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.

Turkey Leg 5K

My brother and wife and I traveled to Willmar, MN for the Turkey Leg 5K. It was a morning which was crisp with a light dusting of snow falling as we ran. The opening pack took off quick and I maintained contact with the lead group until just before the first mile. I held out for a 7th place finish with a time of 19:16. I was first overall in my age group. My brother and I haven't had the chance to do too many races together, so this was a fun race to run with him. I took the picture of the postrace food, which I thought was unusual since this was a race with many children present, and you can see from the way the food was presented that it wasn't the most safe (the knives were present on the table in which they were presenting the food to the finishers). This picture also started the other trend for my brother and I to try to take the funniest post race food pictures at any races we do which we still continue to this day.

Rocky's Run

Dan and I did this double race day which is the first time I have done two races in the same day. Actually, I treated the first event as a race and then my brother and I jogged the 8K after the 5K. It was a beautiful course. The University of Minnesota Golf Course is well maintained with lots of undulating hills. It is also the site of the famous high school and college Griak race. In the 5K race, I finished with a time of 20:14 and was 33rd out of 214 overall. My pace was 6:31 min/mile and 4:03 min/km. In the second event, we slowed up to enjoy the 8K route and was 82nd out of 128 with a time of 40:08 for an 8:04 min/mile and 5:01 min/km pace. I actually ran into my old high school calculus teacher on the course as he was the official time keeper at the finish line of the event.

Tater Trot

Up until 10 minutes before the race, I was planning on running the 5K race. I was excited to try to set a PR in the 5K, but as I heard that many of the cross country runners I coached who were members of the National Honor Society were out at the water stations, I thought it would be fun to see them. I changed gears and attempted to run the half marathon instead. I hadn't run many long distance runs in several months, but I did manage to finish 6th overall, with a time of 1:28:15. I held 3rd place until the top of some hills at mile 7, and gave up two more places in the last mile of the race. But for not training for this distance, I was not too far off of my PR for that distance from Baldwin-Woodville's Uff Da Run.

Chequamegon XXV

This was my first mountain bike race. I raced the race on a rental bike as my bike was in the shop. Not ideal to be riding a bike you are not familiar with, but at least I was able to ride. I stopped two miles in to adjust my seat post, which was too low and I had not noticed that when I initially picked up the bike. It was a beautiful day and was wonderful for being able to gain some experience handling the trails. Luckily I didn't have to stop once, but I did have to walk the bike up the Firetower Hill. I think if there wouldn't have been such a big mass of people walking their bikes, I probably could have pedalled up the hill in low gear, but I will never know that. Unfortunately, that is an area where there tends to be a big bottleneck of riders since everyone slows down at that point. My goal was to finish in under 3 hours and my time was 2:52:52.8. I was 498th out of 1742 overall and 74/175 in age group.

2007 Cleghorn Harvest Fest 22 mile race

This was a relatively short 22 mile race, but was fairly hilly. The pace started off very slow. No riders wanted to share in trying to take the lead, so I pushed the pace. A couple of riders jumped on behind me and rode my wheel for the rest of the race until right before the finish. It was a good strategy for them, as I finished third overall with a time of 57:25.9, which was 1.7 seconds behind the first place rider.