South Range Cycling Classic

This was my first bike race ever. I didn't know what to expect. It consisted of two loops in the hills of South Range, Wisconsin. The pace started off very slow. Nobody wanted to take the lead. I lead the race the last several miles prior to crossing the halfway point of the race. Somehow I got blocked out as we were ascending the big hill in the picture and could not catch a breakaway group of seven riders who took off. I made an attempt to catch the breakaway, but to no avail. I was able to string a few other riders along with me but as the pace settled into a comfortable rate for the other riders, no one wanted to lead the race the last few miles, making this fall on my shoulders. With the finish line in site and making a gamble that the other riders in my group were content with not pushing the pace harder than they were, I made the decision to try a breakaway and it worked. I gained a separation on the group and no one in the second pack could catch me. A little bit of glory was found in a day where I was disappointed to miss the opportunity to finish in the first pack. I finished 8th overall in a time of 1:35:43.0 on the 35 mile course. I was second in my age group and had an average speed of 21.9 mph.

Baldwin Woodville Uff Da Run

Angela and I traveled to Baldwin for a second chance at the Uff Da Half Marathon. This was another year I planned to do Grandma's Marathon in Duluth. As always a nice preparation. I finished a little slower than last year at 1:28.19. I was fifth again overall, but first in my age group this year. I guess that's the benefit of getting older. It was a great run and the people at the run took lots of great pictures. Photos by Anderson Photography.

Boston Marathon

Probably the highlight of any distance runner's career is earning the trip to participate in a prestigious race such as the Boston Marathon. I promised my wife if I qualified for this race, we would go. I am glad I didn't disappoint her. This was a wonderful race with much history (111 years). I must say the amazing part of this race is that Heartbreak Hill really is as tough as they say. That point about 5-6 miles from the finish is where my energy was sapped. I could tell that I was the most tired at that point. The crowds, however, were awesome. So many people came out on this nasty day. A Noreaster storm came through the area and with such strong winds and rain, the night before the event they were unsure if it would even be held. Luckily, in the couple of hours before the event, things started to clear up, but it was not the nicest of days. I tend to thrive in the nonideal weather situations, however, so it didn't bother me. I was most proud of the fact that although going into the race I was bib # 5464 (which meant I was ranked 5,464th out of the runners in the marathon going into it), I finished in 3,138th place, so I made up more than 2,000 places relative to everyone else. I credit my training in Wisconsin's cold and snowy winters. It sometimes took a lot of ambition to get out and train on bad weather days. My time was 3:18:20 and I had an average pace of 7:34.

American Birkebeiner

The first Birkebeiner ski race I did almost didn't happen as a lack of snow kept everyone wondering if the race would be held. Race volunteers went so far as to scrape snow off of area lakes in an attempt to have enough snow to hold the event on. Even the day before the event, I had to keep checking the website to see if the race would happen. Because of poor conditions, the race was shortened to about half the distance and ended at Hwy O. No times were kept for this race except for the elite men.

Thanksgiving Day Gobble Gallop

My wife and I were in the Duluth's 1st annual Gobble Gallop 5K race. It's a nice course, but to be honest, one should run a whole lot more than 5K to justify all the food that you actually eat later on Thanksgiving Day. My overall time was 19:21, which was 30th overall out of 525. I am the guy in the green shirt and black gloves to the upper right of the right most guy with the bird beak on. It was good to see so many runners out for this cold run.

Ashland Whistlestop Marathon

By far the slowest marathon I have done. I had the opportunity to switch to the half marathon earlier and should have. After Thunder Bay's Marathon, I ran one time for the Did Ya' Run Yet Relay (6-7 miles) and did not even put on my running shoes once beyond that. Well, my half marathon time was 90 minutes, but I sufferred immediately after mile 15. From there, I walked the rest of the way and could not do anything more than walk. Very frustrating, but a lack of adequate preparation led to an extremely slow time for me. I finished in 4:05:12.6. I was 321st overall out of 608 runners and 235th out of the 386 males. I was 23rd in my age group.

Get Runnin' Relay 2006

This was a fun, relaxed event. It was put on to support the PLAY foundation. Teams of 6 alternated by running 12 segments of a 40 mile loop. I joined up with Jon Gargulak, Stephanie Fleming, and Dave Putnam, along with two other runners to form a team which took first overall in the event by several minutes. Total running time was recorded, but I was unable to find the overall time of the event. This was the first annual race, and surely it will continue to be a nice community event.