2018 Wild Goose Chase

 One of our favorite winter races is the Wild Goose Chase, held in Delta, Utah the third Saturday of February. It's part of the Snow Goose Festival, which people flock to in order to see the numerous snow geese.

Except this year it was cold, really cold. All the water was frozen over. It was about 10 degrees F on the starting line. But that didn't stop the biggest group of runners yet from gathering.

We all--my husband, Desert Boy, Desert Girl, and I--ran the 5k race. I took my phone with me but only got one photo, of Desert Boy heading out on the dike. He stayed ahead of me for the first 1.5 miles, but then I finally overtook him. One of these races (and probably not too far into the future), I won't be able to pass him!

I was happy with my finish in 28 minutes and something, then walked back just in time to get Desert Boy finishing in 30 minutes and something. That was a personal best for him.

I had left extra layers at the starting point, so I was walking there when I found Desert Girl and my husband. They had warmed up and taken off their winter coats.

Desert Girl's face was all red. She said she walked a little more than half the race, but finished in forty minutes, which I thought was pretty good. Definitely better than what I would have done at her age!

In fact, it earned her third in her age group.

Our contingent from Snake Valley did really well: second in men's overall, third in women's overall, three age group firsts, Desert Girl's age group third, and Desert Boy's personal best.

We went in search of snow geese, but the only ones we saw were flying, so we went to the Delta Community Center for the craft fair and saw a lot of interesting booths. Desert Boy couldn't resist spending his gift certificate from the race plus some of his own money on a cross bow.

We ate lunch and then went to the skateboard park. The kids were delighted to give it a try.

They favored the scooter and bike...

...which left me to try the Ripstick. I eventually managed to ride about 30 feet on it!

The kids have also been big into parkour, so they had fun doing some stunts, mainly running up inclines and then sliding back down.

We did a little shopping and in Ace I admired this lovely poster of chicken breeds. 4-H is making me look at the world in a different way!

One of our favorite places to go after the Wild Goose Chase is the Delta swimming pool. They have a high dive, which the kids find to be a fun challenge. Here's Desert Girl conquering her fears!

This is a fun event that we hope to be returning to! If you've never been, we recommend it. Here are posts from 2015, 2014, 2013, and 2011. And you can even see some snow geese in them!