2008 Duluth Turkey Trot

There is nothing better than running a 5K race right before you get a chance to eat a Thanksgiving meal. It is somewhat of a tradition that Thanksgiving and a run should be tied together. It snowed heavy an hour before the race so the roads are covered in very slippery snow. Each step I could feel myself slipping and did not have a lot of power to accumulate a lot of speed. This was a great race, however. There were 909 runners, which was a great turnout. I finished the race in 19:36.3, which was good enough for 21st place overall, but 10th in my age group. Had conditions had been better I was hoping for a faster time, but that is winter weather in Minnesota. My wife and brother-in-law did the 2 mile walk and won the costume contest for the best costumes following the race.

Living History Farms Race

This was one of the running highlights of my career. The Living History Farms Race is a 7 mile race which is one of the more "Extreme" types of cross country runs out there. There are a total of 8 creek crossings, and the website promotes the fact that you will get cold and you will get wet. It was a huge race, with 6,938 finishers. I finished 236th out of 3,698 males and 240th overall. My time was 49:55, so I just edged the 50 minute mark. My brother and my wife did this race with me. We had a blast. It snowed during the race, so we were definitely cold after the race. There was plenty of wonderful food. The age group winners in the race earn food awards like whole frozen turkeys and other food like that. My brother and I started at the front, so we found that this was as a good strategy. Starting too far back makes it difficult as you have to wait more at the creek crossings because everyone gets bunched up and everyone slows down at the creeks. Temperatures that day were in the low 20's with light wind and it was cloudy.

River Falls Extreme Run

I had a chance to run this meet dressed in cross country uniform (blue Rice Lake CC uniform). I never participated in cross country before, but this meet is more of a fun run and the organizers let the coaches run the event with the kids, so I did and had a blast. It was a 5K event. The only stipulation was that I had to pull out of the race at the end and not enter the finisher's chute. That was fine, I still was able to get in all 6 river crossings. What a great race, and some great pictures as well. I wish all cross country meets were more like this, and all regular races for us older runners.

2008 Firehouse 50 Best of Both

The Firehouse 50 was a weekend full of fun and excitement. This year, several Rice Lake natives participated, with a good overall showing for the region. I was able to stay with the main pack once again to finish 10 seconds behind the first place finisher. My time for the bike race of 50.5 miles was 2:00:20.9 (24.9 mph). I was 49th overall out of 447 registrants (389 finishers). Fifty six bikers were in the main pack. I finished toward the back of the pack, but after last year's crash, I wanted to finish safely. In the 15K run, I finished 12th with a 1:03:07.1. This was about 3 seconds faster than last year's time. My best of both time was 3:03:28.0. I was fourth overall for the second straight year, and second in my age group. Brent Kann finished second overall and Mark Bittner was 10th overall in the Best of Both competition. Mike Cragg of Rice Lake finished in 2:00:17.0, which was the fastest anyone has finished the race in the 60-64 age group. My wife Angela also competed in the run and finished in 1:36:29.3.

Chetek CaRunBi Triathlon

This is the second year of doing this event. I love how well it is run. There is a mile of paddling, followed by 9.5 miles of road biking, and finally 4 miles of running on the Fishy 4 route. The only negative was that it involves too many highway crossings and about a mile of the route was just converted to gravel which is hard to ride a road bike on. Some guy wizzed past me on a triathlon bike, only to crash into a tree because he couldn't slow down going around a curve. I was able to hold off all teams until the last minute or two of the race. I was then passed by a team, among which was Chetek's great track and cross country runner Paul Hetke. He ran 5 minute miles, so he edged me out and his team finished in 1:06:15. I finished in 1:06:35. . .second overall but the first individual triathlete. I was able to defend my title from last year. A friend of mine, Gary Mikolon, put together a team consisting of he and his brother, Paul, Tyler Gruetzmaker, and his friend Steve. They finished third overall, with a time of 1:08:00. I held of everyone in the paddle, then gave up a couple spots at the start of the bike ride in the transition zone. I was fourth overall after the bike ride, but made up all spots until getting passed by Paul Hetke. He had a great run.

Ladysmith Women With Courage Mardis Gras 10K

I travelled to Ladysmith for the second annual Ladysmith Women With Courage Mardis Gras 10K. Organizers say it has grown tremendously since last year. I couldn't find the race starting location at first and showed up with 15 minutes to go before the race. It must have been more successful than they thought since they ran out of T shirts. There was a 10K and a 5K option, but like a good friend of mine says when their are two race distance options, "I wanted to get my money's worth," so I decided to do the longer distance. It was an out-and-back course. The race followed the outskirts of Ladysmith and ended up going out to the country and following a railroad track for about half the distance. By the 5K turn-around I had a nice distance lead over the next closest competitor and held it to the finish. My time was better than other 10Ks this year. I took first overall with a time of 39:51.37. I told my wife I always love races where you follow a biker who shows the route for the lead runner and when you finish you are still the first runner behind the biker. The newspaper photo was from the July 24, 2008 issue of Ladysmith News and was taken by John Terrill.

Blue Hills Festival 5K Run/Walk

I participated in the Blue Hills Festival Run/Walk this morning. There was a kids 1/2 mile run and an adult 5K. It was a simple course. . .primarily a loop course which travelled past Bruce landmarks such as the high school, a local cemetery, and both a start and finish in the high school football stadium. Also a late start compared to most races, 10 am. I almost thought of heading to Turtle Lake for the 8 am start of the Turtle Trot (10K and 2 mile) and then traveling to Bruce to do this race. I held the lead for the first lap of the football stadium, but was quickly overtaken by two younger cross country racers. The winner of the race (Stan) is from Weyerhauser and runs for his college cross country team in Eau Claire. The winning time was 17:30. The second place runner was 17:39. I posted my second best 5K time ever, at 18:59. I was second in my age group (19-35). A nice run sponsored by several local organizations/businesses. The Blue Hills Lions Club was the primary sponsor. The accompanying newspaper photo was in the July 17, 2008, edition of the Ladysmith News by an unknown photographer.

Tofte Trek

Undoubtedly the best race I have ever done. I looked forward to this race for a couple of months. We planned a camping trip to coincide with this race. The Tofte Trek is a 10K race which has been going for almost 30 years (this was the 29th annual event). Runners start in a parking lot, but quickly enter an uphill climb for almost the entire first half of the race. It is a grind. The uphill wasn't so muddy, but after the midpoint of the race everything changes. Terrain changed most significantly. Runners cross long spans of bridges formed by placed 2 x 8's down to span wetter and more hilly areas. Then, these bridges stop and runners start running through the mud puddles. The water/mud was so deep in many locations you step in mud so thick it almost pulls your shoes off. Less than a mile from the end, there is a huge mud puddle over 50 feet long. I could have tried to run around it, but I chose to run through it. Water was about a foot deep. Water sprayed up my legs and I was so dirty. I loved it. I would have looked worse had I not run through the water sprinkler before the finish. I finished 13th, just 3 seconds behind someone who I traded the lead with several times throughout the race. He was a little stronger than I at the end. Angela had a blast doing this event as well. This was definitely a great all-around race. Complete results are found at http://www.toftetrek.com/

RCU Charity Classic

My wife and I traveled out to Eau Claire for the RCU Charity Classic. Angela brought her friend Leiah Bowen from work. We came down for the 10K race. All three of us raced the 10K, with Angela and Leiah running together and finishing in 1:03:51.3 (they finished together in 265 and 266th place) out of 371 runners. Congrats to Leiah, as this was her first race. She was nervous leading up to it, but did wonderful and they both had a great time. I also did the 10K and finished in 40:55.2 (28th overall and 3rd in my age group for a 6:36 min/mile). I then got crazy and signed up for the 2 mile immediately after and finished in 12:20.4 (6:10 min/mile which was 19th overall out of 251 runners and 2nd in my age group). Let me tell you, the lunch at Manny's (a mexican restaurant) was well deserved. Check out the yellow and white runner's number badge on my shorts in the shot of me crossing the finish. That is cool since I was one of the select few to compete in both races. Two mile results are posted at http://www.rcu.org/news_and_education/charity_classic/2008_2mile_overall.pdf 10K results are posted at http://www.rcu.org/news_and_education/charity_classic/2008_10K_overall.pdf

Aquafest 10K. 6/10/08

The annual Aquafest 10K race came down to a matter of feet for me. Although it was not as fast a race for me compared to the previous years, I came within 1 second of third place in this race. I finished in 40:59 which was good enough for 4th place and first in my age group. I closed off a lot of the gap on the runner who finished 3rd place as I ran the remaining mile or so, but was not able to make up enough of the time. The photo was in the Rice Lake Chronotype newspaper and was taken by Dave Greschner.

Panther Pant 5K

The Panther Pant occured at the Cathedral School in Superior, Wisconsin. It was a 5K race. I took off fast at the beginning and tried to stay with the lead guy. One of the guys who finished just ahead of me at the end of the race yelled out to his teammate who actually won the race a quote which I love. He was trying to pump up his fellow teammate and he yelled out "Mike, don't worry about that guy. You've got him. He's nothing." What great sportsmanship. Well, Mike did win the race and my early start to the race spelled a slow finish for me and I ended up finishing 6th overall. My time was 19:36. Perhaps if I would have slowed the pace initially, the overall time would have been better, as I was over a minute slower than the Osceola Healthy Heart 5K I did in April.

Kishwaukee Sunrise Rotary 8K

When your wife is a bridesmaid in a wedding and you have nothing else to do with your time while you wait for her, what is the next best thing to do? Run a race of course. I have not run an 8K competitively before, although I did run one for fun with my brother Dan last year. Boy, this is a tough distance. Not quite a 10K but more distance than a 5K. It takes some getting used to. I had a blast and finished 6th overall out of 87 runners with a time of 32:20. I was second in my age group. . .7 seconds behind the guy who placed first in my age group. Certainly I could have pushed more, but boy was it a windy day during the race. Also, two athletes who had tried out for the Olympics showed up for this small-town race in rural Illinois. They dominated the field.

BACC Triathlon

My wife and I participated in the BACC triathlon today which included a 1/4 mile swim, a 12 mile bike ride and a 5K run. The swim went well, but the bike and run sections were the held in snowy conditions. The winds were so powerful that they could bring a bike to a stop if you didn't pedal on a downhill. Bob Peterson was last year's winner and finished first again by a small margin. Mark Bittner nearly edged him out. I finished about 8 minutes back for third. This shows how much a lack of winter training really hurts early season. . .especially on the bike. It was my first real triathlon and went well. I wonder if snow is part of the forecast for next year's race? My time was 1:17:19. My swim time was 7:30. The bike time was 46:51. The 5K run time was 22:58.

Osceola Healthy Heart 5K

The Osceola Healthy Heart 5K was a great run. I took off fast and finished the first mile at about 5:50, which was about where I wanted to be. I held the lead for the first mile, and then was caught by Joel Ailts of Deer Park. He was a good competitor as he pushed me and we kept pace for a while, but he eventually gapped me going up a hill. He maintained a lead, but I was able to stick it out and finish about 13 seconds behind him. I finished second overall, but had my best 5k time ever with a time of 18:32. I ran a cool down run with Joel. I guess Joel does quite a few runs as well. I was real happy with my run. Luckily, the weather held off. It was cloudy and looked like rain, but nothing turned up with the weather.

Spring Fever 2 mile

My first race of the year was in Altoona. I just decided to try a race the day before. I had only been running for about 3 weeks. Since I wasn't doing Grandma's marathon this year, I decided to take winter off and focus on biking. It was pretty rough going. I went down with a friend of mine to the race. He did the 6 mile. I ran the 2 mile. By the one mile point, the guy who won the 6 mile race (Corey Stelljes) was already about 30 seconds ahead of me and I was only running a 1/3 his distance. Well, he did just run the Olympic trials for the marathon last November. . .he isn't too bad a runner. I finished easily ahead of the next place guy with a 40 second lead. My time was 12:15. I got done and thought, gee. . .that was a short run. I am not used to running only a couple of miles. Usually I am slugging out long distance runs.

2008 American Birkebeiner

This was a tough race from start to finish. I went out and did one 8K skiing session prior to the Birkie and then attempted the race. It was more just to do it than anything, but I was amazed at how hard the race was. My waxless skis proved almost useless in the snow and the 50+ kilometer race was one I was so happy to be done with. My wife and some friends were manning the water station at about the 30 kilometer mark and I stopped there for about a half hour to load up on food. My total time was 6:26:13.7. I was 837 out of 986 classic skiers and 686 out of 798 men classical skiers. I was 44th out of 50 in the 30-34 age category of all men classical skiers.

Book Across the Bay

Probably one of the most unique winter events I have come across is Ashland's Book Across the Bay. When the waters of the bay between Ashland and Washburn (Wisconsin) freeze over, a 10K path is made over the ice marked by hundreds to thousands of luminaries made of ice. These are regularly placed across the whole distance of the race. Although it is a race, many people like my wife and I did this for fun. We walked it together on snowshoes. It was a great event. Out of the snowshoers, I finished 44th out of 344 competitors in a time of 1:44:50.0, or 10.1 min/K. The beauty of this event is that it is at night. So few sporting events of this type occur during the evening hours.