Weyerhaeuser Booster Days 5K

I was urged on by the race director to come out and check out this race.  It was the first time I had been personally invited to do a race by a race director when I had not actually done the race in the past.  I had to really brag about this to my wife.  I usually joke about how some races I have done in the past will send out announcements for the current year's race, but send this out to participants from previous years.  They probably just assume that if someone has done a race in the past, perhaps they would want to consider doing it again.  That makes sense.  However, I have never done this particular race before so I have no history in this race.  Well, I was free and decided to check it out.  The best part of the event was it had a kid's race and the temperatures actually dropped today for the first time in about a week and a half, making race conditions slightly better than they would have been in previous days.  Kaia usually is game for doing a kid's race.  Today's event was a 1/2 mile out-and-back course.

She loves to do the races with me.  Usually she holds my hand the whole way.  However, today she stopped during the race to try to pick up a large rock that was on the road.  Unfortunately for her, it was stuck in a tar repair snake patching up the road and she eventually realized it wasn't coming out.  She got her medal and was all smiles.

The adult race was the most successful race the event has had in it's 3 year history.  They had previously had about 50-60 runners as the most ever for this event, but today I heard they had about 110.



I am still trying to figure out what the advantage to leaning so far forward at the beginning of a race.  I am not sure if it really helps you go faster.  I certainly don't run the whole race bent over like I am at the start of a race.

I stayed with a young high school cross country runner for the first half of the race and we ran neck-and-neck until the turn around mark at the half way point.  Then, I maintained my pace and he fell of the back.  I went on to win the race in a time of 19:30, with this young runner finishing second in 20:11.

Going up to collect my first place medal, I was all smiles.

Kaia, of course, wanted to check out my medal as it was different than hers.  She was getting ready to hug me, too.

I love going to races with my favorite racing buddy.  Kaia and my wife, Angela, are my greatest fans.

Mission for Mercy 5K

The oral surgery group that our office refers most patients to had a run/walk with proceeds designed to help provide funds to help individuals needing access to dental care in this state.  The Mission for Mercy is designed to help individuals with a variety of dental related treatments.  All work is done by volunteers and money raised from this activity and other fundraisers helps provide money to help this cause.  It was a great function as I was able to involve most of my staff in this activity.  A couple of my coworkers had never been part of a run/walk event before.  Pictured below from left to right are Eryn, my hygienist, Dawn, my patient care coordinator, Sharon, my assistant, Missy, my other patient care coordinator, Sarah, my other assistant, and myself.  We're all sporting our new Arrowhead Family Dental water bottles which conveniently match the shirts for the event.  

I posed with several staff members by the lake during the walk.  It was a pleasure to be able to participate in an event like this with so many of my coworkers and I walked the event with my staff.  I had a lot of fun.  Eryn took fourth place overall and was the first female in the run.  Congratulations to her for putting Rice Lake on the map and representing our office well.

Boyceville Cucumber Run 5K

Last year I brought home the pickle trophy at the Cucumber Fest run.  This year I had some supporters to come and cheer me on.  There was no kids' race today for Kaia to participate in.

Kaia found her special Spongebob blanket to sit on.

And they're off!

I am seen here rounding one of the final corners of the race.

I quickly approach the finish line.

After the race, I took my daughter out to cheer on the other runners.  We saw a police car, and the policeman told Kaia she could look inside if she wanted to.

Kaia, book in hand, walks with me to go to the refreshment table.

There were all sorts of refreshments.  Bagels, bananas, oranges, water, and of course, pickles.

The refreshment people had all sorts of supplies sitting out in the coolers.  Yet another race where the knives used to cut the fruit up are left out in the open.  I never can quite understand why so many races do this.  It's pretty dangerous in my opinion.

I finished the 5K course in 19:11, which was 5th place out of 42 runners.  No pickle trophy was earned today, but I decided instead to treat myself to a nice postrace pickle.

Spooner Jack Pine Savage Days Savage Mud Run

This year Spooner did it again by hosting a stellar race which just exploded in popularity.  The 2nd annual Savage Dash 5K mud run was held.  Angela was out of town this weekend, so I had no one to come and view my run.  She was about 7 months pregnant and therefore would not be running the event anyway, but she opted to go visit some family instead of coming to watch this race. . . where are her priorities?  The race was held under nearly the same conditions as last year.  There were waves of about 25 people per wave.  With nearly 500 runners at the race, I think there were about 20 waves of runners.  The challenges were also mostly the same with a few changes.  The one thing they left out which was a disappointment was the field of cars to jump over.  Last year they had about a half dozen cars you had to jump on top of as one of the obstacles.  Someone must have gotten hurt at this challenge last year, as this challenge was left out of this year's race.  In its place was a cool obstacle where you climbed a plywood wall using 2 x 4's which you used to pull yourself up and then went back down to the ground by using a fire pole like what you would see at a fire station.  I thought this was a great obstacle, but I heard that one lady broke her leg on this.  The long slip and slide down the hill and the mud pit were also still there.  Most of the obstacles remained the same, but the popularity of the event cased it to grow in popularity.  Having not done a mud run all year long, this promised to be another run that would be challenging.  I decided to try to go out aggressively and decided to try to run in the first wave to see if I could run against another fellow competitor, Nick Adams, whom I raced head to head against last year.  Nick is an avid mud run participant and last year I finished just seconds behind him.  I knew that if I ran in the same wave as him, he would push me hard toward a high finish. 

Facebook provided some pictures on their Jack Pine Savage Days website and Pine View Photography in Spooner caught this shot of me hurdling a hay bale.  A neighbor of mine saw me at the end considerably cleaner this year than the last year.  The results of the race were somewhat skewed.  I was reported to have finished about 10th out of 478 runners (last year I placed second out of 167 runners), but in the results I knew someone who had beat me (Nick Adams) but was listed behind me in the overall results.  I also knew someone who had finished about 5 minutes slower than me in the 5K race, but was listed ahead of me in the overall results.  This was after talking to just a couple people who I knew.  There were perhaps several other people who may have been out of place in the results who may never know this.  I didn't finish with any hardware in this race, but still had a blast.  Also, I wouldn't say that my post race picture was worthy of a Christmas Card photo like last year's was.  I would expect that the race will continue to grow in popularity next year.  Hopefully my wife will be able to participate as well in the event as she had a great time last year.

To check out a nice video of the event that was put out by the Spooner Advocate, you can visit the website below and watch the first few seconds of the video to see me hurdle the hay bales at the start of the race.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVPfGDAcvHU

Bruce Blue Hills Fest 5K

A patient of mine keeps suggesting that I come back to run the Bruce Blue Hills Fest 5K, as I hadn't run this event for quite some time.  It is a great race.  There is a nice kids' race done prior to the adult 5K race.  The kids' race was a half mile.  My favorite little competitor was all set to do the event.  Kaia needed a few extra hugs before the start of the race.  Dad was pretty excited to see someone riding a fat tire winter bike to the event (seen leaning against the side of the building in the background).

Kaia is again the youngest person by far to enter the event.  When the gun went off to start, everyone else started running and Kaia just stood still.

With daddy's help, she soon got going.

The race was a half mile and took us around a track and through a field.

All participants received a ribbon.  Kaia had a great time running the race with daddy and posing for a picture for one of the local newspapers.

Then it was daddy's turn.  The beginning of the race started the same as the kids' race.  There was a loop around the track before heading out into the field.  Then the route headed out into the town of Bruce for the remainder of the route.

There were many door prizes given out at the end of the race.  Almost every competitor won a door prize.  Dad won a potted plant, which was the last door prize left on the table.  Kaia loved daddy's prize.

Another picture was taken for the local newspaper.  I finished the 5K course in 19:15, which was good enough for second place overall.  The winner trucked in in 19:01.  Kaia posed again with me for the final awards picture.

RCU Charity Classic

I have entered the realm of competitive stroller racing.  I decided at the last minute to push Kaia in the stroller during the 10K event.  Kaia had a blast during the run.  She always does.  What better way to enjoy the race than to be bundled up in a blanket and watching the scenery pass by.  

 

We took first in the stroller division, just ahead of someone from Brookfield, Wisconsin, who really was pushing the pace in the last mile to try to beat me, but in the end I was the one who had the extra kick to accelerate to the finish.  I finished in 44:51, to finish 46th out of 441 and 15th out of 48 in my age group. 

Kaia was all smiles after the event, and so was I.

She's cute in the running stroller, and also cute posing after the race in my Boston Marathon running hat.

 Immediately after running the 10K, I ran a two mile race by myself.  I finished in 12:50, to finish 25th out of 419 and was 7th out of 24 in my age group. 

My favorite race of the day was the half mile race with my daughter.  She technically should have done the quarter mile race according to her age group, but I bumped her up to the half mile distance (you are welcome, Kaia).  She continues to amaze me in that she ran the entire distance without stopping once and did the half mile event in 8:12.  I guess I shouldn't have let her line up in the front of the race, because she got pushed over in the opening seconds and this led to her hurting her knees.  Crying as we started the race, she was passed by everyone but would not run to mom.  Instead, he held my hand and kept running after the kids who pushed her down.  She didn't catch them, but she caught a piece of my heart that day watching her determination to do this for herself.  I am so proud of my daughter and the work she does to participate in races and not give up.  We're in training because she will be eligible to run cross country in another nine years or so if she wants.  Dad just loves that she loves to run.  I'll keep encouraging her as long as I am able.

I'll always be by her side whether running a race or doing anything else in life.





Grinder's Biathlon

Grinders Bike Shop decided to hold a triathlon during Aquafest this year.  It was scheduled to include about 2.7 miles of canoe/kayaking and 1.7 miles of running.  It was a fun idea.  Unfortunately, it rained most of the morning hours until about 2 pm that day.  I am sure this rain scared off the hoards of people who would have thought to do this race.  I am not sure what the actual number of people who did this race was, but I could count them on two hands.  I think there were nine or ten people.  The river was pretty shallow, although in reality it was higher than usual for this time of year due to the rain.  I can't say there was much on the river for obstacles, but there were some logs here and there that caused some small rapids.  It was a horn start and everyone left from the area near the dam in Rice Lake at Holsum Riverside Park.  Participants then kayaked south until exit point.  I cleared the kayak portion first.

A buddy of mine, Brian Arnold, also participated in the race and left the water in second position.

A run followed the kayak portion that took participants up the Cedar Side Trail to the finish line behind the college.  A photographer snagged this picture that makes it look like I am about ready to fall over with exhaustion.  I really was doing fine.

A few moments of chaos ensued while they scrambled to figure out awards.  They had to sift through the times of the competitors.  Participants didn't know what to do.  I liked the white umbrella, showing that these race photographers weren't shorting participants from getting that ideal race picture.

Very cool awards were given.  The top three people were given certificates for merchandise and repair services in the shop.  I can always use that.  Lucky #7 finished in about 34 minutes today.  I must have been quick because the race organizer told me he finished just the canoe/kayak portion the day before in the same amount of time.  Grinders did a nice job organizing the event and hopefully it will continue to grow in future years.  I was first out of all the participants today.  Usually, my dad jokes that if I tell him I placed high in a race he says something like "were there only three people who showed up."  Well, today there weren't many more than that, but my dad will be able to laugh at his own joke after this race.