Monday, March 8, 2010

A Crazy Weekend

Let's start with Saturday morning. The Penn State Altoona Snowflake Run that was sponsored by the PSU-Altoona Lady Lions Soccer team. Originally scheduled for LAST Saturday it was canceled due to the horrendous weather we've been experiencing here in Central Pennsylvania. What that created was my fourth 'back to back' situation. Meaning that I had a 5k on Saturday and a 10k on Sunday.

The Snowflake Run was held on the PSU Altoona campus and a prettier course you would have a hard time finding. Despite the double-loop course and a few near "switchbacks" that slowed my time a bit, I still crossed the line in 6th place overall with a time of 19:27. With 26 degree temperatures at the start, it was sunny and overall was a pretty good day for it all. I also got one of the more unique place awards (1st in my age group) that came in the form of a tree ornament. A great idea! Pictures from Saturday follow:



Onto Sunday. Despite a chest cold and coughing that came on in the middle of the night, I went to Shanksville for the Shanksville 10k. A fairly tough course with windy conditions were offset by the fact that it started at 1:00 p.m. Temperatures were in the upper 30's and lower 40's and bright plentiful sunshine made it seem much nicer. I decided not to "race" this one, but just go comfortably fast. The idea worked as I was able to post some pretty good miles despite my physical condition and the fact that I had raced the day before. My 43:44 finish time was good for 4th place overall and 1st in my age group. Another unique award that I did not and could never keep. A peach pie! It along with the race bib is pictured below.

















NOTE: I decided to let my last post stand for an extra day or so to give it the time that it deserved. Because I was in a hurry (as I usually am of late) on Saturday I failed to write a bit more about the artist of that amazing painting. Linda Flanagan is a fellow Saint Francis alumni who hails from the Northern Cambria County area. She now calls Chicago home and is a very good friend of mine. She is a fellow runner and is married to John who is a successful podiatrist in the Windy City. She is like a big sister to me. The sister I never had.

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