table was filled with items that we would absolutely spend dollars on at a gift shop.
We had both come into this race thinking this would be a recovery race, one to take it easy, especially since, after learning the hard way in Wyoming, we checked the elevation beforehand, and knew that the 4000 feet would put our respiratory systems through some extra effort.
But next to this very enticing swag table there was a sign that said, “If you place in the top three of your age group, come to this table to collect your prize.”
”Oh no,” Julie said to Ryan. ”I want what’s on that table.”
Dang materialistic greed. We have enough stuff! But this was such nice stuff and all it would cost was a few more calories and heart beats per minute than Julie was planning to expend.
”You’ll probably place in your age group whether or not you’re working hard,” Julie said to Ryan. “But I may have to put some effort in.”
We both tried to go into the race unaffected by that prize table. Ryan succeeded in forgetting about it and just went out and ran the race. If you’ve been reading along, you probably know Julie well enough to know how she fared by now.
The race course was fairly flat and absolutely beautiful. You could not have asked for better weather for a run. The only real challenge was the air and whatever fitness we were both bringing. Ryan started the race committed to take it easy, but to make sure to run at least under eight minute miles, which had become his basement and remained as Julie’s ceiling. Ryan easily did so, taking each mile in literal stride and naturally running a 23:32, which translates to an average of 7:36 per mile.
Julie tried to run unaffected by thoughts of a nice Montana baseball cap, but maybe let greed push her a little harder than she should have. She entered into mile 1 committed to getting negative splits, so she aimed for a nice and easy pace of 9:05. That should be easy to maintain and improve upon, she figured. Are we all tired of Julie being wrong and overestimating herself yet? No? Great, cause here we go again.
Julie was able to reign in any greed-induced overexertion fairly well in mile 1 and clocked in a little faster than hoped for, but not by too much with an 8:59. Great, Julie thought. This is great. I can definitely easily run negative splits from here. Her heart rate throughout the first mile had stayed pretty low, then crept up toward the 160s near the end of mile 1. Okay, no biggie.
In mile 2, whether it was the lack of working out in the preceding week or the altitude or what, Julie’s heart rate was insane. At this point, Julie was frustrated. Her legs were hungry to RUN. But her heart rate was not having any of it. By the early swing of mile 2, Julie was battling a heart rate north of 180! And she was barely running that fast, somewhere between 8:30 and 8:50. At some point in mile 2, Julie surrendered that this was just not healthy and she would have to stop and walk to bring her heart rate down. She would stop and walk until it dropped beneath 170 and then start up again with bursts of speed. After each walk, her legs were hungry to run and she was cruising at 7:50-8:30 paces. It didn’t take long to creep back up to 180+. Julie soon realized that there was becoming less and less a chance of running a negative split, and that became Julie’s obsession. Though she had to keep stopping to walk to bring her heart rate down, she would run the intervening times faster and faster. All she wanted is to see an 8:58 for her second mile. That’s it! But, alas, despite the efforts she put in during her bursts of running, she clocked in mile 2 at a 9:06. So long negative splits. So long heart-rate run. And, likely, so long swag from the prize table. After a positive split for mile 2, Julie surrendered. The race course had beaten her today. She let go of all goals for mile 3 and just ran the best she could. Now that her personal running for recovery goals were clearly well out the window, that greed did creep back into her mind. Well, I probably won’t make it in the top three of my age group, she thought to herself, but, just in case, I’ll make sure to stay ahead of whoever I’m ahead of right now.
Julie had been running somewhat alongside a woman who may have been in her age group. The woman appeared to be running a pace somewhere around 9:30. When Julie would start to walk to bring her heart rate down, which was often, the woman would jog past her. Then, when Julie began to run again, she would sail past her. You may have run alongside that person before and thought, “come on, man. Pick a pace and stick with it.” Well, that annoying that annoying runner, this time, was Julie. This became Julie’s only focus – maintain her place in the race, whatever it is. If she has a chance at those swag goodies, she’ll keep it.
Mile 3 was a near constant struggle through the pain of thin air and waining fitness. Julie clocked in mile 3 at a 10:01, a slow pace that she had had to work hard to achieve. This race was humbling. Even when trying to put in her finish line kick, Julie had to stop twice in the final straightaway to bring her heart rate down as it crept towards 190.
Julie crossed the finish line feeling it big time. When Ryan came to join her for a post race walk and we shared our race reports, Ryan delivered with ease. Julie reported, “That ranks as the most beautiful race course we’ve run yet, and my dumbest race yet. I ran that so dumb.” What was the point of letting my heart rate get so high? Julie thought. Next race, I’m running easy! No matter what goodies are on the table.
When we got our results, it turned out we both placed in our age group – Ryan first, Julie second. We headed over to the swag table excitedly.
It turns out, all those sexy prizes on the prize table were part of a random raffle and had nothing to do with race performance at all! If there was a sticker on the back of your finisher’s medal, you got a prize. For the age group finishers, the prize was a little pin for your lapel.
In the van on the long drive towards eastern Montana after the race, Julie found her whole body having trouble recovering.
“This is the price of greed.” She said, accepting the rewards for her commission of such a deadly sin.
”Greed? Is that really what it was?” Ryan asked with a more forgiving tone.
Without a beat, Julie responded most sincerely and wholeheartedly, “It was for me.”
Ryan laughed. At least there is honesty and self-awareness too.
We drove on with memories of the beauty, a body ache or two, and some pretty fancy pins on our lapels.
R and J in the USA 
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