Trifecta!

Yup, For the first time ever, I had a triple race weekend! I've never even done two in a row. On Saturday, I headed to Carson City super early to run the Firecracker 10k, hosted by the Tahoe Mountain Milers Running Club before work. It was a small race on a trail familiar to me, and I was happy to see so many people I knew out there (sorry you didn't get to run Abbey and Steve)! I'm really getting to know the Carson community, and that makes me feel like I'm doing my job well. :) I didn't plan on running fast since it was the first race I'd planned for the weekend. However, my competitive side got the better of me, and after running the first mile, I left Ali and Anne behind. However, my prowess to chase the leaders early had me following them at a wrong turn when the arrow in the dirt had been scrubbed out. Added an extra .8 loop to the course, but I did catch up and pass quite a few of the runners. It was a beautiful cool summer morning, and I didn't mind the extra mileage though, especially since the super cool RD let me keep my "official" 10k from my Garmin. The race for me was exactly 7 miles, which I finished in 1:01.09, but my 10k time was 54:35- which put me at 5th overall winner, and first woman in! Whoo-hoo! I've never been first in my age group, let alone first woman! I love small races. :) Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures from this race. Had the best warm down ever, swimming 2000 yards, and pushing myself just enough to kick some of the soreness out. Wish I could do that after every race.

July 3rd was my 12th anniversary. But for the first time, Kevin and I spent it in different states, as he was representing the state of Nevada with the Galena High School band marching in the 4th of July parade in our nation's capital! This is a trip he'd spent the last year planning, and I am happy to report the band performed very well, and most importantly, no one passed out in the heat! Go Grizzlies! So what else would I choose to do with my family gone? Another race of course! This second race I was invited to do by my neighbors, Richard and his wife Emma. She'd injured herself during the Reno Tahoe Odyssey race, but they'd already signed up and registered for the Reno 5000 Firecracker Duathlon, which is a 5k run, 30k bike, and a second 5k run (same loop twice). So they asked me to take Emma's place on the run while Richard biked, and I happily agreed! Here's a pre-race pic of Richard and I: I've done lots of triathlons, but this was my first duathlon I've participated in, and actually the first time I've done this (meaning triathlons) as a relay. I've run 2 runs as relays so far though- RTO and the Tahoe Decelle. They managed to switch Emma's entry over to my name, and I arrived early to get set up. Turi decided to pace me, never having participated in a duathlon either, and took a lot of great pictures of the trail. This a picture of the beginning of the start of the run on the dirt: Here I am at the first mile marker: This trail was steep, and super technical- there were big rocks baked into the trail just waiting for someone to jam their toe into and take a digger. I somehow managed to avoid doing either of these things, but my pace was quite a bit slower as I had to carefully watch each foot placement in my Vibrams (this is when they were still brand about a year ago when I first got them- and I've walked or run in them almost every day since mid-February, so they are considerably more worn out now). I got lots of questions and comments from other runners this weekend who are interested in them, and I was happy to share! Amazed with how many runners are thinking about trying them out! I finished the first leg (which was closer to 3 miles than a 5k, according to my Garmin, although I forgot to push the stop button after both legs for several minutes). Came in 29:21ish for the first leg, and then Richard was off! He finished the 30k bike in just under an hour, and I started out for the second lap. I felt surprisingly better on the second lap- I guess the first was a better warm up- I was pretty tight/sore from the previous day's race, as I'd gone out harder than I meant to. I had a pretty decent side cramp that developed on the downhill of the first lap, but a banana and some electrolite water cured that while I was waiting during Richard's bike portion, and my calves had loosened up from the first run. I must have gone slower up the hill the second time because I had a good kick at the end and pushed to the finish- my time was a few seconds slower for the second lap: 29:35. We waited quite a while in the hot sun for awards, but it was worth it because Richard won a new bike jersey from the raffle, and then we placed 3rd out of 6 in the coed relay division! Here we are crammed up on the podium- you can kind of see me, the shortest one hiding in the back. We received some really nice cut glass trophies. :) Thank you Emma and Richard for letting me race with you today! I had a blast!

And finally, race #3 on the 4th of July! Ironically, the two previous races had "Firecracker" in the title, but I chose not to run the Firecracker Mile in Truckee with Chris, and did the Run to the Beach with the other 2 TLD members, Dave and Turi. This race started in N. Tahoe finished at Kings Beach, and according to my Garmin, was almost a perfect 5k distance! The race started 15 minutes late, and here is Dave and I milling around waiting for it to start: There were a couple uphills, which I plowed steadily up, but was passed by a lot of people on the downhill because once again I had to watch my footfalls. Plus I just can't run fast downhill in Vibrams. But I don't mind- I wear them for the balance it gives me on my runs, for my knee and my back, and health is more important to me than speed. I finished in 28:35 with Dave just a couple minutes behind me, and the Turi pretty soon after that with his 10k, and we hurried over to Truckee to try and catch Chris finish his mile. Didn't quite make it in time to see him cross the finish line, but we did find Gretchen who took 3rd female! And this after a smashing successful 100 miles at Western States last weekend! That girl is amazing. Took a quick pic together and then went in search of Chris:
Turns out, Chris won the Firecracker Mile in 4:25, and that in front of a gajillion people!!! Good Lord, that man is fast! Here is TLD, united even though we didn't all do the same race that day.

Amazingly I feel really good for putting in just over 16 miles in 3 days, and those at race pace. I'm already having race-withdrawl. Although I'm sure I'll change my mind tomorrow morning when I can't get out of bed... :) My great thanks to everyone who put on these races, and to those of you who I had the wonderful opportunity to run with! I am so happy to be healthy enough to run 3 races in 3 days- I didn't imagine I would ever be here again, and if you'd told me that I'd be running this much today back in January when my back was one big debilitating spasm taking up every spare thought, I would have rewarded you with a big fat kiss and tears of happiness!

Reno Rock -- River 5K

After many long months of recuperating from lower back issues, I've finally started to gingerly run again. And when I say gingerly, I mean lots of walking and some jogging. I'm trying not to push too hard or too soon, and have been swimming 4 to 5 days a week to balance these easier workouts. I've noticed a big difference in muscle tone since I've been cross-training with treadmill, swimming and dry-land exercises. And to show for this new dedication to my back health, I was finally able to register for a race this weekend! The Reno Rock-N-River races has become a pretty huge event for Reno, drawing hundreds of runners for each of the 4 distances offered. I chose the shortest, and was lucky enough to talk two Carson City runners into running this event with me. Anne stuck by my side through the whole race, with Traci only about a minute behind. I could have run quite a bit faster, but I still don't want to pull all the stops out- I'm saving up for the Reno Tahoe Odyssey relay race which is just a month away! Although I did run (an easy 5) miles on the trail near my house today (and ha ha got sunburned- yay [early] summer!) and now my calves are sore from two days of running in my Vibrams and am wearing compression socks even now (which are awesome- thanks Scott and Sara!). Not only did I get to run with Anne and Traci, but all of Team Library Dork was in attendance! Turi set a new PR by 4 minutes in the half marathon (1:28.14!!! Dang dude!), with Chris pacing him for all but the first mile, and Dave also ran the 10k in under an hour. I don't mind not being competitive when I could have been weaving through people right and left, because I was just happy-thankful-grateful to be out there with the hoards of runners, sharing a cool morning with some blessed sunshine.

Tough Mudder!

Yes, I am wearing a mustache in this picture. Because I am one of a 5-piece quintuplet of Magnum P.I.'s! I'll admit I wasn't stoked about the 'stache, but once I got it on and started parading around in it, I got a total kick out of it! I got a ton of hilarious comments and support from other "Mudders." We got all dandied up in Hawaiian shirts and shorty shorts in honor of the '80s and the proclivity for men to show WAAAY too much leg hair.

There were months of preparation and training for this race, mainly lifting and muscle building for me. Mainly with P90X! Since this 7-ish mile course was held on a ski resort, Bear Valley California, with double black diamond slopes factored in, I knew there wasn't going to be as much running during this race as much as straight hand-over-hand climbing. Both up and down. This was an almost-epic trip for Team Library Dork + Ben- I'll get to the almost part soon. I'm going to tell this story in pictures- and I actually have some pretty good ones to share since Dave brought his indestructible camera which is waterproof and mud and rock proof too!

This is a view of the mountain below where the race took place, from the parking lot. It dawned quite the beautiful day! There were 5000 people signed up for the even (the majority of which were men, so for once in my life when I used the bathroom there was a huge line for the men's room but not for the ladies!), and waves of starters every 15 minutes of 350, on a very steep hill. Our wave didn't start until 11:30, so we got to sit down to a nice breakfast at a normal hour instead of the usual Clif bar.

Here I am before the race, milling around trying to find the packet pick-up area:

And Turi:

And Chris:

And me with Mario and Luigi:

A close up of the 5 of us, all 'stached up!

And finally, dah dah Daaaaah! The Walk To The Start (cue: Sunshine! Notice how they're all in step?):

This is one of the steepest, hilliest, most elevation gain and loss races I've ever done. Check out the hill they had us slide down to start~

Turi, and me edging down trying to get some of the worst out of the way before the shot went off, because for some reason the rest of the guys wanted to hang back (which I think they regretted for the rest of the race)...


And we're off! I lost my mustache in the first obstacle, crawling through mud and grit under the barbed wire fence (where I nearly lost my hat several times as well, and in which I drew first blood, I think, from the bottom of Chris's shoe), and hastily stuffed it in my front shirt pocket. Bruised knee #1. The photos for this one didn't come out clear, but immediately we started down our first steep downhill (yup, I sat down once after my feet slipped out from under me on the gravel covered rocks, but with shouts from behind of, "Mudder down!" I was up again like a rocket). Here's me:

And here is part of the track, wide still,

And Dave getting pissed off as we ran into our first wait, which was backed up because there were so many people filing onto a steep down-hill single track.

And then we started back UP that monster we just worked our way down. Turi and I are rock skipping here, just like I've done at Tahoe countless times:

After hiking back up the mountain (which I think was considered an obstacle in itself) we came to another obstacle: the Snowblowers. They weren't blowing snow, but more like stinging ice water. It was blinding in that man-made storm, and I had to walk through knee-deep water to get to them. Oh well. I knew I'd be doing a lot of running/hiking with wet shoes. Beauty in the Beast- the rainbow from the top was spectacular, and this picture doesn't do it justice.

Another obstacle climb. Can you say steep?

It just kept on going up and up and up...

My heart was pounding by the time I got to the top of this one! But I never stopped. And there were lots of "stoppers." Then a fun obstacle appeared: the construction Spools! With a good 10 minute wait to get to them. Between the two spools (your team got to pick one to hop over) were tires that no one but Dave ran through:

Turi and Chris made it over the top on their own because of their towering height, but I only managed to land on my stomach and needed to be pulled the rest of the way over. Bruised knee #2. Then, finally a flatish and downhill stretch to run!

And then another huge wait. I'm sure we waited a good 20 minutes at this one, and most of us had no idea what was going on at the front of the crowd. Then one of the volunteers waved through a huge part of the crowd, and TLD was left at the front, cut off from the rest and made to wait because of another huge back-up at the next obstacle. But at least we had a clear view of what was to come. The Mud Pit. It was 20 yards of that thick sloshy mud that tries to take your shoes off followed by a pool of liquid concoction that reminded me of the consistency of what's at the bottom of a port-o-potty. Someone piped up from the crowd, "While we're waiting, would it be okay if I ran and jumped in the mud and got back in line?" He ran, jumped, and landed flat on his belly with the most satisfying belly-slap! So of course this put ideas into Chris's head that he needed to follow suit. He ran and flew threw the air, and with a SLURP dissappeared into the mud. He climbed out dripping, and made a bee-line for guess who? Yes, there was no out-running this mad man, and the entire crowd cheered as he slammed into me and slathered me with slimy mud! He even went back for seconds and got me good in the face. And now I smelled like the out-house I was just previously imagining. By the time this picture was taken, I'd managed to wipe off most of the mud from my face onto Turi and Dave's shirts:

Another down hill and we came to the "high poles." These poles were vertical, and taller than my head. This one also required team work to get over the top. Chris and Turi were helped up by other Mudders, and then I was given a boost up, and then almost fell on my rear coming down the other side. Should've gone over forward instead of gripping the pole and easing off my stomach.

After this we had another climb that went up and up and up forever into the heavens- and deceived us by hiding the next hill with the previous one (and again, I'm proud of myself for not stopping until I got to the top. Dave on the other hand had to wander into the woods for a while to find a private bush to ease his angry stomach of the biscuits and gravy he powered up with for breakfast, and found his way to the top, gloveless), and a half hour wait to do the "Berlin Wall Climb." This obstacle consisted of a pile of logs with a hard plastic sheet you had to run and scramble up to get to the wood. I wouldn't have managed this nearly as gracefully as I had without the help of two guys from another team reaching out helping hands. Thankfully, that was the last long wait we had to do for the obstacles.

The next obstacle was one that I had been waiting for, actually. I still had stinky mud flaking and dusting off my body and was eager to wash some of it off. Here is Chris right behind me easing his way down into the water:

The pond however I swear was melted snow, and froze my girl parts as I dunked under the two barrels. I was so cold I hurt and couldn't get out of the water on the other side fast enough!

As you can see from this picture, you cross the pond once and then go down the slip-and-slide on the other side and climb out again. Chris, Turi and Ben somehow got ahead of Dave and I, and I watched with a crazed expression on my face as Chris went down head first! Not many were brave enough to pull that stunt. Dave slid down seated, and I took a few quick steps thinking I'd make the best of a fast slide, and I TRIPPED! Crap! I went down head-first, and straight for several people in the water, Dave included! So I balled up my fists and punched my way into the crowd, "YAAAAAAAHHHH!" I popped up out of the water (not nearly so bad the second time in!) and apologized for running into someone, who just brushed it off. I missed Dave. Whew!

Immediately after this obstacle was the wood pile. Yes, we all sported our wood in a variety of positions, carrying our pieces down a trail and back about a half mile. I think this was Dave's favorite obstacle by far! He looks surprised in this photo, but most of the time he was grinning with the implications of this part of the race.


I keep saying "race" in this blog, but it really wasn't. It was a team effort and we all stuck together waiting for those at the back of the lines. It was about camaraderie and support and not about time- we only ran about one mile total anyway. But I'll continue to call this a race, okay? That was the last race photo I have because Dave's camera ran out of space, but we still had 3 obstacles after that. And not really worth photographing. One was a 12-foot fence that we had to climb back and forth over 16 times (that was kind of fun, and made it worth carrying thin gloves in my back pocket for the entire race), and one was drinking a tiny shot of hot sauce just meters from the finish (that was lame). The final obstacle couldn't have been more disappointing. The "wall of flame" was a mere grill to jump over, that I thought was only slightly warm. Even so, someone still managed to fall on it and burn him or herself. Geez people! TLD's last member finished at 3 hours and 3 minutes. I wonder how we would have done if we didn't have all that waiting around to do? The rest of the team was not happy about that part, to put it lightly. I, however, was SUPER sore for the next several days- I completely destroyed my quads on the downhills trying to watch my form and not mess up my knee (or back), and didn't feel like I had the right to complain about the race, even though it was the mountain that difficult and not the actual obstacles (I left out mention of a few of the super easy ones, like the spider-web crawl over a school bus, and a claustrophobic dark crawl through a tunnel that made my knees hurt). But I am still proud of myself for all the training I did, and if nothing else, I got to spend the entire day outside in the beautiful sunshine with my teammates, and share some good food and beer after (although not the Dos Equis at the post-race party). This is one of those races that I looked forward to and can say I completed, but don't feel the need to ever do again. So my thanks is to TLD for a great weekend!

Two last pictures. Not only were my quads destroyed, but so were my Magnum PI shorts. These went straight into the dumpster after this photo was taken:

And the skin on my knees:

But worth it. :)

Burton Creek Trail 10K

Sunday the stars were aligned for Team Library Dork, because for the second week in a row we were able to gather for a race this time up at Lake Tahoe for the Burton Creek Trail 10K put on by Big Blue Adventure, who is putting on 4 races (all on Sundays whoo-hoo!) for a series, and hopefully I'll be able to go to more of them. Well, Dave , Chris and I ran the 10K and Turi ran the half marathon. If my knee wasn't actin' up on me so much this season I would have joined him on the longer distance, but as it was, I enjoyed the 10k train immensely. It was a small gathering for the four distances- 5 and 10k's and half and full marathons, plus there were 5 year age groups, which bode well for TLD. The 10k was 2 loops of the 5k, and the marathon was 2 loops of the 1/2 course. All 4 distances started together right at 9 (and for some reason I was shivering like crazy even though no one else was, so I couldn't WAIT for the start), and started up a steepish climb right off the bat. I ran with Dave for the first couple miles or so before his tummy started giving him problems and he dropped behind. Of course Chris was at the very front, and Turi close to to the front as well. You can see Chris to the right all in black, with long sleeves (thank you for the picture Abby!):

The trail was decently technical with some windy sections, rocks in the path to watch out for and logs and a gap in the dam to jump over. Made for a fun course, and after a downhill and another uphill the course settled into a beautiful canopied section which I truly enjoyed. I could run through the trees all day long! Then the trail headed back downhill again and about a half mile from the start/finish I followed a large group of people down a wrong turn and added about 5 minutes to my first loop back-tracking searching for the correct trail. I wondered how this would affect my placement in my age group. Chris, in the lead, also took this same wrong turn because it wasn't clearly marked, but fortunately he was far enough ahead that he didn't lose his lead spot. The final push to the end of the first lap was all wood chips and rather steep, and I developed a side stitch that I didn't go away until I started climbing into the second lap, quietly as no one noticed I went by. Nothing like a steep hill to slow me down, make me focus on my breathing and stride to make a side stitch go away! I enjoyed the second lap more than the first, despite having to walk a few steps here and there on the hills- the crowd had thinned out and I enjoyed a peaceful run on my own until I caught up to Dave who hadn't taken the wrong turn as I had. We walked a bit and caught up on race details and then I pushed ahead and ran the rest of the way back to the finish (this time not missing the turn!), and I timed myself at about 1:16.40, but they adjusted my time to the shorter course (shorter? Dave measured the course on his Garmin closer to 6.95 miles) at 1:15.30, with Dave only a minute behind me. Chris came in first in 48:19. Nice Chris!

The Big Blue Adventure series is sponsored by Merrell, and how cool is this- they brought demo shoes that they let us try on the trail! Brand new trail shoes! So while we were waiting for Turi to finish his half (in 1:55.25!), I strapped on a new pair of shoes, a half size bigger than what I normally wear because it seems that my shoes are tight on my toes lately. Do your feet keep growing into adulthood? Because I've worn the same size since I started high school. Weird. Anyway, this particular pair were for people who slightly pronate. Turns out, my physical therapist says I do, on my right side. I headed back up the start of the course (by that time everyone had started on their second loop, if they were doing one) and ran a good mile in the Merrells and walked about half way back and ran the rest of the way. (I'm marking this as a 9 mile day, including walking!) I liked them, but they were pretty expensive...

Turi came in just after I ran back in, and then we waited around for awards. Chris placed first as I mentioned, and Dave and I both received 2nd place in our age groups,


and Turi got a 3rd place glass even thought they reported on the results page on the website that he came in second.

I should probably trade him for my 2nd place glass since they're showing a 3rd place for me. I don't care what it says- I just love winning stuff! Here are the 3 10k-ers with our winnings,

and all 4 of us with our glasses, along with our mascot, Hannah:

Chris also scored an awesome waist pack that holds 2 water bottles and lots of pockets for gels and other goodies. Abby drove up with Chris along with Hannah, despite being just about done being pregnant with their second child (thanks Dave for being today's photographer!)- She is such a trooper and gor-geous! :)

One final silly pic of TLD:

Then we headed up to 50 50 in Truckee for lunch, where Hannah would be my booth-pal playing games with me and giving the most awesome little girl hugs! I need a girl-fix every now and then, and she filled that need perfectly. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE my boys and they are sweet as can be, but it's nice to get girl hugs too. :)

A beautiful day for a race, fantastic course, and of course great friends made for one happy day.

Reno Rockin' River Half Marathon 2010

I have been training pretty hard for this race- I've had more back issues this year, and have only recently been able to up my mileage on the weekends. Plus I've started lifting weights, using the P90X videos (wow, if you follow the link, that guy looks like a total meat-head. But he's actually really positive and motivating in the workouts). Thank you Abbey for sharing these with me! They have made all the difference in my back health and strength, not to mention the fact that I am starting to show some definition in my arms! Even though I have been a swimmer most of my life, this type of sport doesn't make for lots of definition. Anyway, I don't mean for this post to be a commercial. Back to the race. I was a little late in getting to the start line, and I couldn't find the rest of my team- Turi and Dave were both running the half with me, but Chris opted for the 10K, in which he almost placed first, but missed it by only a few seconds. So the horn blew right at 7:00 and I kicked off on my own. Took me 38 seconds to reach the start line because there were around 700 other runners (or last I checked on the results after the race), and settled into a steady pace after the first mile or so, iPod in full gear. It turned out to be a beautiful day, temperature in the 50s, sun shining in a cloudless sky. Doesn't get much better for running conditions! I didn't push myself at the beginning because I was a little nervous running this distance for the first time since the Kokanee run up at Tahoe at the beginning of October last year. I kept my eye out for Turi and Dave, but didn't expect to see them, or at least not Turi- until the turn-around when he was on his way back. He surprised me by passing me just before the 5 mile mark! Turns out he and Dave were at the very back of the start looking for me, and he didn't catch up to me until then. So we passed the next 6 miles chatting about this and that and marveling at the gorgeous day.

Even though I was taking it easy, I still had a time goal in the back of my mind. I have run this race one other time- it was my second ever half marathon, back in 2008, and I ran it in under 1:58. Big PR for me! So I made a little goal over the past couple weeks to try and break 2 hours again, since it was the same flat course. Once I settle into my pace, that's generally where I stay, but when we hit the 10 mile mark, I had 1:35 on my watch. That left 25 minutes for the last 5k if I were to make that goal. I have run a 5k under 25 minutes twice- once on my treadmill (and then I threw out my back later that day), and once at the Scheels Spark-A-Delic race in Nov. 2008. But neither of those runs were after doing 10 miles first. Oh well. I could be happy with 2:05. But I picked up the pace anyway. And then with 2 miles to the finish, Chris passed us running the course backwards doing his warm-down with a friend. His goal in running the course backwards was to run either a 5k or until he caught up to one of us going the other way. He and Turi started chatting, and he gave us a brief update on his race (which started a half hour after ours, but he ran it in like 33 minutes or something ridiculously fast like that). Then Chris "ran" Turi to the finish, much faster than I had energy for, so I cranked up the tunes again and pushed myself with what I did have left. About a quarter mile to the finish Chris found me again and I kicked into full gear and nearly sprinted the last 2-3 blocks. 2:03.26! I had a bit of an emotional moment walking off the first of the post-race "jelly legs" because I was actually pretty happy with this time, and because I am able to run virtually pain-free again. About a year ago there were days when I was afraid to drive to work because I knew after the half hour it took me to get there I'd be in a serious world of hurt. Physical therapy was my savior last summer, and weights this year. Also, this is by far the closest I've come to my PR since I ran it 2 years ago. (I'm keeping my watch time, BTW, because it took me almost 40 seconds to reach the start line, and my official time was 1 minute and 1 second slower than my actual time. And I placed 377 overall, and 46th in my age group.) I'm in the center, green shirt, black jacket:

It was a great day to be with my teammates, TLD (Team Library Dork), and a super supported race! Turi ran almost exactly 2 hours, just under 2:01, and Dave came in at 2:22. What a great time! Then the four of us celebrated by splitting an Espresso Yeti, and then headed to breakfast at My Favorite Muffin. Only 2 more pictures to share today- the first with Turi, taken on his brand-new-as-of-yesterday Droid Incredible:

And for the second, I begged a guy in line to take a quick picture of us after we finished breakfast~

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! :)