American Cancer Society Lace up for Life

Instead of doing the Uff Da Run which I wanted to do and was something I had already signed up for, I decided to do a local race in Faribault, Minnesota since I wouldn't have to drive for more than three hours.  We were in Faribault for a wedding this weekend and I didn't want to spend all the time driving when I could be spending time with family.  I had a five minute or so drive compared to the longer drive I would have had if I had drove to the Uff Da Run.  I don't know how many people did the race.  No statistics were reported on this event.  I was second out of the big group.  My time was 19:45.  I saw one of my wife's cousins, Jason (see bib #222 below), as I was getting ready.  He came over and said "hi" and we exchanged "good luck" wishes.  It was fun to see some family out of the course in a number of spots.  I didn't get any pictures of myself running the race, but had a lot of fun and saved myself several hours of driving. 

 

Fat Bike Birkie

The first year of the Fat Bike Birkie race was met with mixed emotions from the skiing crowd.  So many skiers were worried that there may be damage caused to the trails and therefore were worried about having fat bike riders going on the Birkie.  Organizers would soon find that there was nothing to be worried about as the trail held up beautifully.  The conditions were perfect.  In fact, there was some snow that fell the night before.  I went up and stayed with a group of bike riders, staying with a friend of ours who had a cabin within miles of the start of the ride.  The field limit was left to be 300 riders, but will certainly be increased in future years.  The use of fat bikes has exploded over the last few years amongst people anxious to ride bikes during the winter season.  Kelly Randolph is a photographer living in Drummond, Wisconsin, and took some photos he allowed me to use to report on this event.

 

I am the biker in the yellow jersey in the background on the left side (immediately behind the biker in the foreground who also has a yellow jersey).  I finished the race in 2:47:01.  I was 108th out of 155 for the 46 K race.  I can see this event becoming a major event in the future and look forward to seeing what happens with registration.  I agree with several other bikers who feel the race does not appear to have drastically impact the conditions of the Birkie trail, but this will have to be evaluated by experts of the trail to see what type of impact was noticed.

Lake Wissota Loppet

This was a last minute race I decided to enlist in.  Angela and Kaia were out of town for the weekend and that left me with the chance to catch up on work at home.  Well, a snowshoe race sounded like work to me.  Granted, it was fun, but I didn't just go out there to show up.  I had hoped to go out and have a great race.

I saw something in this race that I had never seen before in any race.  After reaching the halfway point, the race turns around and heads back to the start.  The return route is different than the first half, so the route isn't really an out-and-back course.  It was held on a lake, so therefore was entirely flat.  It was even more flat than the 2013 Book Across the Bay which had a small pressure ridge causing a slight variation in elevation this year.  Anyway, I was about a minute behind the lead two snowshoers when I saw them round the halfway point and the first snowshoer stopped and took a water from the water station and walk while he drank it.  Then, the second place guy who was probably about ten seconds behind did the same thing.  I have never seen the leaders of a race stop and walk while drinking water from a water stop.  I have seen people take water from water stops and drink it, but if you are leading the race or closely competed for second, it just seems like on a 10K race that competitors would not stop to drink.  Maybe I am being overly critical here, but I felt for a while I might have a chance to catch up if they walked long enough.  Unfortunately, they began running again.  There was a pretty cool bridge that we ran by and also under. 

 

I finished the race with my fastest snowshoe 10 K time ever.  My time was 46:57, which was good enough for third place out of twenty snowshoers (most people do the skiing event as the snowshoeing event hasn't built to the popularity level of skiing).  Below is some of the left over gear after the race.  Either some trusting people or many people forgot their stuff.  I must give credit to the race organizers that the post race soup and bread were great.  Temperatures were not bad either.  It was nice to be able to hold a snowshoe event in early March and not have it be cancelled due to lack of snow.  If anything, it looks like we might hold onto our snow for a while this year.  Special thanks go to the event hosters for the Lake Wissota Loppet for taking many pictures and providing these to me to report on this event.

Stomp the Swamp

This was technically Kaia's first official snowshoe race.  She did the Stomp the Swamp in 2012, but Kaia didn't do it in snowshoes that year.  She just work boots.  This year she was completely prepared with everything she would need.  What a trooper.  She loves doing races.

It doesn't hurt when you get to hold hands with your mom and a large white dog as you do the race.  Kaia was in heaven on this day.

 

My favorite race photographer caught some nice action at the beginning of the race.  I hadn't been running or snowshoeing much, but I decided to do the 12K anyway.

It is always good race tactics to look behind you to make sure no one else is going to come from behind and surprise you at the finish.

No one was, but I decided to make a strong push for the finish because that's what you do.  My final time was 1:06:53.  This was good enough for sixth out of twenty eight 12K runners.

 
 
 

 

My favorite race fan loves hanging out with dad at the finish line.  You gotta love the teddy bear she holds during the race.  It's so cute.

My Uncle Lyle who lives in Wausau came to watch the event.  He had never been to a snowshoe race before.  He also got to see Kaia.  We later went to his house for a wonderfully prepared lasagna meal, prepared by my wonderful Aunt Patty. 

 

Kaia's favorite part is the "necklaces" they give out for kids who do the race.  Dad also got one for getting second in his age group.

Book Across the Bay

My wife and I have completed the "Book" every year since 2008.  This is the sixth straight year in which I have done this race.  As always, the Book Across the Bay is a mostly flat course.  This year there was a pressure ridge at the 6-7 kilometer point in the race so there was a slight elevation change which was a nice break from normal.

 

Angela and I posed before one of the coldest Book Across the Bay I have every done.  We were smiling, but the sun would soon go down and it would soon get much colder.  Angela and I spent an hour sitting in Burker King sipping on hot chocolate so we didn't have to stand around outside.

 

As the sun goes down the temps plummet.  You don't see it here, but when it came time to do the actual run I usually strip down to a bare minimum of clothing. On this year, I wore race shorts and a pair of thin tights, a baselayer, and a thin outer orange shell.  I also wore a hat and gloves, but all other clothing I was wearing earlier in the day got put in a bag to be dropped off at the finish of the race.

 A cool sight that has not been seen in previous years was this ice dragon spewing fire.  At least one creature had a source of heat tonight.

 

I finished the race in 6th place out of 707 snowshoers in a time of 53:40.4.  Upon completing the course I thought I would revert back and run the course backwards until I saw my wife.  I didn't know it at the time, but my wife was having some problems with exposure to the cold and had stopped to warm up which meant I had a long wait.  I ran back 2 kilometers and finally waited at the 8 km marker since I thought I shouldn't run much more than that as I was thinking she would be around soon.  As I waited, I froze and got colder and colder.  Finally, I saw Angela and she was not looking good.  With temperatures below zero before even considering windchill, this was one cold night.  I was about the coldest I have ever been.  As Angela and I trekked toward the finish, we stopped at the 9 kilometer marker by a fire to warm up.  It is amazing when you are frozen how even a fire doesn't help you warm up much.  When we left the 9 kilometer marker, Angela wanted to walk a good portion of the rest of the way as she was also dangerously cold.  That walk toward the finish was bitterly cold and my forehead was unbelievably cold.  I couldn't even look forward and had to tilt my head toward the ground to keep it from being exposed to the cold wind.  My wife and I both agreed that this was one of the toughest Book Across the Bays ever as far as weather is concerned.  I don't know how she made it to the finish all right as she stripped down to a minimum of clothing as well. Perhaps next year we'll be watching the weather much more closely prior to doing this event.  Still, the postrace chili always hits the spot and warmed us up well.

Turkey Leg 5K

I have to admit, Angela had a pretty nice hat.  I traditionally wear a Santa outfit when running the Thanksgiving Day race.  Sometimes when we have run at Thanksgiving it has actually snowed during the race.  Not in the forecast today, but it was pretty chilly out today.

 

My mom snapped this great action photo at the start of the race.  Pretty good camera work, mom!

Santa rounds the corner for the final push toward the finish as I had to come in under the 20 minute barrier.  I didn't leave any room for error as I crossed the line in 19:59.

Angela crossed the line in 31:56.  Kaia finished just ahead of Angela.  I am not sure if Kaia actually was able to see herself crossing the line, as it looks like she may be asleep.

It looks like I was right and Kaia was sleeping.

Mom and Kaia walk off toward warmer conditions inside the YMCA and also to snacks.

Kaia loves her daddy.  She leans in for a big hug.

Our mom wanted to come see us run the race.  It was a blast.

This has become our traditional breakfast on Thanksgiving morning, wherever we are. . .the postrace meal.

The race directors now keep the knife used to cut up fruit out of the open.  Years ago when I first did this race, the knife was left out right in the open next to the fruit which seems dangerous.  Perhaps they saw my previous blog from the 2007 Turkey Trot in which the knife was kept right next to the fruit.

Kaia's favorite part of the race are the animal cookies.

I went up to collect my medal for third in my age group and 23rd out of 522 runners.  Everyone loves the "Ho Ho Ho" on the back of the pants.

My mom, Kaia, Angela, and I pose for a picture at the completion of the race.

Harvest Hoot & Holler 5K

The Treasured Haven Farms Hoot & Holler offered a 5K and 7 mile event.  It was held at the owner's farm.  The shorter race went first with the second one offered second.  The race was in a fun location, but did not have the turnout that I think they were liking.  For me, it was kind of a last minute decision to even go.  I did the shorter event.  I held the lead until about the midpoint of the race, before being overtaken by another guy from a suburb of the cities.  My wife and daughter slept in so they did not attend.  The course was pretty hilly and was a course that wears you out pretty quick.   I finished the race in 22:02, which was 1:04 out of first place.  The course was enjoyable, but I wish that there would have been some pictures posted.  I have not been able to find any from that day.  The cool thing about this event is they make engraved plaques that are given to the overall winners and the age group winners.  I scored two plaques. . .one for being second overall out of 30 runners and another for being first in my age group.  While it would have been fun to try doing the 7 mile afterwards, I was spent and decided that one race was enough on a day like today.