2007 recap

My personal Minnesota top 5 running (or running related) events of 2007.

5. Running over lunch at least once a week
I started a new job in December of '06, at an office with a locker room & shower in the basement. I was able to run at least once a week, every week, over lunch. And it rocked!!

4. Cross Country
I've never run Cross Country before, so I didn't know what I was in for. Turns out I was in for a hell of a lot of fun. You get to run through mud, wear shoes with spikes, see Kirk & Mike run sub 17:00 5Ks and listen to Mixer talk all kind of smack. Can't beat that!

3. My age group win at the Lifetime Fitness Tri
This was the last decent swim I had before monomelic amyotrophy totally killed my stroke. More importantly, it was the first time I got my 10K under 40 minutes in a tri. I ran down several faster bikers for the win.

2. The fact that people finished the Twin Cities Marathon.
I was only a spectator this year, watching just after mile 2. I can honestly say there is no way in hell I would have finished. Not a chance. I wouldn't have even made it half way. I'd have shuffled down the parkway to 18th Ave, realized I was 5 blocks from home, and bailed. How 7,147 of you finished is beyond me. Totally freakin' amazing. Well done.

1. Volunteering at the finish line of the City of Lakes 25K with Norm Champ.
There's an older post out there about this. The short version; there's nothing cooler than watching Jack Moran do results. He's like a race results-rain man or something. And, there's nothing funnier than listening to Norm comment on various goings-on. Especially when some entitled loud mouth "went nuclear right out of the gate" as Norm put it.

Bonus! Jason Lemkuhle finishing 5th at the men's Olympic marathon trials in 2:12:54.
So, I wasn't there to see it, and it didn't take place in Minnesota, but I don't care. He ran one of the smartest races of the day. A bonus shout-out goes to teammate Chris Lundstrom who finished 37th in 2:19:21. Bow down, lowly mortals.