More master blasting

Rob made a really good point the other day. I lead the lifestyle of a master skier, even though I'm on the salary of a senior. So the fact that I'll boycott a 5k race because I have to pay $37 makes a lot more sense in that light, I suppose. Anyway, Tuesday was another 7k at Weston, and I decided that I would only race if I could successfully get my HR really high in some intervals beforehand. That was surprisingly easy, so either fully warmed up or slightly tired, I lined up with Anna behind the serious guys and hopefully ahead of the wannabe serious guys.

For most of the first lap, Blazar was stepping all over my poles. He claims that you have to race dirty to get up there. I disagree. Next time I'm pushing him over. I was drafting the lead pack for the first loop and then a lap and a half, until on the 180 after mt. Weston the jerk in the black and yellow suit cut me off on the inside of the corner, then couldn't make the turn and took me out. Thanks. I saved my equipment from getting broken and got up relatively quickly, just as Anna went by. We swapped leads for a while, and I think the high point of the race was definitely when Anna yelled to the guy skiing behind us "Don't get between us!" and he just said "ok". I love hearing that. I love racing with people who are using their common sense. It just makes it that much more pleasant an experience.

I was skiing the uphills faster than Anna, so my plan was to attack on the second to last hill and hold it to the finish, since the icy-but-at-the-same-time-sugar-slush snow would make sprinting a real pain, and I didn't feel like sprinting. My shin, however, vetoed that plan as it cramped up right before my planned attack, and all I could do was tuck down the sugar-slush hill, watching Anna V2-alt away from me. I caught back up on the uphill, but I knew it was over, it would either come down to a sprint or she would drop me. She dropped me on the gradual downhill before the last little climb, and the hill was too short to make up any time. Oh, well, at least it was a good competitive race until the end. Time to stretch out my calf so that my shin stops cramping up...