So Many Races, So Little Time

I met with Kate and Lisa at Hyland today to discuss which races to include in the 2009 MN Trail Run Series. Boy, there sure were a lot to choose from! We finally came up with a tentative schedule, but I'm not going to post it yet since there are still some details to be worked out with various race directors. The schedule we came up with includes 8 races from last year as well as 4 "new" ones - and some of the repeats from last year probably aren't the ones that you think ;) The one race that is for sure is Runnin' in the Ruff 10K in Milaca on May 2 since it will be the championship race for the series this year. Hopefully Kate will have the final schedule posted on the UMTR website by the end of the month. And if you end up not liking the schedule, well....Kate has been asking for volunteers to help choose the races for the last couple of years - you had your chance :)

Our discussion revealed LOTS of MN trail races this year! Here are just a few that you can consider when planning your own schedules:

April 18 - Trail Mix 25K or 50K at Hyland Lake Park in Bloomington
April 19 - MDRA Mudball 4 mile at Wirth Park (Mpls)
May 2 - Runnin' in the Ruff 10K in Milaca
May 16 - Superior 25K or 50K in Lutsen
June 6 - Chester Woods 10 mile in Rochester
June 13 - Sour Grapes Half Marathon in Brainerd
June 20 - JJM Victory Run 5K in Spicer
July 4 - Afton 25K and 50K
July 4 - Tofte Trek 10K
July 11 - Lakewood Hills 5K in White Bear Lake
July 11 - Half Voyageur in Duluth
July 25 - Bay to Bay Road & Trail 10K in Silver Bay
July 25 - Voyageur 50 mile in Duluth
July ? - SMU Trail Scamper 5K or 4 mile?
August 1 - Fisherman's Picnic 5 mile in Grand Marais
August 1 - Granite City 5K - St. Cloud
August 15 - Days of Old Track & Trail 10K in Maple Lake
August 19 - Tartan Terrible 4 mile in Lake Elmo
Sept 11-12 - Sawtooth 100 mile
Sept 12 - Moose Mountain Marathon or Superior 50 mile in Lutsen
Sept 19 - Walker North Country Marathon in Walker
Sept 19 - Trees and Trails 5K in Mahtomedi
Sept 20 - Harmon Farms 10 mile in Inver Grove Heights
Sept 26 - In Yan Teopa 10 mile in Frontenac
Oct 17 - Big Woods Half Marathon in Nerstrand
Oct 17 - Wild Duluth 50K or 100K
Oct 25? - Great Pumpkin Chase 5K in Lake Elmo
Oct 25 - Spring Into Shape 5K in Duluth
Oct/Nov? - Surf the Murph 25K in Murphy Hanrehan (Savage)
Nov 7 - Arctic Commando 5K in Battle Creek Park (St. Paul)

There's going to be a trail running festival in Duluth from Sept 25-27 that sounds like a lot of fun too:
Friday Sept 25 - 1 mile (or there abouts) hill climb up Spirit Mountain starting at 5 pm.
Sat Sept 26 - half marathon (10-13 mile range - distance still to be determined) on the Superior Hiking Trail starting at 8 am.
Sun Sept 27 - 5K beach run at Park Point starting at 9:30 am.

So which ones am I running? I'll have to save that for a separate post.