I eluded the Winter Wolf and won the Race! Photos included!

I won! I had to be talked into doing the race and I actually won it! haha!

My first Winter Wolf Run is in the books. Brief race report with pics....

Okay, so it wasn't really a trail race like I was led to believe. Probably less than a mile was on trails. Thank goodness too, cuz that short section was hard! I was right behind Matt until that point and then he had an easier time through the snow and took off on me. I never caught back up.

Running at night with the Yak Trax on pure ice and a head lamp for vision was just fine! I wasn't scared at all, could see well enough and the Yak Trax let me run fast and with confidence on the ice. I was very impressed with the Yak Trax. They even did fine on the sections of asphalt. I know you're not supposed to wear them on asphalt, but I wasn't about to take them on and off, on and off, in the middle of a race.

The river crossing was scary! They built an unsteady, double plank bridge over it. It was only about 10-15 feet across, but when you're as scared of heights as I am, that's a huge distance. The creek was down in this valley with very steep sides. It was a steep, snowy descent down to it and quite a climb back up on the other side. My hams were aching for about a half mile after that climb!

The vast majority of the 15 miles was on iced-over dirt roads or two-track, so that part was mostly easy going. Had chicky noodle soup with lots of saltines at the end. Chili was also available but had way too many evil tomatoes in it for my taste. No coffee though. What's wrong with people!? ;-)

After warming up a bit and waiting for other racers to finish, the awards began. Pics of my award, my hubby's award (he won his age group) and other random photos below!

Receiving Overall Female award. Nice shot of overloaded trash can there too. heh

My award is transparent.

A slightly better photo of the award at home. Hard to get good shots of transparent things!

It lights up!!!!

Matty and his original award. He traded it later for...

This is the award Matty traded for.

Pre race all geared up and ready to run! Proof Matty wears shorts in the winter. Goof. The other man in the photo is Dennis, a fellow member of RUT (Running Fit's Ultramarathon Team) which we just joined. Just met a bunch of the members last night.

Mmmm... post race chicky noodle. I was still shivering even after the soup.

Witchy Wolf in Pursuit!!

Before tonight, I'd only run after dark once. That was in the summer on a flat rail-trail. I was running with my husband who had a headlamp on. We did maybe four miles.

Tonight I upped the bar a little. Instead of flatness underfoot and a warm breeze surrounding us, we ran on snowy (icy at times) wooded trails, both wearing Yak Trax and headlamps and bundled up from head to toe. It was awesome!

I'm not much of a night person. Once the sun goes down, if I'm in, I'm usually in for good. I don't see well at night (I know - who does?) and I never feel safe. Then my husband started talking about this trail race that starts at 6:30pm next Saturday - the Winter Wolf Run. Fifteen snowy, icy miles after dark with the Witchy Wolf in pursuit! My immediate response was, "No way! I'm out!" But more and more trail running friends kept talking about it and I was beginning to feel like a whimp! So tonight I asked my Matty if he'd go on a short test run after dark on the trails near our home.

Now I'm still not sure I want to do this race, but the run tonight made me slightly more confident. I now know I can run comfortably with a headlamp on my head and Yak Trax on my feet. I just wish the headlamp were brighter...

Here's a partial list of what the website has to say about this race:

• Full of the moon January 23rd 2010

• Surprises, some support, wild animals and more.

• Headlight and taillight required.

• Encounters with the wolf guaranteed.

• Reward if you capture the wolf.

• Notification of next of kin, if the wolf captures you.

• Survival not guaranteed

• Fun unusual awards and treats

• Freezing temperatures and snow!!

Encounters with the wolf? Survival not guaranteed? EEP! :-)

This will certainly make for an interesting race report if I end up running.