MNOC Lake Elmo Score-O

The mind numbing exercise that occurs on trainers and treadmills takes it’s toll on us all during the winter.  It’s always great to pry yourself from the warm confines of your home to get back outside and enjoy Mother Nature.  So Pete and I participated in the MNOC Score-O at Lake Elmo.  Pete and I needed some time to work together as a team to prepare for POCAR.

It was a cold day with a temp of 10.0 °F at the start of the race.  Pete and I both navigated the course together.  We bounced ideas off each other very well thru out the race.  We ran the whole course, most of the time thru shin deep snow. 

Our nav was good for the whole course to hit each point.  We could have made a few better route choices.  For example early in the race we choose to take a short cut by running across a lake.  It was a great choice.  The wind had blown much of the snow off the lake making it a very easy run and saved a lot of energy and time.  Later in the race we made the same choice to run across a lake but this time the lake was in a much deeper valley and so was the snow.  The wind didn’t blow any snow off the lake.  It was almost knee deep in spots.   It cost us at least 5 minutes.

We came in with 8 minutes to spare.  With the extra five (making 13 minutes) we might have been able to eek out another point.  Shoulda woulda coulda.  Can’t hang your hat on that!  Pete and I came fourth with 20 points in 1:22.  It felt great to get out and see some great vistas, exercise, and share good times with friends.

-- Clark