Race updates

It has been a month since my last update. So much for timely posts! I am trying to do better. I guess I need to work on my time management skills.

In the last two weeks I have completed two races that have become a tradition for me. On February 21 I competed in the American Birkebeiner -http://www.birkie.com This is a 50K cross country ski event. This year the Birkie drew just shy of 7500 skiers. The race course elevation profile looks like the business end of a hand saw. The hills don't stop until about 45K and some of the downhills are as challenging as the ups. My training for the Birkie went pretty well. I had a pretty good base with just over 410K/254 miles. I even got in one very cold race. Throw in some running and bike on the trainer and I felt ready. I had a week of vacation for the Birkie but leading up to that I had worked 20 days without a day off. Still, despite all that, yes, I felt ready. I even went out and splurged on a new, actually 2 years old, pair of skis. Basically the same as the current model, just some cosmetic changes. I went up to spend race weekend at my Dad and Step-mother's with my wife, one of my daughters, one of my sisters and a niece. Race day weather was almost perfect with some light, fresh snow on the course and temps in the low teens. I lined up in my wave and waited for the cannon to go off. I took it easy at the start and didn't let myself get sucked into going out too fast. I hit all the aid stations and at the halfway mark was feeling great. No aches, cramps, still hydrated and replenishing energy steadily. I paced myself up the myriad of hills and planned on pushing the pace past the halfway mark. I still felt very strong on the hills past the 40K mark and picked it up a little more. My form felt strong and I felt I was coming close to my goal of 3:30:00. Around the 45K mark as the course is finally flattening out and heading for the long trek across Lake Hawyard I started down a gradual downhill with a slight right hand turn. Next thing I know my skis are out from under me and down I go. I still am not sure what happened. Tired, ice, evil nordic ski gods? It wasn't a hard fall but my left ski came off and slid a little way down the trail. I quickly got up and grabbed my ski and tried to put it on but half the binding was missing. NO!!!! This couldn't happen this close to the finish. Only about 5K to go. There was no way to keep my boot clipped into the binding. I placed my foot on the ski and proceeded to double pole down the trail. I cautiously made my way down the last couple hills and continued to double pole across the lake and up Main street to the finish line. I had finished!!! Nowhere near my goal time but I finished. For me that is always the number one goal. Once I finished and got back to my Dad's I inspected the ski. I had actually cracked the ski underneath the binding. That got me to wondering. I had the binding on that ski adjusted just before the race because it wasn't mounted correctly. Could that have caused the crash? Guess I'll never know for sure. Even with the slower time and the fall I was pleased with the race. I paced myself well, nothing hurt (too bad) and I felt pretty good at the end. There's always next year.

Then it was back to work. After another 13 days straight and 11 hours on my feet the day before, I ran the Point Bock 5 Miler on Saturday, March 7-http://pointbeer.com This is a spring tradition for me. I have done this every year since 2003 and always have a great time. I don't take it too seriously and just try to run a steady race and have a good time. From around 300 runners in 2003 the race has grown to over 1300 this year. And they have FREE BEER at the end. This year my wife and another friend ran the race also. I barely hit my goal of 37:00 minutes. I never have a strong race here. Too much time on the snow and not enough hard speed work. Still, it gives me an idea just how much work I need to do to get myself ready for the spring/summer race season.

Now I can try and get ready for my next race. I am planning on doing a 15K trail run on April 18 and then maybe a half marathon on May 2. Throw in trying to train for the mountain bike race season and I have my work cut out for me. Plus, my wife and sister are pushing me to run a qualifying time for Boston at a fall marathon. I am getting tired just thinking of all the work ahead.

Later.......gotta run