Yep, it's that time of year again. The annual MDRA party is this weekend!
This Saturday, January 23 at the Edina Community Center. Pizza and soda will first be served at 11:30. See you there!
Click here for more information.
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Party Like It's 2010
Reconnect with fellow runners. Watch me eat pizza. Win a free entry to a race. Watch me go back for more pizza. Enjoy a slide show of last year's races. Watch me ask Kirk Walztoni get pizza for me so no one notices I'm getting thirds.
Get Out the Vote
MDRA has its own Readers' Choice awards this year. So head on over to our website fill out our survey. Favorite run? Best post-run hangout? Must have gear? Answer those questions and more. Results from the survey will be reported in an upcoming issue of Run Minnesota.
Click here to participate.
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Grand Prix... It's For Everyone (and only $5)!!
One way to be part of the yearlong celebration is to partake in the annual MDRA Grand Prix. The Grand Prix is not just for elite runners. It is designed for ALL runners. For a mere $5 you too can join your fellow Minnesotans. Awards are given for the overall winners by gender, and there are also age-group prizes. But, more importantly, ALL runners who participate in at least 10 races get a prize; and if you can do all 13, you get an extra special prize!!
The first event of the Grand Prix is coming up: The Meet of Miles on the evening of January 11, at the U of M Field House. You can still participate in the Grand Prix if you miss this event, but if you want the Meet of Miles to count toward your standings you do need to sign up for the Grand Prix in advance or when you show up to run that evening.
If your still uncertain about doing the Grand Prix or feel it's too intimidating, I suggest you come to The Meet of Miles and watch me run. It's fun watching a beached whale try to run. You'll see me and think, "No way. If that bald guy with a beer belly and no muscles can do this Grand Prix thingy, so can I!"
Really, the Grand Prix is more about participation than competition, so participate now! What better way to say Happy Birthday to MDRA and be a part of our 50th Anniversary yearlong party!
More information about the Meet of Miles will be posted soon.
Happy Birthday to Us
MDRA turns 50 this year. We have a lot of fun things planned, so stay tuned to this blog, our website www.runmdra.org, and your upcoming issues of Run Minnesota for details.
Monday, January 4, 2010
Cindy Brochman
Many of you know by now that Cindy Brochman passed away last week. She was a long time MDRA member, Run n Fun runner, Team Baba Yaga racer, USATF committee chair and the list goes on. There will be more details on her life and career as an athlete in the upcoming issue of RunMinnesota.
This moving tribute was written by her Team Baba Yaga teammate Paula Willis. (photo courtesy of Craig Yotter)
Cindy Brochman
Cindy Brochman was part of a sisterhood, born fifteen years ago, on the top of a mountain. Every year since the mid-1990s, Cindy covered the steep, grueling first leg of the Hood to Coast Relay in Oregon, as part of Team Baba Yaga, a sisterhood of twelve. The faces of those twelve changed a bit from year to year, but Cindy’s face was constant. Cindy’s salience was insured at the annual event, as it was her character that embodied the spirit of Baba Yaga. From the confidence she exhibited at the start of the relay, clad in bun-huggers, to the fearlessness that set the square of her jaw-bone, to the strength she poured into those dreaded “fourth legs” of the relay she was called upon to run on more than a few occasions, Cindy’s spirit led the Baba Yagas to Women’s Open Division Championships or runner’s up, fourteen years in a row. Cindy played out the message of the Baba Yaga story on the course and in her life. She embraced all of life’s challenges with a sort of zeal that most of us only envy. Her final race was not so unlike the many that preceded it. She was familiar with the pain associated with drawing breath in the final miles. In the end, her last race must have ended the way all good races do; with the embrace of friends and loved ones, and a feeling of deep satisfaction, knowing that you dredged the depths of your abilities, and discovered a surprising new piece of the humanity you call Self. Suddenly, you feel unburdened…free…as if you had wings.
Cindy Brochman was part of a sisterhood, born fifteen years ago, on the top of a mountain. Every year since the mid-1990s, Cindy covered the steep, grueling first leg of the Hood to Coast Relay in Oregon, as part of Team Baba Yaga, a sisterhood of twelve. The faces of those twelve changed a bit from year to year, but Cindy’s face was constant. Cindy’s salience was insured at the annual event, as it was her character that embodied the spirit of Baba Yaga. From the confidence she exhibited at the start of the relay, clad in bun-huggers, to the fearlessness that set the square of her jaw-bone, to the strength she poured into those dreaded “fourth legs” of the relay she was called upon to run on more than a few occasions, Cindy’s spirit led the Baba Yagas to Women’s Open Division Championships or runner’s up, fourteen years in a row. Cindy played out the message of the Baba Yaga story on the course and in her life. She embraced all of life’s challenges with a sort of zeal that most of us only envy. Her final race was not so unlike the many that preceded it. She was familiar with the pain associated with drawing breath in the final miles. In the end, her last race must have ended the way all good races do; with the embrace of friends and loved ones, and a feeling of deep satisfaction, knowing that you dredged the depths of your abilities, and discovered a surprising new piece of the humanity you call Self. Suddenly, you feel unburdened…free…as if you had wings.
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