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.