Monday, December 31, 2007

The Rest of Aught Seven

We have been simply swamped over here at SCRC headquarters. There have been Business Meetings, Social Events, Family Gatherings and Seinfeld Reruns. We are exhausted! We are sighing heavily and speaking weary exclamations with increased frequency! Goodness Gracious! But, my-oh-my, what a lot of racing has been completed over these, the last months 2007 shall e're witness. Won't you join us as we reminisce?

The Race In New York

Not even a month after we all remembered why it's best not to run marathons, Christopher "Bizyah" Lundberg forgot. He placed 319/1-Billion in 2:49:58 at the New York City Marathon. If he had placed 519 his place would have matched the police-code used as a joke in that one episode of Seinfeld where they were in LA looking for Kramer. But he placed 319, which is not very funny. He also reversed his Marathon Trajectory such that he now runs faster, not slower, over consecutive marathons. Bizyah will have another go at the East Coast at the Boston Marathon in April, 2008.

The Race In The Resevoir

SCRC Runner of the Year, Dan "Chapel" Church, returned to action the day after Thanksgiving by making a celebrity appearance at his high school alumni race. He jogged his way to a 2nd place finish behind a glory-seeking collegian. The collegian was later heard boasting, "I nailed almost 100-theses to the door of the Great Chapel and caused in him a schism!" It was weird.

The Race In Ohio

After two consecutive years of racing to the bottom at the USATF National Club XC Championships, SCRC decided we would be best represtented by an individual performance. When you send a team to these things you know how it goes. It's all politics and so-and-so doesn't eat venison parmesean and his shoes are on my feet and vice versa and there's never enough EPO to go around. So SCRC arranged to mail Bizyah to Ohio for this year's race. Simple, efficient, and the post office is right around the corner from my apartment. A loyaler soul than Herr Bizyah, however, I challenge you to find. He balked when he learned just how much the postage would cost for SCRC to mail him to the race, and offered to drive himself. So he did, leaving Minneapolis at 5pm, arriving in Ohio at 5am (well ahead of the scheduled Post Office delivery), napping in his car until race time, racing on the course until the race was over, showering, and driving back. Biz competed well in terrible conditions and saved The Company not only postage, but some face as well.

The Race This Morning

Some men look at the Twin Cities Racing Scene as it Is and say "Why?" I am one of those men. Some men look at the Twin Cities Racing Scene as it Could Be and say "Why Not?" Eric Hartmark is one of those men. Eric Hartmark examined the Twin Cities Racing Scene and recognized that there was not one single 2.05mi uphill race. And Eric Hartmark said "Why Not?" And Eric Hartmark took some clay and his rib and sculpted something called the West River Road. And he saw that it was Not Enough and he sculpted something called Franklin Avenue. And he saw that it was Still Not Enough, and he sculpted something called Prospect Park. And he saw that it Needed Just A Little More and sculpted Tower Park Hill and caused it to be covered with Snow. And he saw that it was 2.05mi uphill, and he caused the faithful to run it. Bizyah placed second at this race, trailing only its creator. Chapel placed fifth, fourth among non-creators.

Happy New Year from Slab City Running Company!