Time To Be Resolute

Okay all - it's that time of year................................................

New Year's Resolution Time

Good or bad, big or small...............................We all hate 'em; but, we all make 'em. Now, some of you will say "Oh, I never make new year's resolutions". But we know that you do. Even if it's just back in some dark corner of you mind. You still say -- "What I really would like to do this year is..................................."

Don't be ashamed. It's healthy to make resolutions. Think of them as goals. Or your short term bucket list if that sounds better.

At any rate, the Buzzard is curious as to what you plan to accomplish in 2010.

And, to start it off, I'll even let everyone know some of my resolutions.

Running:

Take 90 seconds off 2009 Bloomsday Time

Make top 5 Masters at Wulfman CDT 14-K Trail Race

Blog at least once per week

Personal:

Finish basement Mud Room and Bedroom Remodel projects

Blog at least once per week (this is an activity that crosses between both "worlds" for me)

Go fishing at least once per week this summer

Okay, there you have it. Now, let me know what you're thinking of accomplishing this year.

See you on the roads, tracks and trails

The Muddy Buzzard

Merry Christmas

The Buzzard hopes that you and yours all had a wonderful day yesterday and that Santa was good to you all.

I had a great day with my family. Our son made it home from Arizona for a week and yesterday we opened presents, ate too much, watched a bunch of movies (including a couple of classics - The Christmas Story and National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation -- BTW, cousin Eddy is still my favorite character)) and just hung out.

Of course, The Buzzard spread his wings and hit the pavement (oh, what a mixing of metaphors that was). Things just wouldn't be right without the daily worship at the altar of the mileage gods ;-)

Got a few cool running gifts. Got a Nike Sport Band with the foot pod. Calibrated it yesterday, so, we'll see how it does at tracking mileage. But, most of my running related items were books and video.

On the book front, got Born To Run (about Mexico's Tarahumara (sp??) Indians) and My Running Life (Bart Yasso of Runner's World). Also got Matt Fitzgerald's book Racing Weight. I've always noticed that I race best at a certain weight; but, as I've gotten older, I've also noticed that it's harder and harder stay lean and racing "fit". So am really excited to get Matt's insight.

On the video side of the coin, received Long Green Line (about Joe Newton's York HS XC program) and Saint Ralph (a hilarious story about a boy who thinks that he can save his mom by winning the Boston Marathon). It's a great story, and even funnier to those of us who went to catholic high school.

But, the pest part of the day was certainly just hanging out with the familyand reflecting on how lucky I am. I've had a pretty good life so far; and, really can't complain about how it's turned out to this point.

See you on the roads, tracks and trails

The Muddy Buzzard

Bozeman Track Club Preps The Next Generation

See the below link for a great story by Tim Dumas (himself a pretty studly masters runner) in the Bozeman Chronicle about the Bozeman Track Club's success at Junior Olympics in Reno this fall.

Dave Skelton does a great job of grooming the next generations of youth athletes in the Gallatin Valley. Any coincidence that Bozeman HS has been producing such stud teams the last few years??????

Thanks to Kirk Keller (another masters stud) of Three Forks for passing this on.

http://www.bozemandailychronicle.com/articles/2009/12/21/sports/000btc.txt

The Muddy Buzzard

Keeping The Cup All Shined Up

One of the largely unseen and unknown tasks behind the Montana Cup is a yearly organizational meeting that takes place by the core steering committee. This commitee is made up of representatives from all of the 7 cities/regions. Traveling from across the state, we met today in Whitehall as Ray (and Nicole and Eon) Hunt hosted the meeting in his hometown.

Present were Ray and Nicole Hunt (Butte), Jeff Thomas and Pat Judge (Helena), Alan King (Billings - 2010 race host city), Dewey Peacock (Bozeman), Anders Brooker (Missoula) and Tony Banovich (Plains/Kalispell). Unable to attend were John Zombro (Bozeman - 2009 meet director) and Bob Boland & Jaquie Maillet (Great Falls).

Yeah, we did take care of some important race business. We made a few decisions and adjusted some rules that should benefit and improve the race in years to come. Ray will get the rules and updated information up on the website (www.montanacup.com) in the very near future.

But, the best parts of the day come in a couple of different forms. First is the pleasure of seeing a dedicated group of runners who have a passion for the sport and a desire to see this event continue to gow and thrive. We travel great distances to make this meeting, we all do it on a volunteer basis, and there's no compensation or perks for our efforts.

Well that's not entirely true - which brings me to the other best part of the day - the big perk/payoff is the honor of being able to go for the obligatory pre-meeting run with some great folks. Today, Ray took the group out so that we could have the wind at our backs. Part of the group ran about 10 kilometers. Nicole, Alan and I ran about 15 to 16 kilometers. With the exception of the last 1,200 meters, the whole run was on gravel & dirt roads and trails. On a pleasant day of about -2 degrees celsius, we ran across some great high prarie areas with some wonderful views of the Tobacco Roots and the Highlands. Last year, it was a nice run on a crisp day on the snow covered trails around Bozeman. In the end, this is all payment enough for me.

See you on the roads tracks and trails.

The Muddy Buzzard

Mtn West Does Up Louiseville

The women of Missoula Based Mountain West Track Club made the trek to the southeast this past weekend to the USATF Cross Country Club National Championships in Louiseville, Kentucky.

Competing against big club teams likeBoulder Running Company, McMillan Elite, Asics Aggies, New York Athletic Club and Club Northwest - the women from the banks of the Clark Fork River did the Big Sky Country proud. Running against 29 complete teams - the ladies finished as the 18th team.

They were led by the Meg Lerch (the 2009 MT Cup Champion), who finished 17th overall (out of a field of 234). Her finish time of 21:14 over the 6 Kilometer course was only :53 seconds behind the time of individual champion Serena Burla. Over the last couple of years, Megan has steadily improved her level of perfromances and continues to move upwards on the National stage.

The 2nd and 3rd runners for the Mountain West team were also compeitors at this year's Montana Cup. After finishing 8th and 6th respectively in Bozeman, Jenny Newton and Rye Palen had great races in the Bluegrass State. Jenny hit a 22:42 for 111th place, with Rye only 15 seconds and 13 places behine (22:57 - 124th).

Next up for the Mtn. West women was master studdette Mary Thane at 24:17. And, she was followed by fellow master Janicka Umile in 25:01.

Great running ladies and thanks for showing the rest of the country what kind of talent we have here in the treasure state.

Check out these links for a few pix of Meg and Jenny

http://miscottrunningphoto.shutterfly.com/13776#13785
http://miscottrunningphoto.shutterfly.com/13682#13691
http://miscottrunningphoto.shutterfly.com/13682#13708
http://miscottrunningphoto.shutterfly.com/13682#13744


See you on the roads, tracks and trails


The Muddy Buzzard

Missoula Is The Place To Go

For those of you who haven't seen or heard the news - The Missoula Marathon (in only it's 3rd year of existence), was named by Runner's World as the Best Overall Marathon by it's readers in it's 2010 marathon guide.

Pretty big honor for our very own western Montana marathon. Outdid races like Boston, St. George, London, Twin Cities, New York, Disney, etc.

To check out the full list, pick up a copy of the January 2010 edtion of the magazine at your local Hastings, Borders, Barnes and Noble, etc.

Congrats to the whole Run Wild Missoula crew from The Muddy Buzzard.