Steve in a Speedo?! Gross!

RACE REPORT: Raspberry Run 1 Mile

>> Monday, July 20, 2026

This race report starts with the air quality issues from a few days ago. I didn't sign up right away because the northern MN / Canadian wildfires made our air look (and smell and taste) like this:

Pic from my bike ride on Thursday morning...

... when it SHOULD look like this.

Charlie and I were fishing in the Mississippi River on Thursday afternoon and things were fine:

We literally got home after this and the air had started to stink. It moved in LIKE THAT.

On Thursday, I checked the "air quality forecast" (which I never knew was a thing), and it showed this for Thursday, Friday, and Saturday:

"Hazardous" on Thursday with the worst air quality reading IN THE WORLD in Mpls.

... but clearing out in the next few days. Phew!

The day before the race, we had a quinceanera where I had 5 tacos, 6 taquitos, and a lot of cake:

The night before the race, some of the wildfire smoke moved its way back in again. It wasn't NEARLY as bad as Thursday, but it was a little hazy and smelly again. It was that way for the race too, but luckily I have no lung issues.

My boys and I got to the race site, and the porta potty we first found had no toilet paper. But then I spotted this one off in the distance...

Like a beacon shining in the night.

... and it had TOILET PAPER!!!

A final pre-race photo with my fellas before heading to the start!!

In my pre-race post, I noted that I was 80% sure that I'd set a "personal worst" of slower than 5:04. I figured I had a 3% chance to break 5:00... that was NOT the goal. It was to see how close to 5:00 I could get. It was hot, my training hasn't felt great, and I didn't get in many short, hard, "1-mile specific" track workouts. I told my boys that I was concerned what my 2nd and 4th 1/4 mile splits would be: would I ease up too much after the opening split? And then would I be dying in the final split?

I lined up and chatted with Brooks G as my boys waited off to the side for their wave to start 10 minutes later. "Love you Dad!" said Charlie with about 30 seconds to go.

"ON YOUR MARKS...." [airhorn noises]

I took off DECENTLY fast on the right side. The 1/4 mile markers were on the right, and I wanted to see if they were going to line up with my Garmin (set to take auto-splits ever 1/4 mile) to see if I'd be running an extra few seconds to get to the finish after my Gamin said it had been a mile. I really didn't know what pace I was running, and I was ready to see ANYTHING on my Garmin at the 1/4 mile mark...

• FIRST 1/4 MILE: 1:10.5. "WHAT?!? 70 seconds?!? Am I going to DIE before the finish!??"

That was fast. I was instantly concerned about "crashing and burning" before the finish, but I still felt OK, so I was going to hold on for this ride.

• SECOND 1/4 MILE: 1:14.8. "2:25 at the halfway mark? NEVER thought I would see that today!!"

I was "on pace" to hit 4:50, but I knew I wasn't GOING to hit 4:50 as I didn't have another 1:10 and 1:14 left in me. But I did start to believe that I could maybe break 5:00! Which was INSANE. I didn't feel like I was giving back much time, and I was sticking with the same crew since about the 1/8 mile mark. It was time to hold on and see what this 3rd 1/4 mile split was going to be...

• THIRD 1/4 MILE: 1:15.1. "I have a REAL shot at breaking 5:00! Keep it strong!!!"

It was at this race 2 years ago where I crashed and burned HARD in the final 1/4 mile, so I was aware of what that feels like. And I was NOT doing that at this race! I was hurting, I was maybe giving back a LITTLE time, but I was feeling good about what I was doing! And I was actually slowly GAINING on the small pack in front of me!

• FOURTH 1/4 MILE: 1:14.9. "Just another second to the line! Sub-5 is happening!!"

I ran another 1.4 seconds to the finish, and saw 4:56 on my Garmin!

OFFICIAL RESULTS:

Steve Stenzel, M, 45, St. Paul

4:56

44 out of 128 overall (USATF wave)
3rd in 45-49 age group (USATF wave)
42 out of 85 men (USATF wave)

Unofficially, looking at both waves:
54 out of 609 total
3rd in 45-49 age group (1st master in all of the 2nd wave)

My unofficial Garmin 1/4 mile splits.

Started fast, then held on! (I don't believe my HR... I'm sure it was climbing.)

USATF wave results.

I don't know how I did that. Seriously. It was 90 degrees and a little humid with the smell of wildfires in the air. I've felt a bit burnt out and overtrained for months, and I've rarely had a "good" training run. My track times were nothing great over the last few weeks. I didn't plan on going out that hard, but I did... and then I held on. I had a little hope of turning in a decent time at the 1/2 way point, felt like I was able to go sub-5 at the 3/4 mark, and then didn't feel horrible in the final 1/4 mile. Happy to be 45 years old and crank out another sub-5!

My wife and I headed out for a little shopping, drinks, and dessert that evening to celebrate our 23rd wedding anniversary:

At "Crave" at MOA.

We were at MOA because the boys had a fencing team party there.
So our date was there only because we had to get our boys there.

Time to rest my legs for a few days. Then back to TC 10 Mile training! I'm not going to follow my old coach's training plan like I did in 2024, but I might look at some workouts and throw in a few "different" training workouts that I'm not used to.

Quick 200s with Henry (and Upcoming Race!)

>> Saturday, July 18, 2026

I recently posted about doing 400s with Henry, and we hit the track again this week for some quick 200s. We are doing a 1-mile race tomorrow!

Here's Henry in the distance finishing up his 2nd 200:

A few intervals later.

10x200... nothing fancy or too hard.

Turkeys on my cooldown jog home.

Henry did 8 and I did 10 (all with about 0:45 rest, so pretty snappy). Mine we all 0:34.x or 0:35.x with the last one being 0:33.5. Henry started around 0:38, but got some down around 0:35 like me! They weren't meant to be KILLER, but just some fast sprints for our legs to remind them how to run fast for the 1 mile tomorrow.

Speaking of the 1 mile... I'm pretty sure I'm looking down the barrel of a PW ("personal worst"). I set my personal worst at the 1 mile distance last year at this race (5:04), and between a glute injury in January and a calf injury in April, I'm NOT feeling ANYWHERE near my best. My training has been decent (meaning I've been getting in my workouts), but they haven't been fast since December. I've noticed that as I age, I REALLY need to have SOLID AND CONSISTENT training to get fast (like I did all of 2024 where I set a few lifetime PRs as a 43 year old). I've been getting in the workouts, but I'm only slowly getting my speed back. That "build up" is taking longer and longer as I get older. But I'm actually OK with all of that. I know I won't be "as fast as I'd LIKE to be" forever, and I may have started my "old age slowdown." That's 100% OK. I'm not "in it to win it" all the time, but just to enjoy my fitness. We'll see if I can hold off a PW tomorrow, but I'm 80% sure that I'll be the slowest I've ever been at a mile. And that's OK.

I don't know what to expect for the race, but I'm thinking my first half will be about the same as last year's (where my 1/4 mile Garmin splits were 1:12, 1:17, 1:16, 1:14, and an extra 0:02 to the finish line). I think ideally, I'd run 1:13-1:14, then see if I can keep split #2 at 1:17 or under, and then just suffer for the rest. The final 2 splits will really be the race. We'll see what it holds.

Henry is pretty sure he'll beat last year's time of 6:01, but not set a PR (from track season of 5:32). And same with Charlie: he ran a 7:32 last year and hopes to break that, but he won't crack his track PR of 6:52 (set in May in a "city league" track meet).

I hope to be back with a race report shortly!

Friday Funny 2619: Cyclosporiasis Diarrhea Outbreak

>> Friday, July 17, 2026

Lots more funnies posted all day long on SportsAndLaughs.tumblr.com.

Friday Funny 2618: Work Anniversaries

It's nearly my wedding anniversary! I don't have many funny things to post about that (I have a DEAD SERIOUS marriage... obviously), but in honor of our upcoming wedding anniversary, here are some funnies about "work anniversaries:"