Birkie Weekend

I wanted to write a little more about the past weekend. It was one of the most memorable of the Birkie weekends that I have had. And not only for the fact that I had a great race.

Old school

We left early Friday morning so we could get to the 10k race my wife and Dad were skiing in. Once again M traveled like a champ. I am no longer a naysayer of the portable DVD and I now know all the words to all the songs on the Disney's Favorite Songs CD.

Dad and Wife

The weather was fantastic for the 10k and Wife and Dad had a great ski. They both commented that the race was over before they knew it. Sound familiar? They casually made it around in 1:15. While they were skiing, M and I had great fun sledding and playing on the swings. "Let's do it again" was a common request when sledding up and down the hills around Telemark.

Having fun

After picking up my bib, checking out the vendors, and buying some souvenirs, it was to the cabin. I've been staying at the same cabin north of Hayward since I first did the Birkie (Korte in my case) in 1992. We stay with another skier from Detroit Lakes who did his 26th Birkie this year. He's one of those people who is an example to me to stay healthy and active as I age. I won't give away his age; let's just say most men of his age are collecting social security and going south for the winter. He is still working and is skiing the 55k Norweigen Birkiebeiner in March.

As we consumed the carbo-loaded spaghetti dinner, we discussed waxes, training(or lack of), life, and our love of skiing and the active lifestyle. As always, the stories that are told every year are told again and I have no doubt Wife gets tired of it, but she's a good sport about it.

Carbo-loading

We tried to get to bed early as the Birkie Veteran was up late putting on the final wax on his skis.

The morning came early, but it was relaxing for me as I didn't start until 9:50 from the 9th wave. I won't go into the details about the actual race as anyone who's reading this has probably heard it from me already and is tired of it.

Before the start

I would like to share one discussion with a fellow racer. I was visiting with him at the last food stop at 16.5K. We were both having a great time that day and saying how important it is to enjoy the day. It meant more coming from him as he explained he was undergoing chemo and radiation for metastatic prostate cancer. Just one more reminder of the importance of enjoying each day and that there is no do-over in life.

I'll end it there, next post will finish up the weekend.

JRA

Scott S.