Okay, so I didn’t really race the Birkie this weekend.  I did race the Korte, but I figured people would be more likely to read this if they thought I was writing about the Birkie.  After all, Bjorn Daehlie did ski the Birkie.  I had a few moments last week where I seriously considered skipping the Korte and getting myself to Main Street so I could witness the Birkie finish.Of course, those moments were few and brief.  Nothing was going to keep me from racing the Korte this year.  It is one of only 2 races I did last year after “training” for about 4 months.  Really, this training was me skiing absolutely as much as I could, often as hard I as I could, without regard for zones, rest, or recovery.  I was simply trying to learn the technique and convince myself that I could finish a race.

The Korte is also the only race I was able to do both this year and last.  Obviously comparing race times is sketchy, but I was able to even experience how different the race would be for me after a full year of (mostly) proper training.  This turned out to be a great experience.

I had a great warm up on my race skis, which I’ve actually only skied on about 3 times before.  Then I stood in line at the port a potty while continuing some warming up and stretching while simultaneously eating a mini clif bar.  Then it was into the warming tent for some final preparations, shedding the warm ups and ingesting a gel.  Apparently the gel and the clif bar were a poor combination as I got really nauseous as I was lining up for the start.  I didn’t have any choice, though.  I was basically starving and not sure I would make it through the race with my current level of hunger.

Then the race finally started.  I was in wave 5, the wave I had managed to squeak into last year.  With the power line and it’s awesome stretch of hills at the beginning of the course, I pretty much spent the whole race in L4.  I spent a fair bit of time wondering if I was putting myself under and risking a much slower pace time than I had last year.  But I felt strong and was skiing well.  I was recovering nicely from one hill to the next and felt like I would be able to pick it up the second half.

Around the 11k mark I pretty much decided to stick to the age old motto, “Go big or go home!”  I was going to ski the rest of the race absolutely as hard as I could.  Either I would be able to ski that hard to the finish, or I would completely bonk and have to crawl across the finish line.  I was fairly certain the bonking was coming, it was just a matter of when.

This goal intensified when I found myself skiing at the back of a pack of 4 other women with about 8 km to go.  I was glad I caught up to them because that only intensified my resolve to ski as hard as I could through the end of the race.  I was determined to stick with them.  Several Km later the pack was starting to thin out and I did not want to lose the lead woman.  So I passed the other 3, one by one, each on a different uphill.  It took everything I had, mentally and physically, to stay with that final woman the last couple km.  

On the final hill, about a kilometer from the finish, I knew it was time to make my move.  I booked it up the hill as fast as I could, passing that woman (about a couple men in the process) and beating her to the top of the hill, which led to the long downhill and then the finish.  I knew from following her all that time that if I beat her to that downhill I would win.  My skis were faster than hers.  So, that’s just what I did.

So no, I’m not an elite skier yet.  I didn’t win the race, my age group, or anything.  But I skied tremendously harder than I did last year.  I skied in a pack for the first time and learned a lot about staying with and passing people.  I also learned that I would be able to push myself so much more if I skied with someone else.  These are all good lessons that I am glad to be learning in my first year as a skier.  I beat my time from last year, on a slower course, and will make into wave 4 next year.  I accomplished my goals and won the race I created for myself inside this bigger race.  I’m pretty much a huge baller, at least that’s what Nat Hertz would say.

Oh, and I shared a Little Debbie Zebra cake with Bjorn Daehlie.  I’m still waiting for someone to call and tell me I won his skis…

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