Shambling through the Frozen Sasquatch

Kevin Stapleton and I went to Kanawha State Forest to do the Frozen Sasquatch 25k trail running race last weekend. The West Virginia Mountain Trail Runners put on the race and did a great job as usual. Check them out at www.wvmtr.org.

Maybe I should have gotten to the front before the first hill but, as things turned out, maybe not. Here's the conga line with the head of the race way out of sight above:

So I like the trail running even though I pretty much suck at it. I do fine for an old man but the real dudes go a lot faster. I can imagine a much better morning than this for a race:

Sorry about the back flash but that is what I got and that is how I felt. My thumb even got into the action, although it kind of looks like something more interesting:

So cold, snowy and dark:
A perfect day for trail running:
Who amongst you wouldn't want to run these trails?
Ok. So where is the sun? I mean really . . .
So why don't my eyes work yet? Maybe it's just the camera.
Things start looking better to my tired eyes. If running farther than ever in your life is better when it is so cold and snowy . . .
At least everything is coming into focus.  It was 5 degrees at the start.

Kevin is a real runner. Not like me. He would have been 10th overall at 2:48 but for a scoring issue which left him out of the results. He tried to get it sorted out the night before so he could do the 25k instead of the 50k but apparently the signals got crossed and he wasn't scored. But this is racing and we all appreciate the difficulties of accurate scoring. Check DCCX for examples.

Aid station #2 at 8 miles and half way was a welcome relief:

Sorry that I couldn't adequately document the rough terrain that makes this race what it is. But if you have done it, you know what is involved.
3:02 for me which put me 18th out of 62 finishers. I am old and a fat ass so I was happy just to finish but there is always a next race . . .

Trying to warm up after finishing:

Too bad they have so much flat running around Kanawha . . .

Thanks to the West Virginia Mountain Trail Runners for a great race. Displaying my prize and the sweet race shirt after thawing out a bit in the car:

We went skiing at Whitegrass the next day. Conditions were awesome but a bit cold and windy.
Here comes Kevin:
That is all.