the awesomest painting ever

This thing is so impossibly cool, there aren't words to describe it. Han Solos is, and always will be, the toughest mother in the universe.

celebrity sighting?

I don't know if this counts as a celeb sighting, but I'm pretty sure I saw Mpls mayor (and runner, triathlete & nordic skier) R.T. Rybak yesterday during a lunch hour run. I've seen him xc skiing before (the dude is SMOOTH!) but never running.

However, the guy I saw was really struggling - like totally bonking. I can't imagine my mayor's form looking that bad on a lunch run. So, R.T., if that was you, please take a recovery day today & tomorrow if possible. Maybe bust out the roller skis to cross train a bit. We don't want you to over train and miss your next race...or press conference.

If that wasn't the mayor I saw, there's a runner out there with a bright future as a body double. It would be like the movie "Dave", except the runner guy wouldn't get to kiss Sigourney Weaver.

win a trip to honolulu

Yahoo & Accelerade have a little contest going, grand prize is a trip to the Honolulu Marathon. Just shoot a short video explaining what inspires you to run & send it in.

Most of the submissions so far are very serious & heavy - lots of light piano music & dramatic speeches. Let's see some funny videos! I think I'm going to make one where I look straight into the camera and say, "I'm inspired to run because I want to keep my ass tight & sexy". Then the camera will pan down & show my taut, runner's backside. Oh, and the soundtrack will be metal.

Actually, that phrase might look cool on a T-shirt. Look for it at future races!

Edmund Fitzgerald 100K road race to end

Sad news from the North, the Fitz is calling it quits. Press release below.
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Edmund Fitzgerald 100K road race to end

Duluth, Minnesota, September 25, 2007: A Press Conference at the Green Mill at Cannel Park will be held at 1:00 PM on Wednesday September 26, 2007 where it will announce The Edmund Fitzgerald 100K Road Race & Team Relay, respected as the Greatest 100K Road Race in the history of Ultrarunning, will cancel this falls event after 26 years.

Bill Wenmark, founder, and race director has produced this event, along with hundreds of his finest volunteers through the ALARC Running Club based in Minneapolis . Bill started the Fitz event in 1982 because of Barney and Janis Klecker who wanted an ultra course in Minnesota . Under his leadership the Fitz brought the best of the world to the longest running 100K Road Race in North America . The 1990 World Championship at the Edmund Fitz is still considered the greatest 100K road race in history. The entire world came to Duluth.

The Team Relay was been the substance behind the event that paid for the stage on which the solo runner have performed. Bill said “the cancellation of our event is about economics and changes in the sport of running. People have many more options and the costs of travel and hotel for 8 team members and fuel cost to navigate a point to point 62 mile event have reduced the numbers over the years”.

Whether the event is continued in some form next year will be up to negotiations that are currently underway with the YMCA in Duluth and other organizations in the Twin Cities.

As for Bill and his staff they are leaving with great memories. Don Fennessy, Randy Nuremberg, and Gene Curnow, his Duluth staff have had a thrill putting on this spectacular fall event.

Thank you Duluth …you have been a wonderful host city and it has been a great run…thanks for all the support over the past 26 years.

will run for work

This is great. An Ad agency from Charolette, NC ran all the way to Boston (859 miles) last month to deliver their Ad proposal to Saucony. Details, pics and video are on their blog.

I freelanced for an Ad agency last fall, and they never asked me to run to Boston. Hell, they never asked me to run anywhere. That's unfortunate, because I totally would have done it.

city running tours

From CNN - cityrunningtours.com is offering running tours of NY, Washington DC, Chicago & San Diego. Pretty cool idea.

suds and running

From today's Strib: an article on Twin Cities Harriers, the drinking club with a running problem. I love these guys.

If you need a Minnesota brew before/during/after your next run, pick up some MN-made Surly. Their Furious is the best thing that has ever happened to beverages in cans. Get some.

a little something for out of town guests

A spiffy new Minnesota website is up and running, ArriveMN.org. It has all sorts of transportation resources...stuff like finding a bike route to work, places to park near the light rail, how to rent a car in Duluth, etc. If you know someone coming to Minnesota for the Twin Cities Marathon, Grandma's, or anything else, send them to the site. Good stuff.

people actually read this blog!

People read this thing! I'm amazed! I figured all of our hits came from Heidi & Chad. At the Ft. Snelling 5x5 I was introduced a few times as "the MDRA web guy", and was amazed by the typical follow up question. For example, the following exchange:

Marty (to cute MDRA chick): "This is Colin, he does our website."
Me: "Hi."
Cute MDRA Chick: "Oh yeah, I read your blog from time to time."
Me: "Really?"
Cute MDRA Chick: "Yeah, I think it's funny."

Wow, I'm known as a blogger! Now the pressure is on to really be funny on this thing. Or at least spell-check it.

In other news, the MDRA boys finished in the middle of the pack at the 5x5, due largely to a slow blogger dragging down the time. I promise to do speedwork before the next race. I know the Run n Fun crew is going to to hand me my ass, but I don't need to gift wrap it for them. They should have to work for it a little bit - or at least thank me for making them look good. I'm providing a valuable ego-boosting service here! Not that anyone running a sub 16:00 5K needs their ego boosted.

X-C!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

There are fifteen races in Minnesota this weekend of varying distance from 5K to Marathon. That's nuts! Check the calendar, find a race near you, go run it.

Cross Country starts this weekend!! The Fort Snelling 5x5 kicks off the fall xc series this Sunday. MDRA will field at least 2 teams, so come on out to cheer (or heckle) us.

Strangest thing ever

So, the weirdest thing happened yesterday at the City of Lakes 25K (race recap in the post below). Norm & I were working the finishing shoot, tearing off bib number tags and running them to Jack in the timing tent. 99 times out of 100, nothing out of the ordinary happens. Tear. Spindle. Repeat.

However, after a few finishers came through the shoot, something totally bizarre went down. It started innocent enough...a guy tried to walk the wrong way down the chute. I expected this would happen. I mean, we have the chute on the pedestrian path near the band shell. It's a popular spot. Anyway, he got around Norm so I stuck my arm out and said "Woah! We've got a race in progress & finishers are going to be running through here." His response? "You don't own the f@*king lake!"

What!?!?

I should explain that this guy was about 6 feet tall & must have weighed 250lbs. One shove would have sent me flying into Lake Harriet. He had on big headphones, and I think he was listening to talk radio. He looked a lot like the guy who plays the backwoods lunatic in the movie "A Life Less Ordinary".

Norm handled it very diplomatically by saying, "Sir, there's no reason to get upset. You just have to walk around the chute & then you can get back on the path." I took the low road by saying, "I may not own the lake, but there's no way in hell I'm letting you walk down this chute!" Norm was definitely on to something, because the guy launched into some tirade about how he walks here all the time & we're blocking his way, blah, blah, blah, on and on.

Eventually, he relented and went around the chute - a detour of about 50 feet. He's out exercising, but he's complaining about exercising a little more? Odd. He was muttering about what jerks we were as he waddled off into the distance.

After he was gone, Norm calmly said one of the funniest things I have ever heard; "I can't believe he went straight to the F-bomb. How do you top that?"

Ha HA! How do you top that?! There's no where else to go? I guess he could use two F-bombs in one sentence, but then it just dilutes the shock value. The only way to one-up himself would have been to pull a weapon, which I'm sure he was capable of.

There were only three other people who tried to walk the wrong way down the chute. There was a couple out walking their dogs. I asked them to go around & they did. The seemed a little confused, but they were happy to oblige. The fourth was a jogging woman who actually asked, "Can I go through this way, or should I go around?"

I could have hugged her for that.

What a race!!

Things could not have gone better at the City of Lakes 25K yesterday! Overnight rain cooled it down, the North wind was manageable, and an army of volunteers kept everything moving along.

The men's race looked like it was heading for a photo finish after the first lap, but Donovan Fellows put the hammer down & pulled away from Chris Lundstrom to win in 1:19:58. Lundstrom finished in 1:21:53 and Jeremy Polson rounded out the podium with a 1:22:45. Four new MN men's age group records were set - full results online.

In the women's division, Jenna Boren took the victory in 1:33:57, three minutes faster than the competition. Nicole Cueno was second in 1:36:54, and Angie Voight was third in 1:39:08. Two MN women's age group records fell. One new record was set by Gloria Jansen. Shocker. Full results online.

One photoset is already up at SkinnySki.com. More photos will be posted soon, so check back for the link.

COL25K Pics from Wayne are up! Enjoy.

I wish I was running City of Lakes!

Man oh Man, I wish I was running City of Lakes this year! I've never run that race in temps below 85! Last year the weather was great, this year looks to be even better. Can you tell I have a bit of a weather fetish? I should just trade blogs with Sven Sundgaard & Johnathan Yuhas - they write about running more than I do!

Last year there was a bit of confusion about the location of the COL25K start. The race ends and the band shell, but it begins at the SW end of Lake Harriet. Here's a map of the course (not exact, but close) to help you get your barrings.

Race starts at 8:00 Sharp. When we say 8:00 sharp, we mean it! Race director Jeff Winter is a stickler for on-time events. He's also a stickler for putting on great races, so thank him if you see him out there. He'll likely be zipping around on a motorcycle.

City of Lakes 25K is Closed!

You heard it here first - registration for the City of Lakes 25K is closed. The limit of 1100 runners was reached just moments ago. Looks like we'll have fast conditions and a really fast field. Good luck on Sunday!

Running Club Members Face Felony Charges

Seriously - runners are facing felony charges in Connecticut for marking a route with flour. The full story (with video) can be found here. This is one of the strangest stories I've read regarding running. I seriously doubt this would happen in Minnesota, but you never know.

Moral of the story for New Haven runners? Mark your course in permanent spray paint. Sidewalk chalk + a bag of flour = bio-terrorism, apparently.

race roundup

In case you missed it, Chris Lundstrom scorched the Victory 10K course to win in 30:55. (men's results) Amy Lyons continued her hot streak & finished first among women with a 34:05, nearly a minute ahead of second place. (women's results) Word is around 950 runners competed in the two events.

An additional shout-out goes to Donovan Fellows of Woodbury, who won the double header competition with a 15:18 5K & 31:08 10K.

The City of Lakes 25K is less than a week away! Field limit is 1100 runners, and we're getting close to filling. Registration info is online.