This is the way things were meant to be. All comers welcome. Race fee is $1 per week, which funds post-race water and sodas and post-season festivities. Show up right up until the starting time, sign your name on a piece of notebook paper, drop your dollar in the envelope, and go. A very informal group, friendly, very relaxed. Spans a wide range of ages and abilities, from a few world-class types all the way to people even slower than me. I think there were at least 35 people at every race last fall, my first experience with the series.

Call series director Gene Curnow for additional information: 729.5949. Also, moronic commentary on my performance (or more precisely lack thereof) in recent races appears intermittently on my Livejournal (ugh).

special House of Muscles Summer Clearance Sale section: if anybody would like a pair of men's size 12 Pearl Izumi Take trail shoes, give me a call (218.525.0299) or grab me after a race. I've only worn them twice, but I think they're really too narrow for me to get all that comfortable in them. Perils of buying online. Yours for $25. And they're pre-muddied with actual Lester Park Brand dirt.

 

new and improved! now with spring series men's results!
Spring Series

Wed 4/27 6:00 p.m.
Millennium Trail
5K
Superior, municipal parking lot, 28th St. [map]

 

Wed 5/4 6:00 p.m.
Bull Run
4.5 mile
Overlook on Hwy 23 past Fond du Lac (take Grand Ave. in West Duluth)

 

Wed 5/11 6:00 p.m.
Moose Run
8K
End of Eagle Lake road (off of Martin Rd.) map

Sun 5/15 10:00 a.m.
Spirit Mountain
15K
end of blacktop on Skyline past Spirit Mountain.[map]

 

Wed 5/18 6:00 p.m.
Goat Run
5K
Skyline overlook west of Piedmont intersection. [map]

Wed 5/25 6:00 p.m.
Western Waterfront
5 mile
Western Waterfront Trail across from the zoo. [map]

 

Wed 6/1 6:00 p.m.
Chester Bowl
3.6 mile
Soccer field in Chester Bowl park [18th Ave. E. and Skyline Parkway. Turn into Chester Bowl Park. Go past Chalet to rear of park.] [map]

 

Wed 6/8 6:00 p.m.
Magney-Snively
4 mile
Magney-Snively ski trail west of Spirit Mountain. [map]

-potluck & awards 'ceremony' follows race-

Fall Series

Wed 9/7 6:00 p.m.
Brown's Point
4.7 miles
Billings Drive & 42nd, ski trail parking lot, Superior [map]

Four big dips--short but quite steep.. you get to run down then struggle up each of them. Added to the festivities last fall was a hive of enraged bees or yellowjackets. By the time I dragged myself to that point one of the organizers was standing a hundred yards or so ahead of the danger zone warning people to detour through the woods. Bees? I thought. Huh? Detour? Woods? I'm tired enough already! So I ran straight through and sure enough, there was a cloud of angry bees. I didn't get stung by dumb luck, but quite a few people did. Including my epic performance in the Western Waterfront 5K over the summer, this was only my second "short" race in seven or eight years. I was very conservative and did OK.

Wed 9/14 6:00 p.m.
Zapp's Loop
8 K
end of 131st Ave. W. in Fond du Lac through gate [map][map?]

Up, up, up. Flat. Up, up, up. Down! Down! Down! Wet! Done. Pretty fun, not too brutal--the final long downhill is steep and a little treacherous though. If you pass someone there, you're a braver person than me. Obviously that's not saying much, as somebody did pass me there last year. The last stream crossing a couple hundred meters from the finish completely defeated my Gore-Tex shoes. Of course given the depth, it probably would have defeated my Gore-Tex army boots.

Wed 9/21 6:00 p.m.
Rolling Stone
4 miles
big parking lot at Spirit Mountain [map]

This one took place in a brief lull in a colossal downpour. It was still raining, I think, and muddy as hell. The course goes downhill on a dirt/gravel trail through a stream ford--which under the conditions that prevailed at the time was a raging torrent thigh-deep--then continues downhill, total about a mile.Then takes off to the left through the woods for a while, loops back to the original trail and goes... back uphill. Nothing like a mile slog uphill to the finish. Particularly one with a ford-through-raging-torrent 1/2 mile from the top. One woman killed herself to catch up with me approaching the ford because she wanted to make sure there would be someone nearby in case she was swept away. It wasn't a totally ridiculous notion.Not my favorite course, but I was really pleased with myself for going out to run when it was totally pouring--and at finding 30 other people doing the same.

Wed 9/28 5:30 - 6:30 p.m.
Chester Bowl Time Trials - staggered starts
6 K
entrance parking lot to Chester Bowl [map]

Ugh. Hard to believe this was just 6K. The time trial is someone's idea of a sick joke--not only did you get passed, somebody MADE UP THE INTERVAL and passed you. Ow. They sent me off with a partner, who annihilated me in the first half mile. I then settled down to suck wind for the remaining 5 k or so. Encountered an indeterminate number of very steep hills and one bear. The latter was a rather interesting thing to come across--I was catching Gary Doty's daughter (miraculous) who was running with a dog. I saw her slowing down and peering into the woods.. I thought the dog had run off and glanced into the woods myself because I'd caught a glimpse of something I thought was the dog. Sure enough, there it was, a big, black... hey, that's not a dog. Somebody else who was either overtaking me or vice versa decided to stop to warn other runners. I decided very quickly to get the hell out of there. There was a kid who'd caught up to me on the downhill as we approached Fourth Street, but despite my encouragement he couldn't pass me. So I dragged him behind me all the way back uphill to the finish. Felt pretty good about that.

Wed 10/5 6:00 p.m.
Rock Hill
6 K
Bagley Nature Center parking lot off St. Marie St. at UMD. [map]

This could in theory have been a pretty fun race--on the wood chipped trails at Bagley, a little up, a little down, nothing too rough, etc. Unfortunately, I had been finishing our basement floor project that day, which involved a lot of trips to the garage. This was significant because after a conversation with a ninja friend of mine I had made a pact with myself to adhere to a kung fu workout plan he advocated. For me, this involved doing a set of pullups on the garage rafters every time I went into the garage. Since I made about 20 trips to the garage that day, I was ripped like the proverbial masonry waste elimination facility by the end of the afternoon. I was probably also a little dehydrated. Anyway, by the downnhill at the end of the first loop of the race (there are two), I had a pretty significant side stitch that I couldn't shake. It was endurable during the short ups and downs on the right side of the course, but once I hit the long downhill on the second loop I had to stop and walk for a bit. What a drag. My worst performance of the season. But I did suck it up and jog to the finish, whee.

Wed 10/12 6:00 p.m.
Hawk Ridge
6 K
first river bridge east of Hawk Ridge on Skyline Drive [map]

This was the first race last year where I actually knew the course reasonably well. Well, let's be honest. At all. Start on the uppermost bridge on Seven Bridges Road, go up the hill on Hawk Ridge Road for a mile or so, then turn right where the trail intersects the road. Down (typically mucky) to the trail along Amity Creek, back along that to the finish. Fast course and not too long. Some guy lit the afterburners and passed me in the last half mile--I was annoyed but was too proud to try to catch him and still get dusted. So I just let him go and got dusted apathetically.

10/16 2:00 p.m.
Roughrider
9 K
walk in off Becks Road 2 blocks above West Skyline Drive, (take Midway Rd exit off I-35) [map]

Being a moron, I missed this one last year--I neglected to notice that the races had moved from 6pm Wednesdays to Sunday afternoons. Although I was kind of wondering about the dwindling light as the season progressed. Race is reportedly rough stuff.

Sun 10/23 2:00 p.m.
Pine Valley - Cloquet
5.5 K
Hwy 33 turn at Armory behind Super One store [map]

Missed this one too--I've skied there though. Bunch of ups and downs.

Sun 10/30 2:00 p.m.
Hartley Park
11 K
Hartley Nature Center parking lot [map]

This was the last race of the season last year and another one where I actually knew where I was going. It was also the first race that I considered it cold enough to wear a long-sleeve shirt--still shorts though, hardcore, whee. It was a crisp, beautiful day. Little muddy here and there, but that was pretty much every race. Footing a little uncertain at points due to the fallen leaves, but I managed to dodge the rocks. Can't get over what a beautiful day it was. I ran reasonably well--it was nice having some idea where I was going again, although I did light it up for the finish about a half mile farther from the finish than I thought. But I hung on and finished strong.

Sun 11/6 2:00 p.m.
Lester Park
10.5 K
Lester Park ski trails--start at picnic shelter, lower park.[map]

-fall 'banquet'/awards after race--location TBD-

Three loops of the C Loop ski trail at Lester. It was fun because it was an absolute morass due to heavy rains prior to the race, but I was a little disappointed at the course. I would really like to see a race into Lester through the 60th Avenue trails, or at least one getting back into the upper portion of the ski trails. But I did run pretty well here--this was the race where my Salomons really came through--I just plowed right through the puddles, held nearly perfect traction through some really massive mud. The 120 degree right turn toward the end where the light is always out was pretty funny though. The guy who I ran with a lot beat me in the last half of the last loop, but I can live with that.

Last fall we also ran at Snowflake. That race was kind of dicey--I knew from skiing there that there was really no shortage of rocks lurking on those trails, but I didn't realize how many there were until I saw the trails with no snow. A lot of people turned ankles here--I managed to avoid doing so, remarkably.