Snow is great, so is shoveling.  Always good to have help from my son Fred (shorter, tougher guy with no gloves).  Plenty of time over the last day to ponder the weekend of running ahead.  Once again, U-Dub is where its at...

The Dempsey Indoor Complex may not have two turntables and a microphone.  What it does have is the best indoor track in the country making it a draw for the best squads in the country making it the epicenter of good running each winter. 
http://www.gohuskies.com/auto_pdf/p_hotos/s_chools/wash/sports/c-track/auto_pdf/2010HuskyClassicProgram

Back in my day, broken record here, the indoor meets at U-Dub ran the distance races outside in Husky Stadium.  Great place to be on a clear, sunny, not too windy day, but there are not a lot of those in January and February (or November, December, March, April, May and early June for that matter) in Seattle. 

Washington is the place to be this weekend, a few hundred miles east on I-90, the US X-C Championships will be run on Saturday in Spokane.  This is an event that should be held in December, score the clubs seperately, pick the world squads there, let people train without interferring with indoors, marathon prep, US Half-Marathon Champs in Houston, and so on.  One big, super spectacular X-C National Championship in December, for men, women, juniors, etc., just makes more sense, is a great way to cap off a year, and is more likely to entice some higher end college types to join the fracas. 

Either way, the race that draws the most interest from me is unquestionably the men's junior race, with Portland Pilot frosh Trevor Dunbar.
Fresh off of an 8:04 3k in Seattle, Dunbar is the favorite here.  I have to figure that HS senior Shane Moskowitz will also fare well here partially because there is not an abundance of experience from top tier college frosh.  NC State will likely supply a team member or two, as well. 

Duke frosh Juliet Bottorff and Kayla Hale, Providence's Shelby Greany, G'town's Emily Jones, and U-Dub redshirt Lindsay Flanagan are a formidable field.  HS senior Emily Sisson from Missouri was 3rd at Foot Locker and will challenge for a spot, as will California state champ Molly Grabill. 

The senior races have some big names, but again I have to think would be far more intriguing had they been held in December at the end of the year, perhaps the bragging rights would be more important...perhaps more people would take a risk instead of just running to make the team...perhaps more people would show up to race in the first place...perhaps, perhaps, perhaps.  It appears unlikely that Dathan Ritzenhein will have much trouble winning, and the same goes for Shalene Flanagan. 

Check Flotrack for live coverage of the Husky Classic.  German Fernandez may debut according to the entries.  Mac Fleet may run a pretty good mile for a frosh.  Oregon, BYU, NAU, OkState, Stanfurd, Adams State, Butler, Arizona, New Mexico, Portland, Michigan, Arizona State, Wisconsin, UCLA, Kentucky, Oklahoma, Cal, NC State, Penn State, Florida State, Minnesota, UVa, Colorado, pros, etc.  are all represented this weekend.  Sub-4's galore, sub-8's galore, sub-14's galore...imagine if some of these distance types who will run fast, both college and post-college, were all thrown into the US National X-C Championships.  Sure, they'll never all run, but more would if it were in December.  So it goes.