^^ thas wha I was think'n there Les!^^  

About 20 for last week, had a 2 day windstorm midweek and didn't run but made up for it after. I had a decent long run Sunday, then back to our  fall work hours after evaluating the wind damage to our wheat and subsequent need to reseed blown out acres. I mean I can't do it any better but when the wind hits 70 mph and we have only had 6 inches of moisture year to date all methods fail. I got a couple of ideas for races to give me a goal and hope to get my mojo back.

Joe lookin' strong man!

Cindy is that the same race as Boulder Backroads that ran out of water? I have come to the conclusion I am going to be very picky about the races I support and not that I am that picky.

Leslie sounds like the well earned rest did some good. 6 gals on the loose, do we need to alert the CA national guard or anything? ;-) House looks great, I think you guys need to hire out and do ours.

Arla hope the ol quads are coming around after the trail race. Good deal on the pt.

We have a little benefit 5 k tommorow (costumes encouraged)  for a scholarship in honor of 2 local teens killed in a single vehicle car crash on the gravel roads last spring. These were very quality kids from good families, just tragic. Anyway I think Lyndie and I are going to do it even tho no pr's will be in jepardy. Think I got my getup planned out.

From the dirt blizzard about 11 am last thursday, probably the worst since 1934. Without all the no-till and reduced tillage would have been much worse. Looking west from our deck at one of our wheat fields. No clouds, no smoke, just dirt!

A couple pics from the trick or trot 5 k

Our family pre race

Me and my other Brother "Bubba" actually my banker :-)

Great pics, Jim!

No mug shots on this end, but I'm pooped! Today was rest day for me - thankfully!  Hanging out with the ladies yesterday shopping, eating, visiting, and playing Balderdash 'til after midnight last night.  Ugh!  I can't even begin to think of the last time I was until until 1:00 a.m.  Today it was lunch then a tour through a cemetery where folks were dressed up and played the parts of various persons who were buried there, giving backgrounds and telling how their character died.  It was a lot of fun, the actors were great, it was a beautiful day - what more could a person ask for!

Now I need to get some transcription done.  Later ~

Morning 40s and upwards.

1.75 miles for me yestrday morning.  Felt great to get back out there.

Quickly scanned the posts......Joe looks awesome! 

Jim looks......well lets just say.....it's good to see you Jim! 

Mtn's BBQ looks great!

Stump and Joe and whoevr else that may be in the storm's path....stay safe and good luck.

Hey's out to the Arla and Leslie.

Stay Safe, Joe!  My weather ppl are targeting your neck of the woods as a dead hit tonight & poss as a Cat 2!  & unfortunately, we sent our snow storm your direction too...Sorry! Just trying to get some snow to Stowe 

Hey Ev! Nice to see you! 

Recovered yet there, Les?  

Enjoy your taper, Arla - & git rid of that cold, hey?

Niiiice getup there, Jim..yeah - uh-huh!  Dessa Lou sure puts up with a lot from you two! Ha! ....glad you guys got to have some fun!   Yes, that was the Boulder Backroads race that ran out of water when I ran it a few yrs ago...After that fiasco I met, through other race friends, the woman who'd been recruited to coordinate volunteers & agreed to jump in to help too,. The the intention was to bring the thing back online....but well...., I guess this is just how Jeff wants it run.  Noelle has now washed her hands of it too. I found out she'd left when I showed up at packet pickup, which was a disorganized mess.... & Jeff was nowhere to be seen. I made the suggestion to him to send out a survey to folks - cause I seem to think he needs to know?

This was his response: 

Dear Boulder Marathon Runner,

Hello there, hope you're having a nice Sunday. 

Well, it seems like we picked the best weekend for the race this year (lucky!). It would have been a chilly start had the race been this weekend...Since the 2013 Boulder Marathon event is going to be on September 22nd, we won't have potential weather issues to worry about.

Click for Registration Link for 2013 Boulder Spring Half Marathon, 10 Mile & 5 Mile (April 7)

Click for Registration Link for 2013 Boulder Marathon, Half Marathon & 5 Mile (Sept 22)

While you all know how enthusiastic I am about these races, you can count on the fact that each year after the Boulder Marathon I will look back at how the event went down and look at the good and bad of race weekend. 

First, the good. The weather was awesome and you runners put in some amazing efforts out on the Boulder backroads. I saw countless smiles out there. Awesome. So my hat is off to you runners, thanks a ton for participating. The countless volunteers and race marshals were incredible. Like i said before, backbone of the race. The selection of food was both appropriate for a distance running event, and plentiful to boot. Rudi's, Evol, Larabar, Gatorade and many others really stepped up on the food/drink front. And thanks to sponsors like The North Face for providing all of the jackets our race marshals wore out on the backroads...And Many Thanks to the people from City of Boulder, Boulder County and State of Colorado agencies who did an outstanding job ensuring the safety of all the runners on the race route. The (awesome!) Boulder Reservoir Staff, the Boulder County Sheriff's Office, the Boulder Police Department, the Colorado State Patrol, EcoCycle, and many others who contributed to a really great, fun, and safe race day at the Boulder Reservoir. The shirts were a hit, the medal was beautiful, the glasses, that hat...All outstanding (more than given out at any other marathon I know)...and how 'bout that orange starting line?

I'd also like to thank USA Track & Field Colorado for being part of the event. Boulder Marathon LLC gave out nearly $5,000 in cash prizes to the men's and women's field at the event (and if there's a race organization in Colorado who gives more prize money to the elite field than Boulder Marathon, I'm not aware of it). Thanks to all of you outstanding athletes for showing up and for all of your amazing performances.

Without boring you with a ton of detail, I also want to quickly address three issues that may or may not have affected you on race weekend...and tackle them head on.

First, the deal with the race glasses...As you all probably knew, the only people who were to receive glasses were those who went to Fleet Feet packet pickup. Though it was on the web site and in a million emails, somehow the glasses were returned to the Boulder Reservoir on Friday night after packet pickup (when they shouldn't have been) and nobody picked it up when they were inadvertently distributed to runners on Saturday afternoon at the Boulder Reservoir in the race bags. As I was walking by packet pickup I noticed the error, but by that time about 350 lucky runners got a glass on Saturday afternoon when they shouldn't have. So here's how I'm going to deal with this. I just ordered another 400 glasses. Now this is on the honor system so follow me closely. If you didn't go to packet pickup at Fleet Feet, then you simply shouldn't have received the glass. If you shouldhave received a glass but didn't, then send an email to us and we'll make sure you get a glass. If you live around here, you'll be informed where to pick them up. If you live out of state, I will personally mail you one. I won't have the glasses for another two weeks as I just ordered them. So thanks in advance for your patience on this one. 

Second, some people had to wait an inordinate amount of time at race weekend packet pickup to receive their race materials. Usually all of the timing materials are furnished to us by the timing company all complete and ready to be handed out. This unfortunately wasn't the case and our volunteers had to work furiously to put them together as some of you waited. I am very sorry about this, and I assure you this will never happen again.

Third, exit times out of the reservoir. Many of you have run in my events at the reservoir in the past, and while sometimes there is a wait, it's usually not a big deal. This obviously wasn't the case last Sunday...The construction at the reservoir resulted in us having one exit on race day. This was an inevitably situation with the construction process, and we'll never have this issue again. A sincere apology for those of you waited in your cars for a long time before you could exit. The Boulder Reservoir is going to feature many improvements in the future and thank you for your patience at this 2012 Boulder Marathon event. Next year we won't have this issue to deal with. 

Because of the glass and registration issues, I decided to extend Super Early Bird Registration until November 1st. I hope I have addressed any concerns you had about the event and I look forward to seeing you at the Spring Half...2013 is going to be a great year for all of us. If I've answered your concerns, please take a minute and take us up on the $15 savings on our two 2013 events. Click the link above to register. You will not see these low registration rates again.

Thanks for your time. 

Jeff Mason
Race Director

Boulder Marathon® 

Ps - Unless it's the month before an event, I'll be sending these email updates every two weeks, starting on Nov 1. If you choose to not receive these email updates, then feel free to unsubscribe. All important race information will be on the site if you choose to unsubscribe, so no worries. When it's a month before the race I will sent you lots of race updates.