Minus four degrees windchill. Some sunshine, but weirdly it didn’t feel THAT cold. A whole bunch of folks on the trail getting their Saturday miles in, each one likely prepping for an effort at Lincoln Full or Half Marathons in two months. Workout was 2 x 4 miles for me at (hopefully) goal marathon pace. Cruising along and it hits me. The smell from a local establishment of breakfast cooking. The rest of the run is spent mentally constructing my perfect breakfast food like some messed up “special” character from the Lego Movie.
The breakfast burrito. A smelting of flavors and textures that make your taste buds dance like river otters that drank big gulps of 5 Hour Energy. The calories of at least three separate meals to reenergize after a workout or supply you with the ample fuel to get through another day. A witches’ brew of multiple food groups. The number of potential combinations of styles to promote a Neil DeGrass Tyson tweet. The convenience of a burrito wrapped in pure unadulterated joy of breakfast food. I love you breakfast burrito. You are the swiss army knife of morning culinary delights.
RECENT RACE REPORTS
Empyrean Ales 5k was held for the fourth time on February 7th at Carol Joy Holling Camp near Ashland, NE. One of my few “streak” races left, it is a true cross country 5k sponsored by Empyrean Ales/Lazlo’s Restaurant. Weather and course conditions have ranged from balmy and muddy to cool and really snowy. This year we dealt with the remnants of a late January snow storm. Always fun and always a great early effort in this part of the year. Gun went off and so began my upteempth time chasing Ivan Marsh. He was the course designer and is (always will be) a trail monster. Muddy, slush, and shin deep snow met us out on the course. Two creek crossings and a set of stairs allowed him to gap me enough to get the win. I managed to pull away from a fellow racer and get the silver medal. That effort earned me a growler of the specially brewed small batch Luther Lager, which went nicely with the BBQ pork/soup/cookie combo. Always a great event.
RAGING BULL 12miler (or so) at Platte Rive State Park on February 14th. Jim Craig of Angry Cow Adventures is the ultimate race director of low maintenance, super well organized trail races in the state. No gimmicks or costumes, just a starting line and a gun time and a great trail. Offering 3, 6, and 12 mile options the Raging Bull crowd was met this year with still snowy conditions, but wicked windchills easily in the single digits and maybe colder.
Consisting of four, three mile loops the race course took you through the eastern section of Platte River State Park. More commonly used as mountain bike trails or muzzle loading hunting grounds in November, these trails are sweet for running. Decent elevation change, mixture of single track and 4WD roads bring you through the forests common to the banks of the Platte River. These trails are the running standard of this part of the state and always bring you back to the basics.
My race plan was to run negative splits and treat it like a solid marathon workout. Came really close to that goal:
23:58
23:46
22:51
22:50
Regardless, was good enough to win and I was rewarded with some pizza, a Hamm’s beer, and a warm pair of Balega socks as my prize.
