winter trail series 15k

Saturday was the second installment of the Winter Trail Run Series. The series is held every winter in the Cleveland National Forest with. This string of races starts with a distance of 12K, and progresses every other week with the next longer distance of 15K, then 18K, and finally, 21K. I was at the race, but because I was still nursing myself back from injury, was not running. Our friendly, and a bit of a foul-mouthed race director, Baz Hawley, sent out a call for assistance. Well, I like the guy, so I thought, why not come out and help him.


It was a beautiful day, typical of Baz's races. There were somewhere around 135 runners or so that showed up for this fun romp in the woods. A few OCTR cast of characters were out there to race, Corinne, iMichelle, LSD Chris, Eric K. and his son, Kyle, Doug M., Fred Pollard. A few of us weren't suited up but still managed to make it out to give the old guy a hand, Chaz, Ryan, and Kirk.

This was the second week in a row where I showed up for a race and not run it. It's pretty strange, to say the least. Seeing all those runners getting ready to start while Baz gives his usual pre-race briefing gave me the itch. Dang injury! Another couple of weeks, and I'm hoping that I'll feel well enough to join them for the 18K version.

After the start, I chatted it up with the other volunteers, Ryan and Kirk. It wasn't too long before the race's eventual winner, Dean Dobberteen came cruising through the finish line. After a short while and a few runners, running phenom iMichelle crossed the line to claim the women's overall title–no surprise there. There were a few bloody knees, which isn't all that unexpected given the technical and tricky terrain, but otherwise everyone came out of the woods safe and sound.

Despite not being able to run, it felt good to be out there today. One of the benefits of trail running is just being part of the community. It was nice to see some friends whom I haven't seen in weeks because I've been missing in action.

Click here for more pictures from the day.