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My boy Ivan Marsh outdid himself this time. A trail race in Nebraska? In February? On the Platte hills? Sweet. I just felt really bad for the dude I saw in the parking lot wearing some brand spanking new Nike Frees. Those shoes were going to jacked up today.
Not too long ago, Ivan was helping his boss at the Carol Joy Holling Camp with some work at his home. After a hard afternoon labor, some beers were cracked and Ivan verbalized his desire to host a race at the camp to help raise funds for kids who could not afford to go themselves. After 16 years working maintenance at the camp, Ivan has seen the good the camp does and obviously enjoys what he does there. After contacting some sponsors and marking his trail on his home turn, we had the first annual (hopefully) Empyrean Ales Trail 5k born. $35 got you race entry, stocking cap, soup/salad/shredded BBQ sandwich and two pints of the usual Empyrean brew or a special edition Luther Lager. Beautiful.
Personally, I heard about the race through Will Lindgren’s blog at Team Nebraska’s homepage. Thank goodness, I love me a good trail race and needed something stupid to get me out of the funk I have been in. This fit the bill. Now let me digress for a moment. I caught the tail end of some NASCAR coverage recently where they were talking about the importance of picking the correct tires for the conditions. After jogging the course once as a preview, I thought I had it nailed by lacing up my Brooks Mach IX Spikeless racers. This decision would come back to haunt me.
I have never run in conditions as varied as this. Dirt road to snow patch trails to frozen mud to snow/ice covered singletrack in the forest to water crossings to shoe sucking mud this course had it all. A crisp, sunny morning belied the fact that anything where the sun be shining was going to get soft in a hurry. But this made it all the more interesting.
Starting gun was a snow man pushed off the second story of the meeting hall that served as post-race HQ. Settled in with Ivan Marsh and Tim Langdon leading the way and Todd Nott in hot pursuit. Knowing I was not even close to full strength, I stuck on the heels of Ivan and Tim who both quickly pulled away from at the one mile mark. Trying to make up ground on the downhills is one of my strengths. Unfortunately one misstep and I had one of the worst wipe-outs of my life. Right foot plant, hit icy mud, tuck and roll, pop up ten feet later covered in mud and snow. I am sure it was much less graceful in reality than my mind’s eye. Maybe something more cartoonish like Elmer Fudd hitting a banana peel.
From there I was kind of gun shy, put still tried to push myself best I could. Caught a couple of glimpses of Tim as he flitted through the trees and camp. After making my way over hill and dale, crossing what might be the worst cornfield in the world, and hammering the finishing road I was rewarded with a 22:45 5k time. Not bad all things considered. Taking full advantage of the race amenities, downed two Luther Lagers before one (ask me the last time I had two beers that early in the day), talked to some good folks, and off to Lincoln to relieve my wife of our son. Really good day and it is very rare for a race this young to have over 500 people and go off without a hitch. Mad, mad props to Ivan and the volunteers.
Oh, and for winning my age group I won a 5 gallon keg of beer from Empyrean Ale. Which the is the pure definition of not sucking.