Halloween Fun Run - Chilly But Still Fun

I thought about wearing a costume for the Halloween fun run on Saturday but that meant digging through boxes to find one. Instead I was among the 15 or so of about 50 participants there that got assessed a 2 min delayed start for no costume. No biggie, I just wanted a good sustained workout.

It was a chilly morning at 15 F, but the roads were dry. Took it out pretty moderate at 6:30 and then 6:22 for the first two miles, and then picked up the effort. I had Erich a high school skier from here to pace with for 3 miles before he turned around for the 6 mile. After that it was solo. It was hard work over Gold Hill but I managed to cruise the last 4 miles at sub 6 per pace to finish in 1:01:52. Other than a developing blister on the back of my heel, I felt pretty good although not quite as spry as mid-summer. I had to alter my gait a little, by pushing off my forefoot, to relieve the pressure on the heel and that helped some.

Fun day, and happy to run a decent pace for transition season and to get a good workout. Thanks to Jane and Ken for putting this event on. I haven't been able to run this one since 2006 or so.

Series Points Just Don't Add Up

But I guess I'm not complaining too much.

I'm talking about the Flint Hills Race series here.

This year I only did six of the eight races, and here are my overall places/scores:

Chena River Run 15th (35 pts)
Midnight Sun Run 12th (38 pts)
Flint Hills Mile 5th (65 pts)
Run of the Valkyries did not run (0 pts)
Gold Discovery Run 5th (65 pts)
Santa Clause Half Marathon 2nd (85 pts)
Golden Heart 5K XC did not run (0 pts)
Equinox Marathon 7th (51 pts)

With a score like that I might be happy for a top five (podium finish) or six overall, which would be pretty good for an old guy. But guess where I finished in the rankings?

2nd. Go figure.

Now to age group rankings

Chena River Run 1st
Midnight Sun Run 1st
Flint Hills Mile 1st
Run of the Valkyries did not run
Gold Discovery Run 1st
Santa Clause Half Marathon
Golden Heart 5K XC did not run
Equinox Marathon 1st

So I won six of eight and set age records each time. Guess where I finished in the age group rankings?

2nd. Go figure.

So to play on one of my favorite running memes (from an old poster): The race is not always to the swift but to those who show up!

Backlog blogging, Hay Bale and Heath 6K

Been a sometimes upside down few weeks here, and I've fallen behind on some posts, so I'll do a reverse order.

The Third Interior Alaska Cross Country Series closed with the Hay Bale and Heath 6K on Tuesday night, under cool (about 35 degrees) and cloudy conditions. I must admit at being a little disappointed in the thin turn out, I had fewer runners than helpers at the start so I decided to jump in along with my son's friend Joe.

This is probably my favorite event of the series, I like the narrow trail, open field, and hay bale jumps. It reminds me of the race I started in Colorado back in 2001, the Rattlesnake Rumble, which was also a hay bale race in an old field (since turned into a sports complex).

So after a quarter mile warm up, realizing yes, it is cold, I brought the starters to the line and made some last minute announcements, introduced our starters/timers (three from this year's state championship cross country team), and we were off.

It was more or less of a progression run with each lap getting faster. We started out conversational pace for the first half lap and then picked it up from there. The third lap was definitely threshold, and the last 400 was hard. I felt lunch coming up, so just finished 5 sec behind Joe.

Photo by Sam Harrell, Fairbanks Daily NewsMiner.

Hay Bale and Heath 6K

1. Joe Bue 24:29
2. Roger Sayre 24:35
3. Anna Worden 27:57
4. Dan Bishop 27:59
5. Jane Lanford 30:29
6. Ellen Clark 35:55
7. Liz Cogen 40:50

In the women's race Anna Worden leapt over 7 hay bales on the three lap course and cruised to a win. Redoubtable masters runner Jane Lanford took second place, followed by Ellen Clark. Clark was the series winner, Liz Cogen second, Worden third, and Lanford was fourth.