The Buzzard has obviously not been good about staying on top of things the last couple of weeks. Lots going on and not much free time...................so, something had to give. And, unfortunately, that meant posting on the Muddy Buzzard has been on a leeetle bit of a hiatus. But, let's get caught up a bit.
To begin with, I've just finished up my first week as the head coach of the Plains H.S. Cross Country Teams (the Horseman and the Trotters (that's right ----- the Trotters. Perhaps one of the more unfortunate team names)) It's been a bit of an eye opener to deal with the HS psyche. So far, I don't have full boys or girls teams (4 and 2); but, we're hoping to pick up at least one boy so that we have a scoring team.
On the up side, I do have one boy (a sophomore) who made State in the Class B two mile as a freshman on some pretty marginal training. So, with some good training, I'm hopeful that we'll see some good things out of him.
On to the statewide scene. On the 15th I was at the Huckleberry Run 5K in Trout Creek. It was a decent race (won by Jacob Naegeli of Trout Creek, sophomore to be at Earlham College in 16:59., the Buzzard won the masters at 17:57) - but, the weather was the news of the day. So, here it was in mid-August. Usually the dog days of summer. Still plenty of time to be out on teh lake, hitting the pool and catching some rays. Well, not this year. Race time was in the high '40's. Conditions were great for racing (no wind, cloud cover, crisp); but, not expected at this time of year. Not prepared to see my breath during a summer run.
But, the big news of the last two weeks would have to be the Ridge Run in Bozeman (also on the 15th). The men were chasing the almost untouchable record time of 3:06:30 by Scott Creel in 2007. First this year was Chad Andersen of Bozeman in 3:35:42. Chad has won at least 3 time previously (1993, 1994, 1996). Pretty impressive to come back 13 years later and get win #4.
Rounding out the top 5 me were Dewey Peacock (3:41:37), Kevin Murphy (MSU alum, now in Seattle) in 3:41:53 (amazingly close 16 second split after 20 trail miles), Justin Prigge in 3:42:46 and Douglas Wadle in 3:50:26.
First Master man was the 2008 winner and 52-year old Kyle Klicker running a 3:58:08.
The women's race saw a new record set. And, it should come as no suprise that the winner and new record holder is ultra queen Nikki Kimball. Breaking her 2004 record by almost 10 minutes, Nikki's 3:43:49 outpaced second place by about 50 minutes. She also finished 5th overall in the race and her time was only the second time a woman has been under 4 hours in this event.
A great day on the ridge for all involved.
See you on the roads, tracks and trails.
The Muddy Buzzard
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