Grandma's Marathon

3:29:06 chip time
666th overall
3:29:33 gun time
559th male
284th division place
sex place 559/4408
pace 8:00 min/mile
10K 42:42 13.1 mile 1:31:39
20 mile 2:29:56
last 10K 59:11

Rice Lake Aquafest 10K

My wife and I participated in the Aquafest 10K tonight. Local runner Tim Miller picked up the pace from the start and held a lead throughout the race. He cruised to victory, while I finished a close second and was first overall in my age group (30-39). It was a well-attended event, but it was very warm as it tends to be with this event. My time was 42:24. Four days later I participated in Grandma's Marathon, so I didn't want to wear myself out too much for this event. Pictures were taken by Valerie Leair of the Chronotype.

Cloquet Criterium

This bike race was one of the more challenging I have done. It was a race with 1 mile laps and the goal was to stick with the lead pack as long as possible. The race goal was to go 30 minutes and then to finish one more lap. Obviously the goal was to go as fast as possible and drop people quickly and make up ground. I finished 5th with a time of 32:49. I really got whooped on the last lap, as the lead people finished in 32:19. I was 30 seconds back and 2nd in the 30-39 age group. It was great as there were fast 90 degree corners and awesome downhills. At times, speeds hit upper-30 to lower-40 mph on the downhills.

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.