Verdi You've Gotta Be Crazy Run 5K

Saturday night it started snowing. I thought it had stopped when I went to bed, but I woke up with a good foot on the ground outside. And it was still snowing! What!?! I thought they might even cancel the race (You've Gotta Be Crazy Run, put on by the Silver State Striders). I hadn't gone running while it was snowing since... well, this same race last year. Well, TLD still made the trek out to the Verdi Branch Library, which Dave manages. Man it's nice to have a warm library to hang in with the crew instead of freezing my tookas off out in the cold waiting for the race to start (which I did, until about 5 minutes before the horn blew). Thanks Dave! Here is a photo of all the brave souls who showed up to run crazy in the snow:


And we're off! Here is Chris leading the pack out:


Turi and I ran the entire race together (You can see me barely, but I was looking at Hannah playing in the snow on the sidelines):


And here is the cutie snowy Hannah:


I started out slow to get in a good warm-up, and also because I didn't want to slip in the snow. But actually, I didn't have any problems with it being slippery, and it was so beautiful to see all the snow-covered trees. I enjoyed the scenery on the way up the hill, and when the big downhill came, I picked up the pace and started to pass people right and left. Last year I won a water-bottle, but I gave it away to a sort of co-worker on Thursday, so I wanted to pick up another one. Well, I didn't end up placing because there was a 20-year age group split (19-39), but I did get 5th which isn't bad considering. My official time was 28:52, and Turi, ever the gentleman letting me go through the chute first, came in 2 seconds behind me. Chris, of course, won. Here he is at the end:

And then he turned around (after a 10+ minute wait) to run the rest of his team in, minus Dave who sat this one out because of a recent calf injury.

Here we are all together back in the warm cozy library:

And the best part? Post-race coconut porter brownies that Turi baked! Oh, and some beer I picked up for the guys on a recent trip to Colorado with Kevin.


And as a final note, I'd like to thank all the volunteers who so dedicated-ly prepared for and ran this race in cold uncomfortable wet-down-the-neck-of-your-jacket weather! I can't express enough gratitude towards these people who give their time so I can get in a great workout! :)