Final "Loony Challenge" Results: I WON!

500 people signed up to do the 10K, 5K, and 10 Mile within 24 hours of each other last weekend. Four hundred eleven ran in the 10K and 5K, and 391 of those also ran the 10 Mile the next morning.

And I came out on top:

I kept looking for the results to be updated on Sunday night after the race, and it was actually Thomas (last year's winner who I interviewed to get some advice) who shot me an email saying "Just saw the TC Looney Challenge results. Good work!" He was the first to let me know, so then I had to go look them up! Soon, lots of friends started chiming in:

Ha! Yes Don. (And that confirms everything I wrote in my 10K race report.)

Since my goal for the Loony Challenge was 2:01:00 (as stated here) with sub-2 being "amazing," I'm pretty thrilled with my 1:59:00! But I have to note that the 10 Mile was a little short. Minnesota distance running legend Rick Recker had a Facebook message waiting for me when I got home from the race. He sent me the certified race course notes and asked where the course went wrong. (I did the SAME THING for him last summer at the Midsummer Mile where I supposedly ran a 4:40 mile. I knew better. Turns out, it was short, and it was a 4:50 equivalent.) Rick then posted this:

"USATF Certification correct. Should follow the red line. Runners went the blue path."
We were led that way by the lead biker, and that made the course 0.14 short.

Rick noted that we could "divide your finish time by .986 to get a 10M time." So my 1:01:42 is really more like 1:02:34. (61.70 / 0.986 = 62.57, which is 1:02:34.) That bumps it down from my 3rd fastest to my 4th fastest 10 mile (out of 6 - 59:05, 1:01:20, 1:02:19, this years 1:02:34, 1:02:43, and 1:02:44).

Last year was the first year of the "Loony Challenge," and Thomas (the winner who I interviewed) finished in 1:59:16:

So I posted a faster time by 0:16 this year, but it was short. So really, Thomas posted a faster time by 0:36. And look at our individual splits: Thomas beat me by 23 seconds in the 10K, our 5K times are TIED, and he would have beat me by 13 seconds in the 10 Mile. Close! We might have to have a race at next year's Loony Challenge!! Thomas has already expressed an interest...

Here's some more notes on the rest of our "Loony" gang:

I had a 2:37 lead after the 10K and 5K, and that grew to 7:16 lead after the 10 Mile. As Thomas mentioned, you can make up the most time in the 10 Mile.

Matt finished 9th in his age group, and 80th overall (with times of 50:56, 28:07, and 1:22:10 for a total of 2:41:13).

In the ULTRA Loony, there were about 100 runners, and 84 finished the 10K, 5K, and Marathon. Don was only 1 of 2 to break 4 hours, finishing on top with times of 38:29, 19:11, and 2:56:16 for a total of 3:53:56.

Pharmie was 8th in her age group in the ULTRA with times of 1:02:18, 31:14, and 4:56:16 for a total of 6:29:48.

The big surprise of the weekend was how well Angela did in the ULTRA Loony! (Not that we didn't expect her to do well.) She was 25th overall at the end of the first day of races (49:53 10K and 27:45 5K), and after a 3:58:02 marathon, I told her she'd probably move up a few spots to around 21st overall. And that's where she ended up! (With a 5:15:40 total time.) She was FIRST in her age group, too!

We'll see if any of us try to tackle this race again next year. It was really a boatload of fun! (Even more fun that I won...)

p.s. If you missed it,here's my 10K and 5K race report, and here's my 10 Mile race report.