Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Back in the game: Work and Northwoods Snowshoe Championships

I started work today after being off since the middle of Oct. Let's just say I'm glad to be back in the game. My new job is with the MN Dept of Agriculture, Information Technology Division in St Paul. I interviewed for the job and they decided I was qualified. It'd be a good ego-boost to think I totally smoked the field of other top-notch applicants... and there really was no competition. As in, I was the only person that interviewed for the job! Can you believe that? I can't imagine that happens very often these days.


The Northwoods Snowshoe Championships were held this past weekend in Duluth. After a bitterly cold week, Sat turned out to be a pretty nice day. I ran the half marathon, and ended up running the whole way with Karen who was doing the full marathon. That's Karen leading the charge in the picture, with me trying to hang on in the middle, followed by another guy we'd just passed after chasing him for miles.


With my Garmin I was able to "run against myself" using the course data from last year. For most of the time we were behind. But we definitely finished the half marathon stronger than I did last year - in the last few miles I could see us slowing but surely catching up. As I came around the last corner and saw the clock, I "sprinted" in and PRed by a whopping 9 or 10 seconds!! :)


So I basically did the same as last year, and I'm happy with how it went. It was good to get back in the race game, too (Surph the Murph was Nov 1st). Next up is Psycho Wyco in Kansas City.

7 Comments:

Blogger Carl Gammon said...

Being the only person interviewed doesn't necessarily mean no competition. Perhaps they were VERY picky with the resumes that got through. Give yourself some props! Congrats on the new job.

7:59 AM  
Blogger Karen G said...

Yes- I thought the same thing as Carl you probably smoked it with your resume.
Congrats on your 9 seconds PR. You seemed very strong the whole way.

2:32 PM  
Blogger Kel said...

Congrats on your PR (a few seconds faster is still better than a few seconds slower) and your new gig! Will you be moving to the Twin Cities or staying in Rochester?

3:26 PM  
Blogger wildknits said...

Glad to hear you got the job! ditto to what Carl, Karen and Kel said.

Good job at the race. you neglected to mention the wind which picked up in time for the start! At least the sun emerged.

It was a pleasant day to play outdoors (though my yard is protected from the wind)!

7:28 PM  
Blogger Mike W. said...

Congrats on the job, Carl and Karen, have it right, look forward to joining you at Psycho Wyco.

8:19 PM  
Blogger Paul said...

Congrats on the job again! I hope it's all going well. I think doing the same in a race given the conditions is really good!

9:56 AM  
Blogger SteveQ said...

Just saw you finished PsychoWyco. Great job! Oh, and congrats on the new job, too.

11:19 AM  

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