MDRA Annual Party and Some GOODIES!

Saturday afternoon was the annual "Minnesota Distance Running Association's" annual pizza party.

LOTS of Red Savoy Pizza! (Photo from Wayne Kryduba.)

Nathan (on the end in red in the photo above) was helping dish out pizza. He smiled and gave me the tiniest corner piece and said "THIS is for beating me in the series!" Then he smirked again, gave me a TINIER piece and said, "Oh, and THIS is for passing me in the final meters of the City of Lakes 25K!" Then he loaded up my plate with pizza, so I take it that all is forgiven. :)

Ice cream and toppings!


A full hall of MDRA members (not nearly all of the 2,400+ members).


The ceremony getting started (to the left).

There were a LOT of door prizes, but Pharmie and I didn't win any. There were technical running shirts, free race entries, running gear, etc. The "big 3" prizes were race entries into Grandma's Marathon, the TC Marathon, and the TC 10 Mile.

There were introductions of old and new board members for the MDRA.

Near the end was the awards presentation for the MDRA "Grand Prix" series for 2012. They first called up the age group winners. This 1 photo shows the butts of the 5 guys I was most concerned about after the first few races of last year - meaning they ALL won their age group in the series:

- Patrick is SUPER speedy but only did a few races.

- Scott beat me at most races, but he didn't get 10 races in.

- Ben was the one who would have owned the series had he done the last race.

- Kirt came in 2nd overall, and only started beating me later in the year. I think I've mentioned this before, but (as the legend goes) Kirt raced 100 races one year a few years back, and now he tries to race 1 more each year. He ran 110 races in 2012. ONE HUNDRED AND TEN! There are 52 weeks in a year. Think about that. Now ponder your own lame race schedule.

- And Michael (on the mic associated with the MDRA) was the one I was TRYING to catch at the Securian Run Half Marathon a year ago. Oh, and I guess he didn't win his age group - he was just helping present awards.

Then the overall female and male winners were announced: Lisa Burger and myself.

Lisa in the blue, and me just past her in red shoes.

Michael noted that he BEAT the winner (me) at the Securian run (which I wrote a lot about here), and he noted that I do a lot of duathlons and triathlons. And I LOVE that he pointed out that I did 1/2 of my 2012 miles with Henry!

All the winners! (Photo from Wayne Kryduba.)

Notice that there seem to be a lot of older people in that photo. The "open" age group is under 35, and then there are 5-year age groups going up from that (35-39, 40-44, 45-49, etc). So there are a lot of "older" and SPEEDY people up there.

All of the age group winners were given shirts, and I got a sweet Asics pull-over:

It's REALLY soft, and it's my first shirt with "thumb holes."
(And it still smells wonderfully like "Run N Fun!")


Close up of my boob / MDRA logo.

Everyone who "completed" the series (did at least 10 of the 14 races) got a double-walled tumbler with a cold cap (and straw) and a hot cap:

And for winning the series, I got $100 to my favorite running store:

Thanks everyone at the MDRA for the great pizza party, the sweet gear, and all you do for the local running scene!

Oh, and then RIGHT after the awards / pizza party, we all headed out to a yearly get-together of Pharmie's college friends and their families. Henry and I hung out in the kiddie pool for over an hour:

p.s. There might be a little giveaway this week! So check back!...