A very full day indeed ...

Winnie the Pooh comes to mind today.

Oh the wind is lashing lustily
And the trees are thrashing thrustily
And the leaves are rustling gustily
So it's rather safe to say
That it seems that it may turn out to be
It feels that it will undoubtedly
It looks like a rather blustery day, today
It sounds that it may turn out to be
Feels that it will undoubtedly
Looks like a rather blustery day today
--Winnie the Pooh, Hum for a Blustery Day

Blustery, indeed! I did a fair amount of running around out there running to and fro, school to finish line, to the school, to the water stop, to the finish line, and back to the school, and back to the finish line and back to the school, ... and it looked worse from indoors than it actually was outdoors. Running north to the waterstop was a bit brisk, for sure and for certain, and I heard that it was pretty nippy around the golf course.

My oh my, what a very full day. I'm still trying to decompress. Still so full of adrenaline. So I'm sitting here with my iPod on, listening to American Idol songs (go David Archuletta--what a pure voice) looking at Fetzer photos (see the RTC website for some of Hiromi Walleser's photos and here for Lionel's photos, some of which were taken literally on the run.) I took 150+ but unfortunately none at the finish line as I was trying to figure out what to do about the 2-mile results which weren't available until an hour ago so no awards were handed out, and soothe a rather upset parent. I felt very bad, it was not planned that way, but it happened. Lesson learned. The 2-mile must be scored by someone other than the chip timer (2 mile didn't end up being chip timed). Too much overlap in the events. Anyway, I'll create a photobucket album or two and post at a later time.

We never will forget our hero of the wet
Our quick thinking unsinking Pooh bear
And Piglet who indeed helped out a friend in need
For truly they're the heros of the day
So we say Hip Hip Hooray for the Piglet and the Pooh
Piglet and Pooh are our heros for deeds of bravery and generosity
Hip Hip Horray
Hip Hip Horray
Hip Hip Horray for Winnie the Pooh
--Winnie the Pooh, Hero Party

First of all, hats off to all the 'Piglets and Poohs', my wonderful volunteers. (Little did I know how appropriate those hats would be today! Better keep them on, come to think of it.) So many of them stayed from 7 am until 11 or 12 o'clock. Pictured: Sudhakar Karlapudi, Paul Anderson, me, John Resman.

They did any little random thing I asked of them. They stood out in the cold handing out water or giving directions or scoring the race. And I can't tell you what a treat it is to have someone(s) there to help me load up all the leftovers when everyone else has left. By that time, I'm just bone tired and just want to collapse. More mentally tired than anything.


Thank you to everyone that showed up and ran. 59 runners registered Friday and Saturday, so I had 260 entered. The weather kept many at home, I'm sure.

The first female finisher, Rachel Rich, ran a heck of a race. 1:17:11 for 6:13 pace. According to my husband who was the lead cyclist for the guys, she was finally passed at 11 miles, by the community gardens. He said he told her he felt very sad having to pass her. Heck of a runner. Don't think I got a photo of her. And BTW: Thank you to Dave Morrill for taking start line photos for me while I was gabbing on the megaphone.




The winner is a Kenyan, William Serem grey l/s top above, who runs for a club in Coon Rapids. Very smooth, strong runner. He won in 1:04:30 for 5:12 pace. I can't run 1/4 mile at 5:12 pace, thank you very much. Ted said he took no fluids during the race.

Thank you Deb Thomford for the very kind comments when I was feeling rather distraught about the 2-mile results situation. You made my day. So did the gal who said 'I love you blog'. And "Believe it or not, even with as cold as it was, I had a blast. It was fun cheering the runners on while driving the cart. :-) "--Ken Bowar, the Sweep How nice. Challenge yourself to volunteer at least once this year. It's even more fun when the weather is pleasant!

All my yellow course arrows from yesterday were totally gone today. Last year, the marks stayed around for months, through many rain storms. Not this year. I'm still trying to determine what to do for next year--Equalizer or not? If so, I'm thinking of giving $300 to the first finisher and $200 to the first finisher of the other gender. Much to ponder. Chip timing is a very big financial investment. I might also redo the first loop and run the opposite direction to avoid the traffic jam at that first corner. Good idea Henry Walker. ;-)

It's now 10:13 and I really must chill. More later.

Ciao.