Race 25 - Duluth Fall Festival 5K

Today's race was a 5K (3.1 miles), the Duluth Fall Festival 5K.  This was the 6th time doing this race for me, four times as a runner years ago and twice now as more of a walker/jogger.  However, this race will be the one I remember the most as it was my grandson's first race!  

2012 Duluth Fall Festival 5K

This race was a family affair with a bunch of us doing it. 

I think about 500-600 people signed up for the race.  With the festival going on it was a nice atmosphere.  It was nice seeing folks who I have not seen in awhile - just a nice, fun time!  And of course having family there at the same time just really added to it.  

They grouped us together behind the start line and at 8:00 we were off.  This was a road race and traffic control was handled by the local police department and they did a great job.  The first mile or so was downhill.  But unfortunately, that meant the end of the race was going to be uphill.  Dan and Raney took off ahead of us and I watched the back of Daniel's head (Atlanta Braves hat on backwards) disappear into the crowd.  For the first mile or so, I was with Jen and JB.  A few hundred yards beyond the first mile I told Jen that I was going to run ahead and get set up to take a few pictures of them as the went by.

So there I was, on sidewalk, squatting down to take this pic, and all of a sudden I get this huge pain in butt - BEES!!!  Now this is not the first time this has happened, a few months back during the  Rope Mill Trail Race I was stung multiple times.  This time I was stung four times.  I am beginning to think it is me.  As I sit here and write this, these suckers hurt.  However, super thankful I am not allergic.  

Anyway, moving on  in the race, once again I went ahead to get a few more pics.  However, I refused to go on the sidewalk at this point!  So a different angle for this pic:

And as expected, mile three was pretty much all uphill :(  All of us finished the race and had a good time doing it, well except for me and the bee stings...

Afterwards, waters, bananas, apples, cookies,...  a nice post race spread.  We hung out awhile as they announced the age bracket winners and such.  Again, with the festival going on, it was just a nice atmosphere!  We did manage to get a few more pics (of course) with various poses - this one below was the best silly pose:

goofing around after the race...

I am a lucky Grandpa!

Race 22 - Rope Mill Trail Run

I read the race description on the Mountain Goat Adventures website:

"This won't be your run-of-the-mill trail run...expect a course with a bit of everything including buff singletrack, ATV trails, knee deep river crossings, embankment climbs, coasteering, and some craggy scrambling."

Hmmm...  I've never done a race with a river crossing, but what the heck, it's warm outside, and I have no idea what coasteering or craggy scrambling are, but again, what the heck.  So I signed up.


This was my 3rd Mountain Goat Adventures race and Lisa (Race Director) always has something important to tell us about the race just prior, so all gathered round and listened:

Once again they had a 10 mile and a 4 mile version of the race; I signed up for the 10 mile.  So at about 8:00 AM, we were off.  The first couple of miles were uneventful.  However, we all knew that just after mile 3, we'd be in the river.  I caught glimpses of folks in the water as I made my way along the river and just as promised, at mile 3.1, there it was:

Okay, I really did know better, but I wanted to get pics of the river crossing...

Yep, it just wasn't my shoes and socks that were wet after I fell into the river!  Oh well, I'll try to dry the camera out later : )


Okay, the river crossing was checked off the list and now we were looking to do some coasteering or craggy scrambling.  So we carry on on the course and all of a sudden - BEES!!!  People were getting stung left and right, I got stung twice, immediately started running as fast as I could to get away from the bees.   So we were about a hundred yards up from the bees when the trail takes us down an embankment to riverbed, with about 6 inches of water in it.  Well this was not a crossing, the trail was actually in the river bed.  So we are all queued up in the 6 inch deep water making our way through the river bed, when all of a sudden, -BEES!!!  Once again, GET.OUT.OF.THERE as fast as humanly possible.  Got three more stings this time.  


This was no longer fun.


But the crowd thinned out, the 4 milers were gone, hanging with some other back of the pack folks, and no more bees.


So Jeff, Amanda, and I are moving along at similar paces, talking, laughing a bit - okay this is becoming fun again.  We come around a bend and notice a girl walking very slowly and we ask her if she is okay.  She (Katie) was having an allergic reaction to the bee stings!  Jeff and I stayed with her and Amanda headed for the next aid station to get help.  Gave Katie some Gatorade, checking her breathing, observing her, this was getting serious.  She felt like she was going to pass out, so we sat with her waiting on help.  At that point, Jeff stayed with Katie and I took off for the aid station to measure the distance.  Got to the aid station, they were on the phone with 911.  Wasn't too long before Race First Aid, Fire Rescue, and Police were all there, on bikes.  This was way too much of an adventure.


Back to the course.  The bee stings were hurting like hell, but I'll take that any day over an allergic reaction.  Once again, a few uneventful miles, but uneventful was so welcomed by this point.  When I got the end of the trail I cross paths with one of the Race First Aid guys and inquired about Katie.  He confirmed that she was getting the medical attention she needed.  That was good to hear.


I finished the course, but I have no idea what my time was.


I still have no idea what coasteering or craggy scrambling are.


And yes, the answer was "D", all of the above...     : )