Team Cross Runs

City of Lake Loppet Videos

Below are a few videos I took while enjoying the 2010 City of Lakes Loppet.  Sadly, we didn’t actually make it to the cross-country skiing race on Sunday.  But we enjoyed a full day of activities on Saturday.

The Penn Ice Cycle Loppet is a big draw for us.  It is fun to watch cyclists trying to keep their bikes upright on ice. Race criterium style it was divided into beginner, intermediate, and advanced men, followed by an all levels women’s race.  Videos are below in respective order.

Skijoring is fun to watch, partly because of the variety of dogs used.

Led by a Viking and some high school teams, kids 12 and under went for a 1 or 2k loop in the Minne-Loppet.

Our friends dog was enjoying the snow and ice.

You can check out my Flickr stream for photos of the day.

Valentines Snow Shoe

We took our snow shoes out to Lebanon Hills Regional Park for a short little snow shoe and to enjoy the beautiful sun.  It snowed a few more inches later in the day!  We also stopped at Pardon My French, the traditional stopping point post-Lebanon.

So here’s the video:

Snowshoeing Minnehaha Creek

Another snow shoe adventure down Minnehaha Creek to the Mississippi River.  Warmer weather had made the creek unsafe to actually walk on for most of the trip, so that was a little disappointing.

See map here.

Technorati Tags: Minnehaha Creek, snowshoeing, Mississippi River

Snowshoeing at Pike Island

We got snow shoes for Christmas.  Here is a video from the Mississippi River taken a week or so ago starting at Pike Island.  It was fun to wander around the island and the rivers.

See the map here.

Technorati Tags: snowshoeing, pike island, fort snelling, mississippi river

Video: Running at -21

Tomorrow’s high is only 8 degrees, so it seems this video is relevant again.  I made it last year and never posted it.  It goes with this post about running in the cold weather.

You can also look at my 9 tips for cold weather running and a bad story.

Technorati Tags: Winter

Meb on Letterman

Did you see this yet? After winning the NYC Marathon and $170,000 Meb Keflezghi was on the David Letterman Show. It is a little funny, his Top 10 list is so true!

Technorati Tags: Meb Keflezghi, Meb, Letterman, NYC Marathon

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Course Preview: Lake Minnetonka Half Marathon

In preparation for this weekend’s Lake Minnetonka Half Marathon, today I’ll look at the race course.

This is a Map My Run Map of the course provided by the race directors.

And their elevation chart – which is kind of weird looking. It says there is a total elevation gain of 17 feet over the entire course.  With a minimum elevation of 912 and a maximum of 1,004feet.  My driving of the course and the picture makes them seem like at most rolling.

Awhile back I drove the course with my video camera.  You can watch a high-speed version (13 minutes) of the video below or a longer (26 minutes) video here.

Below are a couple of pictures from taken along the course (click to enlarge).

Updated: In a pre-race e-mail from the director, there are a few course changes:

Race Course Modification
Just so you are all aware, there are three course changes this year that you should be aware of and pay attention to:

1. START LINE: Moved 300 feet toward Rice Street, away from Wayzata Blvd.
2. 10K MARK: Please follow the arrows and cones as you approach the 10K mark on the course. As you come off of Northview Drive, instead of turning onto Lake Rd where the 3rd Water Stop is located, proceed onto the trail and follow the signs on the course.
3. FINISH LINE: The Finish line has moved 300 feet closer to the LRT Trail exit in Excelsior. Instead of heading across Water Street over to the Wells Fargo Bank parking lot, everything is going to be staged in the main parking lot near the finish line. The school buses will be waiting on George Street after the race to return you to Wayzata.

Technorati Tags: Lake Minnetonka Half Marathon, Half Marathon, Lake Minnetonka