Autumn Woods Classic 2009

This morning we drove on icy roads, past several nasty accidents, to meet Angie and Jason at the Elm Creek Park Reserve to race in the Autumn Woods Classic. We timed it pretty well, because I had just enough time to pin on my number, tie on my timing chip, and take off my down parka to start the race. It was not a pleasant run, because the paved part of the trail was glare ice, and the dirt part had a layer of snow. Nice. I watched two runners' feet slip right out from under them during the race, so I decided to take this race a little easy...

At the starting line with Jason.

While Jason and I were running, Angie and Matt kept the kids occupied. First they took a picture with the Old Country Buffet bumblebee.

Then they got their faces painted. Karl has a snake, Laura has a butterfly, and Colin has a gecko.

Then they painted rocks.

By this time they had to hurry and get to the finish line to see us finish. Well, they had to hurry to see Jason finish, since he stayed near the front of the pack the whole time.

Jason came in ninth place overall! And this is even though he only sporadically runs and has been sick lately. It's so not fair.

After our race came the kids' 1K race. They divide the kids up into age groups and stagger the starts. Here's Colin getting ready for his race. He got second place for his age group, probably due to that determined attitude that you can see on his face!

Here's Karl at the starting line. He looks very unassuming here, but little do people know how quick he is!

Off he goes!

We're not sure what place Karl got, because they started the age groups backwards of what they should've, and he ended up running into the little kids at the end. We do know that he did very well!

The biggest surprise of the day was Laura, who almost didn't run but decided to after all. Good thing, because she did fabulously! She kept a good, steady pace the whole way, but unfortunately she wiped out on some ice right before the final turn. She was a tough cookie, though, and quickly started running again.

Here's Laura coming in for a strong finish! (We got separated by this unaware woman in the middle of the road.)

All the runners: Jason, Me, Laura, Karl, and Colin

It was a yucky day for a race, but that just makes us tougher runners, I guess. Since it was so cold, we decided to skip the nearby playground and just go home. On our way out to the car, Matt noticed that we had a flat, so to cap off this beautiful morning he had to change a tire. Luckily, Jason and Angie drove by and saw us, so Jason helped out and the tire got changed lickety-split (thank you!). Oh well, we'll just hope that next year's Autumn Woods Classic will be warmer with no snow and ice!