Colfax Santa Trot 2006

This race was under new direction this year (new XC coach Joel Jones), and was two weeks earlier, cost more, and was run on the cross country course instead of the streets. Well, I had to try it just to so I could review it.

I like to run the Colfax Santa Trot because I had previously set 5K PRs there, once doing a 20:09 (that's fast for me). For some reason, the middle of December always finds Colfax with bare and dry streets and little wind. And maybe the course was short too, but I don't care. This time the course was around unplowed track/field and park in 6" of powder, with less than a half mile of packed road snow. I ended up running a 26:50, and would have taken 5th overall except that the course was a confusion of switchbacks, half loops, and reverse turns. Who knows what place I ended up? Here's a picture of the course. That's right. There were a lot of turns for just a 5k. And a number of people missed a bunch, including me.

Here's the verbal description of the course: Start in one corner of the football field. Diagonal across, then run 3/4 a lap and head for the baseball centerfield. Around the right field, down the 1st base line, hurdle, home, hurdle up the 3rd base line. Out the fence in left field and onto the street. Into Schmuck Park (did you know that schmuck means "jeweler" in German?). Up this incredibly difficult hill (10 yds), steep, slippery, and between two hedges. Up river on the levee (powder). Back on a packed snow gravel road, into the back side of Schmuck park. Double zigzag the length of the park. Back to the steep little uphill for another loop of the same. Out the park and back on the street toward the high school. Reverse course on the baseball field, hurdles, baselines and all. Back to the track, around the opposite way, finish on the straightaway instead of the diagonal.

Despite these odds, 10 monkeys made the attempt, including Roy, Ann, Flip, The whole Dozer family and most of the Foo family. We didn't stick around for the awards, because they would be more of a random prize drawing.

Frosty Morning: Yup, it was kind of cold. But at least it hadn't snowed for a couple days.
Ann Hurdling: OK, so it's more of a bench that a hurdle. But in the powder it seemed quite dangerous. Many smart folk, like Ann here, opted to go around. Sorry I didn't have the camera until near the end of the race.
Dozer Hurdling: Like a true Steeple chaser.
Monkey Sprint Finish: It turns out that some monkeys were sandbagging the whole race and had way too much left for a sprint. But at least it was a great finish pose.
Kudos to Matt:
Group Pics: There's front, back, chain, lame pyramid, and then everybody except Flip, who we somehow missed.