After racing the Birkie in Wisconsin yesterday, I hitched a ride to Minneapolis and flew to Europe. It was a pretty crazy move, one that I am temporarily regretting because my legs really seized up in the car and then on the plane, and I am currently unsure whether I will ever be able to ski (or run, or move) again.
I’m usually really bad at sleeping on planes, but this time it was no problem. I was exhausted! The few minutes I had to wait in between eating the dinner they served us and them collecting the trash seemed like eternity; I just really wanted to pass out.
But I was kidding about regretting the trip – I am definitely sure that I made a good decision! I am currently in Amsterdam waiting for a connecting flight and watching the men’s World Championships pursuit live on TV. Tonight, I’ll be in Oslo, and tomorrow, I will be right there in Holmenkollen stadium watching the races and helping FasterSkier with reporting. Since there aren’t many races in New England next weekend, I don’t have to feel guilty about missing them, and honestly, watching the biggest races in the World in the most packed, electric venue in the world is going to do as much for my love, understanding, and appreciation of the sport and get me more excited about skiing and racing as doing another ski race myself possibly could.
So anyway. I have a lot to look forward to in the next week.
But the last week was pretty good too – I had a lot of fun at the Birkie! I actually felt horrible for the first 10k, and was really slow, so that was a bummer, but after that I had fun, much more fun than last year. And I managed to avoid getting frostbite, which was something of an accomplishment after hearing stories of what happened to some other racers. Regardless of the fact that I seem to be a really poor marathoner – for some reason I’m much worse at marathons than any other race – I am planning on doing quite a few more Birkies.
