Solstice Success - December 22, 2006

On a bitterly cold and windy welcome to winter, 38 headlamps bobbed and 
weaved along the trails and roads of Northern State Recreational Area 
outside Sedro-Woolley. To see the steady stream of light dancing in the 
fields was quite a sight to behold. Then again it could have been the 
hypothermia setting in that gave the lights their interesting glow.

This night began rather unfavorably when the newly tied mantels on my 
Coleman lantern were blown off while trying to light the lamp. Nonetheless, 
I pulled out my battery operated Coleman lantern to light up the parking lot 
and registration area and be a beacon to those runners desperately seeking 
the turn off Helmick Road!  Unfortunately, cold conditions diminish the 
life of a rechargeable battery so once again the parking lot was in pitch 
black while I shined by own headlamp upon the registration table. Along 
with the tiny beams of other headlamps, cars slowly began making their way 
into Northern State.

To be honest, I was shocked to see car after car turn into the parking area. 
I thought that maybe at best we would get a dozen or so crazies that owned 
a headlamp but once I recognized most of the Mt. Baker cross-country girls, 
I realized that this was a special night. Unfortunately we were so cold 
that the usual banter was replaced with retreat to the cars for warmth until 
the race began. And let me tell you, talking to runners in the dark about 
a race course is a rather interesting proposition. It basically was no more 
than me pointing into the darkness and telling the runners to trust me that 
the course was well marked. Well marked that is if you had your headlamp 
pointing at the correct angle!

Once the race and predict-your-time run began, the chill of the wind subsided 
for awhile and was replaced by the gentle warmth of running heat!  I managed 
to run ahead of the crowd with the clock in tow and was able to turn on my 
car lights that were pointing at the rocks bordering the beginning of the 
trail from the parking lot. I then took a shortcut to the center of action 
and cheered on runners as they made their way about the course. It was at 
that point I knew that something special was happening when I saw the steady 
stream of LED's bobbing along the trail. Although we have pictures on the 
website, the image that I am left with would be difficult to capture. It 
was just one of those moments similar to seeing lightning bugs for the first 
time. Magical!

This year's overall winners were Michelle Woodward and Bryce Hoefter with 
Dierdre Brown being the closest to her predicted time. Unfortunately, the 
loss of body heat caused the majority of runners to quickly slug down some 
warm apple cider and race to their cars which would hopefully help restore 
their body temperature to normal. So we weren't able to have a traditional 
awards ceremony. Not to mention one of my many duties was being the trail sweep. 
With the recent bobcat sightings and the possibility of Roosevelt Elk not 
particularly enjoying the company of runners, I had to make sure that everyone 
returned from the "Blair Witch Project" trail that I sent them on. That meant 
that I didn't get to greet the runners upon their return from hopefully an 
entertaining 5-mile headlamp run. Anyways I hope to eventually get three 
prize winners their awards.

In retrospect, I would have to say that the Northern Lights Solstice Headlamp 
5 miler was a successful adventure. We didn't lose any runners and hopefully 
we were injury free. It was a special night shared with fellow runners like 
Peter Haase the Bowrunner who just loves to have fun and the ever-smiling Scotty 
Railton. To see Joe out running with his son Dominick was exciting as was 
Travis running his first run with mom, Leah. Once I looked at the list, 
I noticed many other runners that I knew but didn't recognize in the darkness 
of the night. Many thanks to Tom for his usual taking care of my finish line. 
I think this run has a place on the schedule and will become a permanent fixture
on the dark dreary first Friday of winter. With that said, I look forward to 
seeing those fireflies again next year dancing upon my favorite running ground, 
Northern State!

- Dean Taylor, Race Director