About 23 weeks ago a few dozen of us met on top of Bairds Creek Ski Hill for the start of a fitness tradition that would entail hours of panting, buckets of sweat and more than a few friendships. At the risk of sounding a little melodramatic I think I will miss it and mostly the comraderie of everyone who took part. For some these workouts became the focal point of the training week and for others a chance to get together for a little hard work and to have some fun as a group.
We had a fairly easy soft finish tonight. I mean it when I say that the improvement was more pronounced this year than in years past, it was probably the added women, they have a positive outlook for each other...and for the guys, well we just like to look macho around them. We have a lot to do so lets get to it.
www.skinnyski.com has trail reports, weather for Hayward (54821 is the Cable zip) and waxing and race info. www.birkie.com will give you race specifics and last minute adjustments. Read these over as this year the format is different.
For those at the Stump Farm Race last week you can see results on www.skinnyski.com and for the Bay Nordic Parents pic's are up at http://shoffmanphoto.smugmug.com/CrossCountrySkiing-2010/Bay-Nordic and the Fox 11 video can be found at http://www.fox11online.com/dpp/sports/sports_edge/State-budget-crisis-reroutes-skiers Be sure and check out Ari's article on skinnyski.com about Birkie doings. The weather looks solid for the weekend and colder which while logistically harder generally makes for a faster more consistent race course. Cold makes waxing easier and makes it less of a wax race as everyone is more or less even. Classic skiers are reporting binder with hard wax over is working well. That is pretty standard fare for a marathon. Don't forget "throw" clothes for the start and SKI SLEEVES for the finish. In your gear bag don't forget to put in some warm dry duds and some money, they don't take sweaty polypro at Anglers.
Hope you all do well and feel good about your event. The Birkie does not define you as a person but being part of something with an 800 year history is pretty cool, this is a lifestyle that is worth being part of. Have fun, keep your focus and look out for others that you know. The hard work is done and it's all over save the race itself.
Nice work this year and thanks for letting me be part of it. I'll see you at the finish line, god tur.
1 comment:
Thanks for being my virtual training partners! My usual training partners bailed this year, so I've been following along with you on my Tuesday night workouts. Now you're going to the Birkie and I'm heading to Sweden for Vasaloppet. Thanks for letting me pretend to be a part of the gang!
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