Eau Claire WORS Firecracker race

This was a great weekend of fun. Many of the guys I ride bike with camped out the night before the race. We were able to watch a movie on an outdoor big screen TV about Lance Armstrong winning the "Race Across the Sky." The next day started with a nice 10K trail run which coursed through the woods following much of the same course that the "Rumble in the Jungle" snowshoe race followed during the winter months. It was a beautiful course, but it was certainly tough. I finished third overall with a time of 52:53.5 and was able to earn a nice medal. The mountain biking race was a different story. My goal in this race was just to finish. In the mountain bike race, I finished 186th out of 192 riders. During the ride I came around a bend too quickly and crashed into a tree with my front tire (I was fine, but my bike wasn't). After the crash, I later realized that my rim had bent. Every revolution of the tire made a rubbing sound, causing a loss of speed and motivation. The tire rubbed against the front fork. My buddies thought that you could just true the rim to fix it, but there was no truing this rim. It was scrap metal. I finished with a time of 1:37:15.6 for the 15 mile course. This day made me realize that I am better off focusing on wide open bike races like the Fat Tire Race. I am much more comfortable on the wide open trails than narrow, technical routes.

Turtle Lake Turtle Trot

It has been a few years since I have tackled the Turtle Trot race. I had the pleasure of running with Andrew Rohlman, who won the cross country sectional that the Rice Lake High School cross country team ran in Amery last year. I ran with Andrew for the first mile or so. He ended up winning the race, but not by much. He said he is running in college, but he kept it close with the second place runner. I finished fourth, with a time of 39:46, just 3 seconds from the time of the third place runner. I didn't know the end of the course well enough to know when the finish would be so I struggled to pass the guy who finished just ahead of me. I guess I should have drove the course to check it out. Quite a few people from our local running community participated, including Danette Hellman, Nicole Finsted, Dave Gerber, Ted Romportl, and Brian Arnold. This course is a relatively flat course which is run through the countryside south of Turtle Lake. I enjoy this race since I am a Lion Club member in Rice Lake, and this race is put on by the Lions Club of Turtle Lake.

Fishy Four

Traditions. . . I will probably always give out joke gifts to my family members at Christmas. I will always give respect to the wonderful Minnesota Twins. I will continue to celebrate the 4th of July and Thanksgiving with running races as there is no better way to celebrate the holidays than with an intense workout followed by fireworks or intense eating. This year was no different. We gave up the wonderful Tofte Trek which is still perhaps my favorite all time race for the fantastic Fishy Four. I have only done this one time before. This year, my biking buddies decided to make it interesting. You had to predict your time at the first mile. I got a little greedy. I thought I could run a 5:46, but settled for a 5:55. I didn't win the bet. . .I think the pool was up to $8. I did achieve a 24:41 for an average pace of 6:10/mile. I was happy with this since it was an improvement over my previous time in the run. Wouldn't you know it, I was 11th overall out of 506 runners, but finished 3rd in my age group, so no medal today. I was probably the highest overall age group finisher to not take home any hardware since the overall winner does not usually win an age group award, but instead takes an overall award. Well, I was very satisfied with the run and enjoyed seeing many good friends during the run and afterwards during the postrace ceremonies.

RCU Charity Classic

My wife and I like the RCU Charity Classic for several reasons. They offer many different race options (10K and 2 mile) for adults and they are held at different times. The benefit of this is that each of us can do a race and be able to cheer for the other person. Most races do the events at separate times, but the RCU Charity Classic has grown so big that it would be almost impossible to hold both main events together. In addition, there are a couple of kids races, which makes it nice that attending this event can truly be a family affair. I did the 10K race at the start of the morning and clipped along to a good pace of 39:49, which was good for 17th place overall out of 382. My age division was stacked with several fast runners, and I finished 6th in my age group out of 50 other runners. I was happy in that my 10K time continues to lessen as the summer is going on. My wife ran the 2 mile and finished in 19:20. She was 7th out of 33 runners in her age group. I placed a race bib on Kaia and we walked the course (her first official race). We finished in 39:36. She actually finished a few feet ahead since she was in the stroller, sleeping the whole way.

Garry Bjorklund Half Marathon

Grandma's marathon weekend is one of the best weekends in the summer. My wife was still recovering from giving birth to our beautiful daughter, Kaia. Angela kept her promise to her brother, Matt, that she would run the 5K race with him. This was Matt's first ever running race and the William A. Irvin 5K was the perfect place to do it. Matt is getting pretty excited about running, as he even has his own pair of running sunglasses. Well, I am proud of Matt to give this a try. Angela and Matt ran the race together during the 5K race, which was held the night before the half marathon. I did the half marathon the next day and loved it. I purchased a pair of green running shorts the night before the race at the runner's expo, and my family was glad I did. It made it so easy to spot me. They commented over and over how easy it was to see me from a distance. Angela finished in 40:23.5. Matt finished in 40:24.6. Way to go, Angela. Leave your brother out there hanging at the end and sprint for the finish. I thought they were going to finish together, but I guess there must have been some family pride at stake. My times were 1:28:35 (chip time) and 1:28:43 (gun time). I was about 15 seconds slower than last year, but not too bad considering my training has been down. I was 169 out of 5852 runners in the half marathon. My time at 6.9 miles was 44:59 and my time at 11.9 miles was 1:20:10. My 10K time was 40:24, which was faster than my 10K time from just a few days previous on the Tuscobia trail.

Rice Lake Aquafest 10K

This was a fantastic night. The Aquafest 10K is always one of the best runs of the year. It is held on the beautifully maintained Ice Age Trail and this year a little rain was part of the equation. It rained hard during the race. At times, the rain was 2-3 inches deep in spots. One friend of mine (Mark Bittner) slipped on the dip and got a bit muddy. I guess he was just going all out. The race was dominated by several younger college-age runners. I came in with a time of 41:14, good for fifth overall and first in my age group. The winning time was 39:35, which was won by a young runner from Shell Lake, Wisconsin. It was a great run as it was basically a reunion of many people I know from biking and running events in the area. In the picture above, are Brian Arnold and Danette Hellman up front, with the second row containing (left to right) Gary Crisler, Rob White, Jonathon Delf, Josh Moe, Ron Kay, Mark Bittner, and Dave Gerber.

Spring Fever 2 mile

I viewed today's race as my last race before our baby was born. More than likely I would not have any more races after today as a childless husband. Nevertheless, I kept my phone on me and checked often to make sure Angela was doing fine. As was my usual race distance of choice the last 2 years previous, I did the 2 mile race. I cooked through the first mile in 5:35, but slowed quite a bit to finish at 11:58 today which was good for 5th place (1st in my age group). The winner of the race set a new record with a time of 9:49. That's lower than 5 minutes per mile. The pictures taken were by a member from the Indian Head Track club. In the picture from the start of the race, I am the guy in the far right of the picture. In the second picture, I am the guy in the distance wearing the red shirt running on the trail behind the guy with the gray shirt).