8K CC Race Report: The 2025 USATF MN Cross Country Championship

Yesterday was the USA Track and Field Minnesota Cross Country Championship race. It was an 8K around hilly Gale Woods Farm out past Lake Minnetonka. I did this race in 2023 and made it a point NOT to look back at the race report before this year's race (as I noted in a pre-race post a few days back). I knew I wasn't going to be as fast as I was 2 years ago, and I just wanted to turn in a hard "tempo effort" this year.

Here are 3 pics from my 2023 race report that show the course and the hills on the "out and back" section to get out to the loop:

Men's 8K. Yes, lots of loops: out, around, and back to the finish; then out to
the loop again, but then with TWO loops before coming back to the finish.


Half way "out" to the loop. This is a big climb ahead. At the top is where "the loop" started...


... and here's looking back the way I had just come (heading back to the finish).
So now to get up THIS little hill as well. Lots of hills throughout this race.

I got to the race site and laughed at this permanent sign that's installed as there are lots of CC races held out here (and I was out here 2 times already this year for CC meets for Henry):

"Running course start/finish area."


Start between the 2 flags, finish at the orange line.


A handful of guys prepping.


Doing my duty in the bathroom pre-race!


19 mph winds from the south. NASTY!...


... so my car was full of "layers."

Notice that photo: I started in my tank top jersey, but then took that off to go with a thin long-sleeve top (as it was 45 degrees). And I ate a little oatmeal on the way out there. And I wore my mittens (foreground) as I was warming up. And yes, that's a Menards rebate form in my cup holder... I'm midwestern afterall.

Starting line as people warmed up.

I talked with Rob E, Kirt G, Jeremy R, and Brian D pre-race, along with teammate Eric P. We were all NOT looking forward to running into this wind! About 3 minutes pre-race, I took one final photo of people lining up, and then I shed my hoodie, mittens, and phone:

We lined up and we were off!! I was instantly pretty far back in the race - there are a lot of speedy 25-30 year old guys at this race. I did a good job of settling in pretty quickly: I got into my position and held that for 1.5 miles without passing anyone and without letting anyone pass me!

The wind was pushing us out, so I knew my ONLY fast split would be this opening split. I tucked in behind a slightly broader guy who I THOUGHT I could pass, but I used him for 2 reasons: first to keep me from going out TOO hard; and second, to help cut through the wind when we turned into it around the first mile marker.

MILE 1: 6:10 (3:01 and 3:08)

In my pre-race post, I noted have no real goals. But OF COURSE my mind ended up working through some scenarios on the way to the race, and I figured I could run 6:20s to finish around 31:40 (that would be about a minute slower than 2 years ago). So finishing the first mile in 6:10 felt good. I was holding back a little to keep that guy in front of me to cut through the strong wind.

From the start, I saw Brian D about 4 places in front of me. I'd already made him my rabbit. Some runners around him got past him, so now it was the guy right in front of me being my wind break, then a big gap, then Brian. About 1.5 miles into the race, I checked our difference, and he was exactly 20 seconds in front of me. I wanted to work to slowly close that gap!

My next half mile was slow (3:16), so even though we were about to turn straight into the wind on the straight section back towards the finish line, I figured I couldn't keep "bleeding time" behind this guy. So I used the downhill as we came off the loop (seen in the 2nd photo from the top of this post) to fly past him, just as another runner was getting ready to pass me (but didn't). And luckily, the next uphill was so steep that we didn't feel the wind in our face right there. I booked it back towards the start/finish line only to turn around again.

MILE 2: 6:24 (3:16 and 3:07)

I gave back SOME of that cushion from my first mile split, but was happy with where I was. I counted at the turn-around that I was in 29th place - 2 years ago, I finished 34th out of 60, but there seemed to be fewer runners here this year.

Now we were back out on the loop for TWO more loops before heading back to the finish. It was kind of a depressing place in the race. I tried to keep Brian in sight as my rabbit.

MILE 3: 6:22 (3:11 and 3:11)

That BEAR of a hill in the back of the loop was feeling worse and worse! Here's a screenshot of that place in the race, and it was 3 times of turning south into the wind and hitting a nasty hill, so my pace shows all blue (AKA: slow):

My splits here weren't horrible. And I checked my gap behind Brian again: it was 20 secs at mile 1.5, and now it was 10 secs at mile 3.5. But I was running out of space! We had one more loop to do, then back to the finish. Brian seemed to be slowing on the uphills (he's a tall and broad guy), so I told myself I needed to pass him on the final big uphill with about 0.3 miles left so that I could build a little gap for the final kick. Because I wasn't going to have a kick!

MILE 4: 6:15 (3:08 and 3:07)

Those splits weren't bad! It felt good knowing we were at the "back corner" of the race, but we just had a mile left and just needed to get straight back to the finishline. I REALLY tried to use the downhills, but I was running out of gas. That hill in the back corner was nasty the final time, and I had another 3:16 half-mile split. Yikes.

Brian caught someone, and I worked my way up to that guy on the hills on the straight stretch back toward the finish. I never quite got past him though. And neither of us caught Brian. He was a GREAT rabbit for me to chase though!

MILE 5: 6:17 (3:16 and 3:01)

EXTRA TO THE FINISH: 0:15 (0.04 miles)

At this race 2 years ago, I made it a point to run the tangents well, and I was happy to finish with 4.99 miles on my Garmin for an 8K race (which is 4.97 miles). So I was a bit shocked this year to have mile 5 beep when I was still 0:15 from the line! I realized that when I was "tucked in" behind that broad runner from mile 0.4 to mile 1.6 that I wasn't paying ANY attention to the tangents - I was just making it a point to be behind him. I think I added some distance over that mile. D'oh.

OFFICIAL RESULTS:

Steve Stenzel
M, 44, St. Paul

31:46.4
6:23.58 pace

29 out of 47 overall
5 out of 7 in the 40-44 age group

[Garmin: 31:46 for 5.04 miles (6:18.18 pace)]

Post-race I looked back at the race from 2 years ago, and I finished in 30:46 when I was hoping to break 32. So to be 61 seconds slower this year was perfectly acceptable. I'll take that.

But yeah.... the biggest letdown was finishing 5th in my age group when I won my age group 2 years ago and left with a gold USATF medal. Dang. But I was happy with my effort this year. Running my time from 2 years ago would have put me in 23rd place overall, and I don't know what that would have done to my age group place as ages aren't shown anywhere in the results:

5 sec behind the guy that Brian passed (who I was only 1 sec behind
with 0.2 to go) and 6 sec behind my rabbit Brian.


Entire course: out, loop, back, out, loop twice, and back.


Close-up of the straight section: only red when starting.


Pace. Of the 5 big drops, the 2nd, 4th, and 5th were that nasty hill on the back of the loop.
The burst of speed 1/3 way in was passing my wind breaker on the downhill.


Elevation overlaid makes the pace make sense.

So I'm happy with my effort, satisfied with my time, but a bit bummed about my place. I'd love to be able to see age group results, but that doesn't exist for this race - I'm curious where the other 40-44 men ended up, and if I could have caught any with a better race strategy. But that also wasn't the point: I just came to run hard.

Back with more shortly!