Alternate Chili Run Race Report

On Sunday, Dec 9th, we had quite a few runners show up to run on the trails out at WyCo Park for our 4th annual "Alternate Chili Run." It's not a race but a run with 3 pace groups. It's held at the same time as the annual Chili 6.5-mile Run that another club puts on every year on the paved roads around the lake at WyCo. We choose to run on the trails and put in 10.35 miles, instead.

Everybody got a taste of what the 'Psycho WyCo Run Toto Run' course will be like...quite a few hills and some nice scenery. Our run had 41 starters, (which was about as many as the regular paved run). That's pretty cool, because we only had 8 starters one year ago! The trails were icy that day, so we ran with "screwed" shoes. Everybody had a good time, and most of the finishers stuck around for homemade chili, after the run. Dick Ross took some fun photos of the run.

All photos by Dick Ross at www.seekcrun.com


Running across the bottom of the dam.




Rick & Gabe




Good Ben, leading his group.

Keep in mind that we train on this course on most Sundays during the Winter. We usually run two (and sometimes three loops), and alternate directions on each loop. On some days, some of us run one loop, depending upon how we're feeling. We tend to have a lot of fun at this park.

Come out and join us sometime. Just check out our schedule.

Happy trails & happy holidays,
Bad Ben

A Little Snow & Ice Doesn't Stop the Trail Nerds

Within two short days, the temperature here has dropped 70 degrees (F), and it has also iced and snowed 6 inches! That's life in the Midwest. A little weather doesn't stop us Trail Nerds from running, though!

For the group run last night, we went to SM Park. The park was closed, so we parked at the entrance and ran into the woods from there. The windchill was minus 6 degrees, but in the woods the temperature was tolerable. I felt underdressed at the start, but after I got going, I warmed up a bit. My Patagonia Dragonfly Houdini is the perfect windbreak/outer layer.

At just 3.5 ounces, this baby rocks!

Eight Trail Nerds and one dog showed up. It was a blast running with our "screwed shoes." We cruised down trails and did a lot of bushwhacking, too. You never know what's under the powdered snow, so every now and then it was a stumble-fest. Woo-hoo!

We ended up playing hunter/tracker with the dog, because he took off for a while on his own. We split up and headed back to a rendezvous point, and he finally heard our calls and he sheepishly came back by finding two Trail Nerds to run back with. (He was put back onto his leash from that point on).

I ran for 70 minutes, but some of the others went back out for round-two. What a fun time!