Rudolph 5K XC Race Report

I finished off my 2010 races with some fun.  I signed up for a cross county race to celebrate the holidays and had decided to make some fun out of it.  My only two goals were to finish and to have fun doing it. 

The race started at 11:30 so we were able to relax and not have a morning rush to get to the race.  It was a small race (89 runners in the 5K), and at a small conference center surrounded by woods.  Once we arrived, I realized it was going to be entirely a field run, no road and no woods. Most if it was run on the perimeter of the woods.  A rather hilly and loopy route run on snowy grass.  Not exactly slippery, but enough to be cautious on.  Before leaving the house, I grabbed Connor’s Reindeer antlers and decided I’d run with them on.  

It was a family oriented race and even a rather young looking Santa Claus and elf showed up to hand out gifts to the kiddos.   

Last night Paige, Connor, and I were embarrassing Jen skipping around Target riding our horses and before the race I decided to break mine out and ride it for a bit.  Here I am holding the reins. 

 

The starting line was haphazardly setup and the race director attempted to explain the course.  It wasn’t completely marked out due to the snow and according to Jen several people got mixed up and went the wrong way. (Thankfully I wasn’t one of them).  I decided to do a 1:30/1 interval and see how it goes.  Once we were off it was a nice course but I definitely am out of practice with hills. Damn you NCR Trail and your straight flat trail!!  All kidding aside, it was fairly tough with the hills but I was having fun.  I was able to run past the family several times and even got in a trot or two (see video).

 

The last 1/2 mile was pretty tough and I was rather winded, but it still didn’t keep me from having fun.  I even did a short trot at the end.  Several of the race volunteers were commenting on me “elkness”.  I finished in 34:39.  Not a PR by any means but I wasn’t trying for one anyway.  I finished and had a blast doing it; a great success!  Afterwards we enjoyed some apple cider, cookies and bagels, warmed up inside, then headed out once the awards were done.  All in all, it was a fun race and a great way to end the race year.