2008 Duluth Turkey Trot

There is nothing better than running a 5K race right before you get a chance to eat a Thanksgiving meal. It is somewhat of a tradition that Thanksgiving and a run should be tied together. It snowed heavy an hour before the race so the roads are covered in very slippery snow. Each step I could feel myself slipping and did not have a lot of power to accumulate a lot of speed. This was a great race, however. There were 909 runners, which was a great turnout. I finished the race in 19:36.3, which was good enough for 21st place overall, but 10th in my age group. Had conditions had been better I was hoping for a faster time, but that is winter weather in Minnesota. My wife and brother-in-law did the 2 mile walk and won the costume contest for the best costumes following the race.

Living History Farms Race

This was one of the running highlights of my career. The Living History Farms Race is a 7 mile race which is one of the more "Extreme" types of cross country runs out there. There are a total of 8 creek crossings, and the website promotes the fact that you will get cold and you will get wet. It was a huge race, with 6,938 finishers. I finished 236th out of 3,698 males and 240th overall. My time was 49:55, so I just edged the 50 minute mark. My brother and my wife did this race with me. We had a blast. It snowed during the race, so we were definitely cold after the race. There was plenty of wonderful food. The age group winners in the race earn food awards like whole frozen turkeys and other food like that. My brother and I started at the front, so we found that this was as a good strategy. Starting too far back makes it difficult as you have to wait more at the creek crossings because everyone gets bunched up and everyone slows down at the creeks. Temperatures that day were in the low 20's with light wind and it was cloudy.

River Falls Extreme Run

I had a chance to run this meet dressed in cross country uniform (blue Rice Lake CC uniform). I never participated in cross country before, but this meet is more of a fun run and the organizers let the coaches run the event with the kids, so I did and had a blast. It was a 5K event. The only stipulation was that I had to pull out of the race at the end and not enter the finisher's chute. That was fine, I still was able to get in all 6 river crossings. What a great race, and some great pictures as well. I wish all cross country meets were more like this, and all regular races for us older runners.

2008 Firehouse 50 Best of Both

The Firehouse 50 was a weekend full of fun and excitement. This year, several Rice Lake natives participated, with a good overall showing for the region. I was able to stay with the main pack once again to finish 10 seconds behind the first place finisher. My time for the bike race of 50.5 miles was 2:00:20.9 (24.9 mph). I was 49th overall out of 447 registrants (389 finishers). Fifty six bikers were in the main pack. I finished toward the back of the pack, but after last year's crash, I wanted to finish safely. In the 15K run, I finished 12th with a 1:03:07.1. This was about 3 seconds faster than last year's time. My best of both time was 3:03:28.0. I was fourth overall for the second straight year, and second in my age group. Brent Kann finished second overall and Mark Bittner was 10th overall in the Best of Both competition. Mike Cragg of Rice Lake finished in 2:00:17.0, which was the fastest anyone has finished the race in the 60-64 age group. My wife Angela also competed in the run and finished in 1:36:29.3.

Chetek CaRunBi Triathlon

This is the second year of doing this event. I love how well it is run. There is a mile of paddling, followed by 9.5 miles of road biking, and finally 4 miles of running on the Fishy 4 route. The only negative was that it involves too many highway crossings and about a mile of the route was just converted to gravel which is hard to ride a road bike on. Some guy wizzed past me on a triathlon bike, only to crash into a tree because he couldn't slow down going around a curve. I was able to hold off all teams until the last minute or two of the race. I was then passed by a team, among which was Chetek's great track and cross country runner Paul Hetke. He ran 5 minute miles, so he edged me out and his team finished in 1:06:15. I finished in 1:06:35. . .second overall but the first individual triathlete. I was able to defend my title from last year. A friend of mine, Gary Mikolon, put together a team consisting of he and his brother, Paul, Tyler Gruetzmaker, and his friend Steve. They finished third overall, with a time of 1:08:00. I held of everyone in the paddle, then gave up a couple spots at the start of the bike ride in the transition zone. I was fourth overall after the bike ride, but made up all spots until getting passed by Paul Hetke. He had a great run.

Ladysmith Women With Courage Mardis Gras 10K

I travelled to Ladysmith for the second annual Ladysmith Women With Courage Mardis Gras 10K. Organizers say it has grown tremendously since last year. I couldn't find the race starting location at first and showed up with 15 minutes to go before the race. It must have been more successful than they thought since they ran out of T shirts. There was a 10K and a 5K option, but like a good friend of mine says when their are two race distance options, "I wanted to get my money's worth," so I decided to do the longer distance. It was an out-and-back course. The race followed the outskirts of Ladysmith and ended up going out to the country and following a railroad track for about half the distance. By the 5K turn-around I had a nice distance lead over the next closest competitor and held it to the finish. My time was better than other 10Ks this year. I took first overall with a time of 39:51.37. I told my wife I always love races where you follow a biker who shows the route for the lead runner and when you finish you are still the first runner behind the biker. The newspaper photo was from the July 24, 2008 issue of Ladysmith News and was taken by John Terrill.

Blue Hills Festival 5K Run/Walk

I participated in the Blue Hills Festival Run/Walk this morning. There was a kids 1/2 mile run and an adult 5K. It was a simple course. . .primarily a loop course which travelled past Bruce landmarks such as the high school, a local cemetery, and both a start and finish in the high school football stadium. Also a late start compared to most races, 10 am. I almost thought of heading to Turtle Lake for the 8 am start of the Turtle Trot (10K and 2 mile) and then traveling to Bruce to do this race. I held the lead for the first lap of the football stadium, but was quickly overtaken by two younger cross country racers. The winner of the race (Stan) is from Weyerhauser and runs for his college cross country team in Eau Claire. The winning time was 17:30. The second place runner was 17:39. I posted my second best 5K time ever, at 18:59. I was second in my age group (19-35). A nice run sponsored by several local organizations/businesses. The Blue Hills Lions Club was the primary sponsor. The accompanying newspaper photo was in the July 17, 2008, edition of the Ladysmith News by an unknown photographer.