Race Report 
Northern Lights 5-mile Headlamp Run.  
Dec. 21, 2007  
Northern State Hospital  
7:00 PM (Cold, Windy, Mucky)

Against all better judgment I accepted a ride to this race.  I have been 
comfortably injured and unable to do hardly any running or training but 
thought "Oh what the heck."  "Probably almost nobody else will show up, 
especially after that dark, cold, windy mess last year, and poor old Dean 
Taylor will be there alone with buckets of hot cider and all that prize 
beer and then who knows what he might do in despair."

I need not have worried (or even gone.)  Like last year, after a somewhat 
slow first half hour of sign-ups, a steadily growing trickle of cars turned
off the main highway and up the road and into the dark parking lot, lit 
only by a lantern and a campfire.  Quite a few more than last year came 
and I think it was probably the clever way the cops put a couple of black 
and whites with full blazing lights down at the corner to guide us in - 
not so many would-be runners went on up to Concrete that way, and ran the 
Baker Lake trail instead.

The congregating spot had all the ambience of a hobo camp .. or maybe a 
miner's camp.  A ratty blowing tent, a smoky blowing fire, several sad 
looking characters standing around with headlamps shining in each other's 
eyes.  Girls peeing in the dark port-a-potty, guys peeing behind cars.  
Many just hunched in their warmer cars, waiting for the time to go.

We all tossed a few bucks into this huge mayonnaise jar that kept blowing 
away until we put some big rocks in it.  Then it filled up faster than a 
Salvation Army kettle.  There were 53 people came and signed in and 
contributed.  But then it is a cheap race .. about sixty cents a mile, 
compared to maybe two-three bucks per at a class affair.  When word gets 
out more, this could be huge.

Of course in this run you can't see a damn thing except the little part 
in front of you, so no since paying extra for the scenery or ambiance of 
the setting.  No music, no spectators, no gator-aid stops, no search and 
rescue.  In fact it is almost like they should pay you to go, it is so 
treacherous.  In daylight races you also get to see the girls.

Shortly after 7:00 PM we got led off in and around the parking lot after 
pledging our undying allegiance to Taylor and promising not to sue his 
a... and thanking the gods of cold and dark.  Some reporter was there and 
took our picture and somebody else said GO and off we went, right through 
a huge mud puddle.

I knew speed was not my thing this run, so I started in the back, but kept 
up pretty well.  The track was quite well marked at first, and easy for me 
since 52 other guys had already left their feet prints.  I guess it was 
about like last year but it all seems strange in the dark.  There was an 
adequate amount of mud and puddles. 

There was also a moon some of the time and that lightened things up nicely 
and I saw a few runners with no lights, including a dog who kept getting 
ahead of me and then getting lost and then passing me, again and again.  
I found a flashlight along the trail and that may explain one of the 
lightless runners.  I don't think there are any more inmates at the 
Hospital, so the other ones without lights were for sure paid up and 
legitimate.

I had to walk now and then, but even at that I was pleased at how well I 
was doing for so little training.  As I was headed out toward the 
turn-a-round I counted 27 runners coming back at me.  Then about four more
passed me on the way in ... mainly because I got all confused at the forks 
in the trail where the arrows did not jump right out at me.  So I figured 
I was about 33 or 34 or so .. even though only about seven or eight more 
guys were behind me after the turn-a-round.  All I could think is that 
maybe the other ten or twelve got lost or cut it short or whatever.

Anyway, I finally saw the lights of the finish line and got handed card 
no. 51 as I crossed.  So those other ten or twelve did go over the finish.  
But it was less than an hour, which was my goal, so I was happy happy!  
Maybe I just did count wrong out there.

The soup and cookies and cider were all outstandingly good and that old 
camp fire was just right and there was a fancy awards ceremony and we all 
hopped in our cars and left.  I suppose somebody stayed to help clean up 
... although nobody seemed to be aware of any kind of organized race 
committee or anything like that.  There was a rumor that the newspaper 
would have good coverage, but I have not seen it yet.

I hope to be there next year but maybe they better have some guys help 
with parking because if you extrapolate the growth potential against the 
cost and benefits, not to mention the kitsch, you can figure maybe 75 
runners.

Slow Runner ........

PS... later I found out I was actually No. 50.  They must have originally 
given a numbered card to that dog.