Also!

The sequel to Once a Runner is finally out! It's called Again to Carthage by John Parker. It's already in high demand (our warehouses ran out right away but have them back in now and Amazons warehouses are currently out) so get your copy now! I ordered a bunch and made it my Staff Recommendation, so if you head on up to Barnes and Noble, you'll find a copy with the Staff Recs. I'm hoping thatsomeone will see how popular the sequel is and thus reprint Once a Runner but we'll see how that goes.

I ran my first every Turkey Trot this year! I was really excited about it - I've always wanted to do one but the places I go for Thanksgiving don't have Thanksgiving races. So sad. So this year, my husband and I hosted for our families in our new house which meant - Gobble Gallop!

I got up early so we could get the turkey stuff started and my husband stayed at home to get it in the oven. Parking was surprisingly easy considering how much later I arrived then I usually do for a race, so that was nice. It was rather cold - weather.com told me 9 feels like -2 when I was heading out the door - I'm not sure what it was at the start. I headed across the street and joined what I hoped was the line to pick up my packet. Br. My poor feet were frozen toe-sicles by the time I made it to the front though the lines moved fairly quickly. Next stop was to pick up my chip (the around the ankle kind, which I'd never done before) and then back to the jeep to drop it all off.

Time to head out for a warm-up and see what the weather felt like. Conclusion? Br! My toe-sicles didn't warm up at all (despite the fact that my body doesn't get cold overall easily, my feet get cold super easy). The race started about 15 minutes late, but that was so that everyone could get registered and it was announced well so it was all good, though lots of people hung out at the start line for a long time anyway. I did a combination of running around to stay semi-warmed up and going back to the jeep to be out of the wind until the start. I ended up racing in light clothes (just a light long sleeve and my racing jersey on top and tights/shorts on bottom) and it worked out just fine - I would have definitely been too hot in my running jacket. My toes did warm up during the race, so that was quite good and I was thankful for my sock gloves, though surprised to not need to take them off at all.

The start was crazy fast, though it didn't really feel it, but I came through the first mile (all downhill) at 6:18. I was a bit torn about how hard to race this - I hadn't really trained seriously for it, but I had been running consistently. I ended up picking an in-between - I didn't race super hard but I wasn't running all in comfort zone, either.

It was an out and back course which can be fun sometimes since you can see everyone on the course. I saw a good handful of people I knew and who knew me, which makes it even more fun. The course was nice - crazy simple (down one road, back the same road, one turn at the end), no traffic, and happily not slippery at all (it was all on brick which can get crazy slippery if wet). I finished in 20:48 - 9th woman overall and 2nd in my age group.

So overall, this was a pretty great race and I will definitely be there next year (assuming that I'm hosting Thanksgiving again). I can't rave enough about the shirts, either! I love them! They ran a bit big but otherwise they are great - a very nice, simple, bold design on the front with a great, unusual race shirt color. The ads were done the best I have ever seen on a race shirt - there was a map of the course on the back and all of the sponsors were along the course so each one got a sign showing where they were. Very tasteful and a great idea. There were also neat little things that made a big difference - heat in the tents, hot chocolate after the race, a DRC coupon with your name on it and lots of different length races to go with the 5K.

Hey my fellow runners - do you know what your life has been missing? A shirt proclaiming your love of the Fall Trail Series, that's what!

Jarrow has agreed to get some shirts made if there's enough interest so here's the scoop:

~ Long-sleeved cotton t-shirts - dark blue with white writing

~ "Northern Minnesota Track Club" and Austin-Jarrow logo on the front, 2007 race schedule on the back

We need 24 people to make them worth making. If less than 48 people order, the shirts will be $14.75 and if more than 48 order it'll be $11.50.

Sound awesome? Here's what you do - let me know you want one and what size you want it. You can email me at samantha.mf.carlson (at) gmail.com. We don't need to worry about payment until they're all ordered up, I believe. Deadline is Sunday, November 18 - my birthday!

So many exciting running events this weekend!

First off is tomorrow early morning - the men's marathon Olympic trials in Central Park. All the info you could ever want is at Runner's World. You can also watch free live streaming video from NBC sports starting at the lovely hour of 6:35 am tomorrow. My current plan is to catch some of it - I don't think I'll be getting up at 6:30 but probably by 7:30. There's a decent amount of serious contenders this year, so it should be an exciting race.

Second is also tomorrow - my high school (the girls, anyway) made it back to State! We peaked there my Senior year and they made it back the next year, but it's been 5 years since they made it back in. They race tomorrow at 10 and I'm sad I can't go down and cheer for them (I'm deer hunting this year for the first time in a looooooong time and since I have to go to the last trail race on Sunday, I don't want to be taking 4 fours off in a row this time of year . . . I'm sure you were all very interested in knowing all of that, too). It sounds like they're a good, close team this year so I'm hoping they do well and it looks as though they're hoping for a top 8 finish. They have one girl who made it down on her own last year, so there's some State experience in there that should help. I know it's really overwhelming no matter how many times you head down. They have a new coach since I ran, too, and this is his first time brining a team down to State. Go Rapids, go! Also - is it wrong for me to take some glee in East not making it down for the first time in 16 years? I was on the team that broke their 160-something wins in a row so that might have something to do with it - they were always our running rivals.

Sunday is, of course, the last trail race of the year! The Pine Valley ski trails in Cloquet. Not that I have any idea of where that's at yet . . . So, everyone come and have some fun!

Oh, Sunday is also the New York City Marathon. So there's that too . . . :)