Great Race With a Great Cause

What a wonderful day to have a race and also support the local area. I ran the New Year's Resolution Run in Menominee, MI. The race was held at Menominee Catholic High School and organized by their principal, Dan Paul. He holds several races in Delta and Menominee county where the race entry fee is canned goods to be given to the local area. It was great to see the truck being loaded up with cans and other non perishable foods during race registration. Great idea on how to make a difference in the local area.

On to the race. The weather was better than can be expected in mid January; sunny skies with temps in the high 20s - low 30s with low wind. Since I would be running a few races in ice and snow over the next couple months, I added some traction to a pair of my Brooks Adrenalines by screwing in 17 sheet metal screws into each. After driving the course and seeing only 30% of the course with any snow or ice, I decided to leave the "screw shoes" in the car and go with my other shoes. The walkers started about 15 minutes before the 39 runners lined up for our 5k run. There were two runners that looked like the top competitors and my plan was to line up behind these two and run a 6:30 pace for the first mile. When we started, those two along with a couple other runners started out pretty quick. I tried to just keep my pace and ended up passing all of the runners except the two leaders by the first turn which was about a half mile in. At the 1 mile mark (at 6:26, right where I wanted to be), we hit the snowy/icy section and started passing the walkers. I was quite a bit behind the leaders and ahead of 4th place at this point, so it was nice to have walkers to say hi too as I approached and passed them.

I made the turn on the out and back course and felt great. The return route contained a lot of exchanging "great jobs" with the other runners and walkers, thanking the volunteers that were on the course directing us and stopping traffic, and maintaining my pace. I crossed the line for 3rd place overall at 20:33. I was happy because this was a PR and I had slowed a couple times during the slick spots. Now I just need to get under 20 minutes. After congratulating the other runners and walkers at the finish line, I headed into the school for a chili lunch. The chili hit the spot and I talked to a few people about Upper Peninsula races. One of them was the Newberry, MI Cross Country Coach and he had some great suggestions for races to run in the UP. Definitely helpful information as I solidify my MI race schedule.

Later this afternoon, I tested my "screw shoes" on a snowy and icy road. The road was actually the road I lived on during my Junior and Senior year in high school. Kind of nostalgic. The added traction on the shoes worked like a charm and should work great on the Winter Wolf race next week in Omer.