In case you missed it while trying to find some trace of the "sun" this "spring," Wednesday was National Running Day. Runners celebrated by pounding out miles — some of us in more unusual ways than others.

At TC Running Company in Eden Prairie, the day certainly came with a twist: Runners were invited into the retail store to complete the full 26.2 miles of the Boston Marathon.

The hook? The store recently acquired a new ProForm Boston Marathon treadmill. You can find one online for about $4,000 … or you can test a new pair of shoes on it at the store. The treadmill simulates the entire Boston course (and can simulate others as well), complete with elevation gains and drops as well as a video screen of a progression along the historic race. It also lets runners go as fast as 15 miles per hour, which is a four-minute-mile pace (also known as "ridiculous").

On Wednesday, in the spirit of the day, runners took turns on the treadmill to finish the entire course. As luck would have it, I ended up logging miles 16 and 17 — pretty much right at the start of the famous Newton Hills. As the incline automatically cranked upward (3 … 4 … 5 percent, come on!), there was clear relief that this was only 2 miles as part of a relay — particularly because a lot of the other runners were current or former college standouts who probably laughed at my relatively plodding pace.

The next 3 miles, though, were saved for store owner Adam Lindahl. He bought and opened TC Running Company in the mid-2000s, and a second location is slated to open in Maple Grove in a few weeks.

"I always wanted to do something like this," Lindahl, an Eden Prairie native, said of having his own running store. "But I never thought it would get this big."

TC Running Company in Eden Prairie offered its version of the Boston Marathon on a treadmill.

Lindahl also ran in college at the University of South Dakota, so it was only fair that he took the part of the course that included Heartbreak Hill (and its 5.6 percent incline) — the last of the Newton Hills and the most famous. He scaled it gamely, though, leaving others to clean up the relatively easy final 5 miles.

The relay group easily finished the course in under three hours — no thanks to me, remember, even if I was happy to run along.

Michael Rand