Its good to be back in Omaha. A mountain of work ahead of me before the USA Club T&F National Championships in just over two weeks, I’ll be glad when that puppy is put to bed.
Final thoughts on Duluth: I was very proud of Luka Thor. This young man had school until mid day Friday, flew to Minneapolis and then into Duluth, arriving ~5:00 pm. Had a quick shake out run, supper, and then to bed to make the 4:15 am alarm, the buses to the start line departed at 5:00, the race gun went off at 6:15 am. He still managed a 1:07:32 to finish 39th overall. An amazingly deep field. We discussed pre race strategy and the plan was to go out with the lead group, which he did. He ran alongside always a mate Mike Morgan for the first two miles and passed the 5K point in a fast 14:43. The strenuous day (and entire week for that matter) did take its toll though, and while a 1:07 is a dream time for most anyone, the goal of 1:04 slipped away. Mike would go on to run 1:04:08 for 6th overall, darned proud of him! That is just :04 off his lifetime pr set in Houston in 2005, his last race wearing the Red & White.
Congratulations as well to Stacy Horsham from our Wednesday night group. Her pre race goal was to run a personal best sub 4 hour marathon, she handily beat that running 3:55:01. She’s a serious runner and her husband Chad is a cool cat that I got to enjoy a few beers with and get to know better.
The North Shore of Minnesota seemed to strike a deep chord within me. I found it to be a beautiful place that almost seemed like home. The Scandinavian influence called out my own Swedish heritage, I easily slipped into the “OChristHeyDereOhYa” vernacular and thoroughly enjoyed breakfast of pickled herring, pickled cucumbers, tomatoes, salami and bread. The moderate temps and breathtaking natural vistas have me considering it for retirement.
Natalie Como, Haleigh Riggle, Megan Zavorka, Emily Kraus and Carolyn Meyer were the Fast Ladies you saw zipping around Zorinsky early this morning. The five ladies battled some high humidity and 30+ mph winds in an attempt to get the Club Nats 10K qualifier of 39:50. Linda on the lead bike clearing the way, me on the hind calling out splits, there were a lot of dropped jaws at how fleet the pack was moving. Teamwork. Team Nebraska.
The food was great in Minnesota. White Fish, Walleye, Elk, root vegetables, and for dessert, attacking the pies!
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