Good evening,

After a night of Salsa dancing at the red star I sit here reading Shane's blog of the run. I have to agree it was wet, it was mucky, and it was a blast.Can you believe there were 95 "idiots" out there in the rain at 38 degrees running a race for ....... for the fun of it. there was no trophy, no charity to raise money for, no qualifications times just a race for FUN. The way running is suppose to be.

From the middle of the pack (I stole that from Eve:) Hope you don't mind. I found the run hard in spots (Hills) ,exhilarating... being out side and enjoying life, and down right humbling. Thanks to Aims kicking pass me at the end.

But other then that it was a great time meeting Rick and his friends and family, remeeting Randy after the YMCA indoor tri, Seeing old friends, like Ann, Clint, and the grandfather of the trail runs Gene.

If you see me on Weds please say hi. I would like to meet as many of you as possible. Duluth has such a great running community, I happy to be a part of it.

Next week is the Bull run 4.5 miles of beauty, Hills and woods. We are so fortunate to live here.

One last thought Eve shared the Xood with me at the end of the race. I tried it and it has very little taste, but the taste is like a light after taste. Not the sweet stomach souring taste from other liquid replacement I have had int he past. Thanks for sharing. And if you and your pup are running prior to the bull run let me know and Syd and I can join you if you don't mind.

Nice meeting everyone.

Have a great week of training

Jim

It is a beautiful Sat and I just returned from my long run and I have a question for you bloggers. Does anyone else get psyced out by the long run. I ran a very comfortable and fast 9 on Weds but today was a struggle.

I had a couple of Gu blocks before the run and the first mile was stiff and slow. I run the grandma's course backwards and then turn and come back so I was running mostly up hill for the first 8. My next three miles were a struggle. I took another Gu at 4 then proceeded on London Road. It is a long up hill from 22 to 21 and I was not doing all that well. From 21 to 19 is rolling hills and I was doing better. Then came another long up hill from19 to 18. Took another couple of Gu blocks and water and turned around.

At 18 you have a short hill then a long down hill to 19. Felt good, not great. Stuggled with the 19 to 20. It is my worse mile on the course it just goes on for ever. At 20 to 22 you have a lot of down hill and the running became easier. I stopped at the top of Lemon Drop to get water and have my last Gu. Then pretty much ran negative spits back to the car. I am not sure if it is the down hills or that the Gu kicked in or that I do better knowing that the end is near.

Let me know if any of you have this love ,hate relationship with your long runs

Enjoy the day it is a beautiful one out there.

After a very nice conversation with Angel from the "Y" today I found out that I finsihed 7th over all and 6th for guys. Not bad for the "old" guy. I also found out that 2 of the top finishers are in their early fourties, one is in his thirties, and 2 are in their 20's as is the Young Lady that won the female division.

Looking over the results the northland has some very awsome athletes. I have always prided myself as being a good swimmer, yet 8 swimmers swam farther then I did in 10 minutes.

It was my first bike of the year. I really had to concentrate at the end, but looking back I really did feel good for most of it and worked it well. Again 7 athletes finished ahead of me.

Finally we came to the run, I chose to run on a track and not the tread mill. Looking back on it I would think the treadmill would be easier since the belt is in constant motion and the ground is stationary. Any opinions?

As, I said in the last blog my first mile was slow, but then I really picked it up, Maybe at my age it is better to run slow at first and loosen everything up before pushing it like I did when I was younger. I felt like I did extremly well, 6 athletes finished ahead of me.

It is a neat scoring system, Angel took the "pace setter" for each event, (lets say the pace setter swam 16 laps in 10 minutes and I did 12.) Angel added time to my 10 minutes to equal the time it would take me to swim the same distance the first place person did. The same is true for the bike and the run. The way it shakes out is no one had 60 minutes overall because no one took first in all events. First place was 60 mniutes and 51.5 seconds. Ok, :), he took first in the bike and run and missed first in the swim by a 1/2 length. Awsome.

I strongly encorage everyone to try an indoor triathlon. Place it on the 2010 calendar.

Good Sunday morning, As I sit here and watch the snow flakes getting larger and the ground get wetter I am thankful that the Tri this morning was inside. It was very well run and Angel and her crew deserve a big thank you.

It was a lot of fun meeting you guys and putting names with faces. Randy is an up and coming 50 and over to contend with. Excellent job. Met a lot of fun people.

I have to tell you that for whatever reason, I thought it was a 10 minute swim, 10 minute bike and 10 minute run. Boy was I surprised to learn that it was 10 minute swim, 30 minute bike and 20 minute run.

My swim was great, The bike was a bit long, I really had to concentrate the last 5 minutes. I think our wave had the most fun in the spin, talking and encouraging each other and just having fun. The run was painful for the first mile and slow, so I took off the wrap I had on my knee and did a lot better for the next 1.9 miles.

For a Triathlon I did very well and will do it again next year.I would encourage everyone to add this to your calendar for next year. A lot of the participants ran the 5k yesterday and this today so it can be done. How was everyones 5k yesterday.

Again thanks for the great event.

 Ever have one of those days when you wake up just feeling icky. That was me this morning, I wanted to go to the Fitgers 5k and meet Eve, Dave L., Kelly Raethe-Prevost, Ryan, Dave, Shane and of couse the lord of the road trip Mark Massoglia. But I gave in to my body and rolled over and went to sleep for a couple more hours. I figure I have the YMCA indoor Marathon tomorrow and I want to be feeling good for it.

Eve I asked to volunteer for the race and was told they had enough volunteers. I have been race director on several races and NEVER have had enough volunteers what is Scott's secret?

Anyway, once I was up I was feeling guilt or remorse for not meeting you all so I did the only thing I could, I grabbed the dog(Syd) and off we went for 10 miler. She only did 6 today, I am working her back since the Lymes. But it felt good and I felt like I made up for not being there for you guys.

Anyone have any good solutions for the IT bands on the Knee, They sure are sore. Anyway It was a great day for a run. Heck it was a great week for running. Got to love spring in Minnesota.

Steve thanks for the Cudo's maybe when you come up your sister and you and me can Kayak the shore.

Enjoy the day

Jim