The Clear Creek 4 Miler was run on a cold Saturday morning at Prospect Park. Neither the temperature (in the 20s at most) nor the recent snow kept 59 runners and 2 race walkers from having a good time. (And the prospect of a pancake breakfast afterwards didn't stop anyone either).

The course was a horizontal version of mountaineering mixed route-some asphalt, some concrete, some dirt, all with occasional patches of ice or crusty snow. And naturally, or ironically or unfortunately, the worst ice was on the hardest surface, the concrete. I think this is because the melted snow soaks into the dirt or evaporates off the warm black asphalt in the daytime, while the concrete is a heat sink which slowly cools after sunset, giving ice a fine chance to form from the snowmelt which neither evaporated nor soaked in. Anyhow, you had to be little careful on the run.

The course is a scenic one, winding between a couple of lakes before following a dirt trail through the Clear Creek flood plain. Along one stretch there are several natural Christmas trees on both sides of the trail for 1/4 miles or so. I was a course marshal at a bridge, directing everyone onto the dirt, and when I was walking back afterward, carrying the blaze orange traffic cone, along the brown and white trail, along the avenue of the dark green Christmas trees, under a slate of blue sky, I saw two red foxes, digging in the brush.

The race was won by Mike Bennett (25:36) and Peggy Muhn (28:21). Ray Adams (50:38) and Rosalia Murch (50:40) won the race walk. Everyone else was a winner also, as they got to eat a breakfast of pancakes, bacon, orange juice and coffee, a mighty fine thing on a cold morning.

Thanks to all the volunteers who made this race happen, Jim Riesberg, Tom Alison, Ed Guiff, Jim Price, Larry White, Lew Hutchinson, Joe Baird, Joe Sanchez, Ken Randall, Lee Palmer, Jim Romero and Gary Black.