Roseville 623 Run Race Report

Or, "I Should Have Brought My Yaktrax"


Or, "How I Raced My Department Chair"


I raced today.  I decided to do the 623 Run for Roseville Schools.  Yes, the 6.23k race.  This turned out to be rather fortuitous, since I had to deal with this:

Yes.  Snow.  Lot's of it.  In fact, we're on track for this to be the biggest pre-Thanksgiving snow since 1991.  Since the race was a crazy non-standard distance, I wouldn't be trying to hit certain pace goals, and that would be good for running in slippery conditions.

I dropped Katie off at the airport, then made the slow commute to Roseville.  I decided to park at the start (it was a point-to-point course), and afterwards I would run back to the start as a cool down.  It was a pretty popular race since it raised money for Roseville Schools.  Even Minnesota running legend Rick Recker was there.

Well, it kept snowing.  And snowing.  And snowing.  They managed to plow the whole course, but that only lasted a little while before it was covered again.  If I had worn my Yaktrax, I would have had a HUGE advantage.  But I didn't.

I lined up at the start, and we were off.  I settled into about 12th place for the first mile or so.  Over the next mile, I passed 2 people.

THUNDERSNOW!

My knee started to give me issues around 2.5 miles.  By "issues", I mean it felt like it was on fire.  The course left the roads and went to paths/trails.  I was passed by 2 people in this stretch.

In the final mile, there was a decent uphill, followed by a downhill.  In this last bit, I was passed by the first place female.

I finished in 26'20", which is a 6'51" pace.  I'm pretty pleased with that considering my knee and the weather.  I'd guess that I placed 12th or 13th for men, but I'll wait for the results before making that official.

Afterwards, we gathered in the Roseville High School cafeteria, and they had pie.  Apple Pie!  It was absolutely delicious!  I also won a door prize (I think 50% of the people there won door prizes, and the other 50% won slightly lesser door prizes).

As I was waiting for the bus to head back to my car (I had given up on the "cool down run" because of the weather and my knee), I noticed someone familiar—the Chair of the Mechanical Engineering Department at the U (aka, my advisor's boss).  We chatted a bit (he was running with his wife and kids).

I rode the bus back, and cleared a few inches of snow off my car, and drove home.  It took a while to get home.

This was also the first time I've raced in my Brooks Launch.  Overall, they worked good, although it was tough to judge because I was concerned with traction more than shoe weight.