June Racing part 2-Moscow Masters Championships and more

Moscow Masters Championships 15-16 June

I ended up repeating the 1500, 3000 double as I did it last year. It was also warmer than last year. On day 1, it was 29 for the evening 1500 and 30C on the track for the 3000.  My legs were still not at 100% yet speed wise either. Apparently, it was taking longer to come off of Arctic Valley. That coupled with the heat had my times slower on both days. It was still good enough for the win in the 1500 and second in the 3000.

20 June 1000m at the OLD Medik stadium:

Earlier in the day we had a TORNADO-yes, several in the Moscow area! I didn't even know that was meteorologically possible in these latitudes. Scientists here were all pointing to climate change, which leads me to believe if it can happen here, it can happen in Alaska in my lifetime. On the plus side, it dropped to 13C by the time I ran the 1000 at 8:30PM. I was FINALLY aboe to run a decent time and I chicked all the boys!

As you can see, the stadium has not been resurfaced in a good 30 some years. It was in disrepair when I trained here in grad school summer 98, 2000,2001.

PARK RUN two days later, where I finished second, but just missed beating my time from Nationals last yr by 2 seconds!

MEDTROIKA photos below:

June was closed out with the Medtroika on the 30th. This one was a scorching 31 C for the evening race. It's always very well organized and the race director does an excellent job. I got to see several old friends including a good one from work way back in the day who has become quite the speedy runner! Good gods, I got put into the fast heat with all the youngsters! All of our times were slower than normal because of the heat, but I held my own for 2nd. Ugh, I was way off last year's time, but last year, it was 23C

June Racing-Moscow

1000m in Mytshchi 6 June 

The day after Arctic Valley, Leonid and I flew down to see my dad and his wife for a couple days in Sequim, WA  before heading out to Moscow until August. We flew through Istanbul again just like last year and got into Moscow just before midnight on June 5. I had no issues at passport control entering again this year (whew) and got through in probably under a minute. The airport we come into has the reputation for being the most user friendly in that regard, however, many folks from "unfriendly" countries have had to go through basic questioning on arrival and wait around after the long haul to do that. This allowed me to get home and get to bed by 2AM and just sleep until noon the next day soooooo that I could head out to Mytischi for the 100m run in the evening! I do not recommend this for the faint of heart as it had barely been 5 days since Arctic Valley and just after the haul to Russia. Leonid joined me for this masochistic undertaking. My legs were heavy a F, but I managed to pull off a win in my division. My time was off by a good 10 seconds from the 1k time trial we did just before Arctic Valley, but between the heat and just being tired and underrecovered from Artcic Valley, I can't complain. They ran me in the 40+ age heat and I had company for the first lap, then it was very lonely. Natasha Terentyeva was my company for the first 400 and she's a world class race walker who still kicks ass in the masters as a walker. Leonid took 3rd. These races are so well organized I just didn't want to miss it. It was also an excuse to see friends  and hang out

:)

Tuning up at the S95 parkrun in Kuzminki 2 days after tht 1000m

Arctic Valley June 1

 This is the one I start training for shortly after the New Year. I run this one with intent to win, period. This was my 7th time running this and ended up being my 6th win. In 2021, it was held in October and I took 5 hard diggers on the downhill on the snow and ice fnishing second. That was the year there was just enough snow on the ice to clog my studs and render them near useless when I needed them most. This time Kami showed up again and she does really well at the ultras and trails. She's a downhill runner, I am a climber, so if I'm going to win, I need to pull away over the initial 6 mile climb. She started out strong and stuck with me to the 5 mile turnaround where we both even managed to pass Leonid before the turnaround who would eveltually be 3rd in the 5 miler. He knew I was going to have my work cut out for me as we both flew by. Shortly after, she dropped off a little bt it wasn't until that final 3km before the top where it hits th steepest grade that I was able to open it up. I had just under 2 minutes on her at that point and knew I was going to have to go eyeballs out on that downhill to get the job done. She never crept closer like she did last year on the downhill and finished about a minute and a half behind. I think she may not have fully recovered from the backyard ultra 2 weeks earlier where she ran over 3 hours to win for the women. I had invies to that but sat it out so as to keep my legspeed. That was the right strategy!