tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-49680853162005468902024-03-05T13:10:25.493-05:00With a little luck (and a lot of hard work...)Alexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03241445781480320172noreply@blogger.comBlogger831125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4968085316200546890.post-70200117983998268592019-03-28T14:34:00.000-04:002019-03-28T14:34:48.754-04:00Ski season: the second halfSome time after the Bogburn, I took over as the CSU head coach, without a huge amount of warning. After an initial rough patch, we ironed things out and life kept on keeping on, but this put a real damper on my own racing. Didn't stop me, though!<br />
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<b>Craftsbury Marathon(s)</b><br />
I showed up to the Craftsbury double-header marathon weekend, and had a great weekend of hanging out with Jess and Kathy, but the new stress of suddenly having a much fuller plate meant I wasn't very focused on the races.<br />
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Saturday's classic 50k was one of those days that just makes you glad to be alive. Perfect tracks, sunny day, hard cold snow and a good group to ski with; what more could I ask for? I ended up choosing my klister skis, feeling like they were gliding a little faster, but ended up going a little *too* light on kick. You'd think I'd have learned this lesson by now. So, the skis were fine, but I had to work for my kick, which can make for a long 50k. Luckily, I was confident in my fitness and the speed of my skis, and despite losing a little bit on the uphills, I felt like I was making it up with the rockets I was riding down the hills.<br />
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The race started out easy around Duck Pond, and then it felt too easy, so I put in a small surge heading down to Elinor's, so that I could ski the hill alone, which ended up being a good choice, avoiding a crash. The pack caught back up as we headed up Sam's, and at first I was like, this is great that I'm leading, I can dictate a nice slow pace! But everyone just went around me. Oh. I didn't have a huge amount of oomph, and not much motivation to push hard, so just let the pack of six pull ahead.<br />
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Lindley V caught me as we headed up Dante's loop, with much kickier skis, and I let her pull ahead, too, but kept her in sight. My fast skis caught her on the downhill.
Did some good hard double poling on Ruthie's coming back to the Center, always keeping my head up for any stragglers from the lead pack. Lindley caught up again going up Sam's, but she didn't pull away quite as fast, and then I caught back up to her climbing Dante's loop. I was finding that I did still have really good energy, able to run up the hills, but my arms were tired.<br />
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Down Ruthie's again, and the men were passing me now. So when Sarah Graves caught up, I totally thought she was a man first, because she was moving way faster. I hadn't been dogging it, she was just cruising. Tried to match her pace and really just couldn't, so got ready for a sloggy last lap. But, found a second wind going around duck pond, and finally made contact with her as we headed down to Elinor's. She had skis as fast as mine, but with better kick, and I couldn't hang as we went up Sam's. Still fighting around Dante's loop, but it was taking a lot of concentration to ski well up the hills. I was proud that I was really kicking and gliding, not just shuffling.
Down the hill I kept the energy high, and finished feeling like that race was very representative of where my fitness is right now, and it was a good classic race for me. 4th overall, first M1.<br />
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Jess in the classic marathon</div>
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<b>Craftsbury Marathon, part II</b><br />
Sunday was the 33k skate, and after a pretty restless night I woke up feeling like I'd been run over by a dump truck. I'm sure skating 33km is going to help, right? The morning brought much warmer and softer snow conditions, after snow all night. My left elbow was in a world of hurt, but I took some ibuprofen, did a little warmup, and lined up reasonably far back.<br />
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Off we went, and I quickly discovered that I didn't have much pop in my stride, but I felt ok heading up the hills. Drifted from chase pack to chase-chase pack, and as we climbed up Ruthie's backwards I realized that actually, I felt pretty good, and this was too slow. So, went a little faster, and only Sarah G kept pace.
The climb up Dante's was actually pretty skiable. I continued to try and keep the tempo up, and we swapped leads a few times. Got a little too chatty coming down Sam's, and lost some time there I think.<br />
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I was scared of Elinor's, but it wasn't that bad, just 2.5 minutes or so, and from the bottom I could see Elissa ahead of me, looking tired. Sarah put a bit of a gap on me up the hill, but I kept plugging, and caught back up to her and Elissa by the stadium.
It was really a problem to V2 today, elbow hurt a ton and my arms didn't feel very strong. Alia Johnson caught up to Sarah and me on the Duck Pond loop, and they actually had a small gap on me heading into lap 2. My goals had been revised down to "finish the race" at this point, so I wasn't exactly heartbroken. But, caught them by the bottom of Ruthie's, and then surprised myself by staying right on them up the climb.<br />
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The climb up Dante's hurt, but I didn't get dropped, and I was feeling pretty good about myself. Pushed harder down Sam's this time, doing a lot of free skating, and I could tell that transferring all the effort to my legs was starting to have some effects.
Elinor's hurt a lot more the second time up, and I got dropped, maybe 10 second gap by the top. I'd been yo-yo-ing the whole lap, so this wasn't surprising, but the string snapped there, and being unable to V2 with any power meant I was really done. Struggled through Duck Pond loop trying to keep fighting, but didn't have much to give, and failed to pass the two fading women ahead of me. Certainly less strong of a result, but I was pretty proud of just getting through the race, given my mental headspace.<br />
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<b>Massachusetts Qualifier</b><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCMmD-NXHocO1u63_E9nqWE2Iwj9UmFqg3KkbLymPVnCll4Kf5Ow0J8SYPvjXFSvRcRit0ruR1y5hgr3hElh9XYsVwnFIbSUaYgx3pMHN_qw-VudjVPULwgws2Hwz_hGYsas7c3Ij3cg8/s1600/Ed.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCMmD-NXHocO1u63_E9nqWE2Iwj9UmFqg3KkbLymPVnCll4Kf5Ow0J8SYPvjXFSvRcRit0ruR1y5hgr3hElh9XYsVwnFIbSUaYgx3pMHN_qw-VudjVPULwgws2Hwz_hGYsas7c3Ij3cg8/s320/Ed.jpg" width="240" /></a>The next weekend was the qualification race for my skiers to try out for the U16 and Eastern Highschool Championship teams, to represent Team Massachusetts. The race was out at Prospect Mountain, and Ed and I swapped roles that weekend - Saturday, I was his assistant timing the VT qualifier race, and Sunday, he was my assistant in the wax tent for the CSUers. Saturday was a pretty long day, and Sunday wasn't much shorter, but every one of my skiers skied their way onto either the U16 Team or the EHS Team, which is the goal.<br />
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<b>Rikert Eastern Cup</b><br />
No rest for the weary; we went right into the Rikert EC from the Qualifier. I signed up for Saturday's skate race in the open field, and then did the master's wave for the classic race on Sunday, several hours after the last junior race, so that I wouldn't be conflicted by trying to wax for the kids and also for myself.<br />
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Rikert is a super fun course, twisty and technical, and had good skis, if not such good legs. I was sluggish, un-warmed up, and still had my head in coach-mode, but it was fun to pull on a bib and try really hard at something.<br />
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Sunday's citizen race was even less of a real effort from me; I got caught talking to some parents after the junior races, and nearly ran out of time to get my own skis waxed. Not only that, we'd run out of the hardwax we'd been putting on the kids skis, so I ended up just slapping on some toko red and heading to the start, shivering and wishing I were still in a warmup jacket. Luckily, it was a mass start, so I had the motivation of passing all the people who'd started ahead of me as I slowly got warmed up. By the second lap, I felt like I was racing, and was having a good time hunting people down. My pace may have been more 50k than 10k pacing, but it was worth it. </div>
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One of *those* days</div>
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<b>Bretton Woods camp and final ECs</b></div>
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After my half-hearted efforts at Rikert, I decided that I shouldn't sign up for more races. I managed to escape from work enough to catch three days of our training camp at Bretton Woods, and the vibe there was just great. We did a lot of resting as well as training, but it was a ton of fun skiing with the whole group, doing some norpining at the alpine hill, and just getting in lots and lots of beautiful skiing in a winter wonderland. </div>
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Vibe was great. So many smiles!</div>
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We went straight from Bretton Woods to the final weekend of Eastern Cups, with two short skate races on Saturday at Dublin, and a distance classic race on Sunday. The Dublin Double went well, with CSU kids taking all sorts of podiums, on a beautiful sunny day. Can't get much better than that! Ed was timing, and we were stayed at Kathy's house, which just made things fun. Sunday morning we woke up in a snowstorm, and headed to Holderness to do battle in the final Eastern Cup.</div>
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Fresh snow and temperatures right around freezing are the hardest conditions to find the right kick wax in, and of course that's what we were facing. We nailed it for the earlier races, but then totally missed the wax for the older boys, when the snow transitioned to rain partway through their race. I can't predict the weather, yet, apparently that's a skill I have to develop. It was interesting to watch them race, and see how much of a difference a fighting attitude made - some of my boys had great races despite really slippy skis, because they just never gave up. In the words of one kid "well, my skis didn't have great kick, but they were wicked fast, so I just double poled really hard!"</div>
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This was the final race to determine who qualified for the Junior National's team heading to Anchorage. We sent 2 U16 girls, 4 U18 girls, 2 U18 boys, and 1 U20 boy. A pretty big contingent! </div>
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<b>U16 Championships</b></div>
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I took a weekend at home while Ed timed the Bill Koch Festival, and then it was off to the U16 Championships, in Bethel, ME, with Team Massachusetts. I've never skied at Bethel, so it was fun to explore a new trail system for a great event. CSU sent eight skiers to this championships, and the girls were especially dominant, with one of my gals winning every race she entered. </div>
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A cool barn up in the County. Tough living up there.</div>
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We did have a snafu for the classic distance race. Somehow, Team MA had gotten into our heads that the boys race was at 9:30, and the girls race was at 10:30. We distributed information all over the place (including the team meeting, the night before) with this incorrect information, and were thus very surprised when the announcer started calling people to the line a half hour early. We managed to hustle the girls down to the race, but the first three starters all missed their start. We kept calm, and I assured the girls that we'd fix this problem after the fact, because it wasn't their fault, and they went off several minutes later when the Technical Delegate deemed it a good time for them to race. They all three skied very good races, with Clara winning, Francesca taking 3rd, and Mica taking 4th. However, the jury ruled that because it is a skier's responsibility to know their start time, they should all incur a penalty, and assigned a 5min penalty to each girl.</div>
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This seemed wildly unfair to us, and not just because we wanted to see the girls on top of the podium - no matter where they'd finished, it wasn't their fault that they'd missed the start - it was the fault of their coaches and team leaders! We ended up going over the heads of the race organizers, and appealing to NENSA itself, which decided after much debate to reinstate the racers. Phew. </div>
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CSU contingent at U16s</div>
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<b>Eastern Highschool Championships</b></div>
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With that excitement over, it was time for the Eastern Highschool Championships, in Fort Kent, ME. The last time I went to Fort Kent in a bus, it took <a href="http://alexjospe.blogspot.com/2015/03/j2-championships.html" target="_blank">rather a long time</a> to get home. We were praying for better weather this time, and we got it. The bus didn't get stuck even once, and we had a grand old time with a big group of nice kids. The CSU kids knocked it out of the park again, with Linden winning the classic race and the overall, and Devin 2nd in the overall and top 10 in all the races. Mica continued to impress, and what I loved most was watching every athlete on the team lift up the people around them. </div>
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This is my waxing face, apparently.</div>
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Those are my CSUers leading the race</div>
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Positive vibes on team MA</div>
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The MA EHS team</div>
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Meanwhile, the kids at JNs in Anchorage were kicking butt, and are coming home with four all-Americans and one podium, for the 7th place girls' team in the country. </div>
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<b>Quebec City World Cup Finals</b></div>
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The final hurrah was simply for spectating. Kathy and I headed to Quebec, to watch the World Cup finals. Alex Harvey was racing the final World Cups of his career, and experiencing the roar of 30,000 Harvey fans was a physical experience. It felt very special to be there watching him win the last race of his career, on home turf. Of course we snuck in a little skiing of our own, too, and a lot of pastry-eating, and the weekend ended up being a ton of fun. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcCvk565auh2yMU1JWGVHpFrmTOVxwuszLQOK-hR93xPMTNQI6wMIpzBJqFIKpYlewDhQ8tzcPNBjHZD95ojmR7xT9aBLp6mLQYD1xdERQwRwFyhY-tVtMeHV1NM0yYyDR014WaANorPA/s1600/WCup.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="978" data-original-width="1378" height="227" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcCvk565auh2yMU1JWGVHpFrmTOVxwuszLQOK-hR93xPMTNQI6wMIpzBJqFIKpYlewDhQ8tzcPNBjHZD95ojmR7xT9aBLp6mLQYD1xdERQwRwFyhY-tVtMeHV1NM0yYyDR014WaANorPA/s320/WCup.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Great view of the women's pursuit race. Go USA!</div>
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Now Ed is off to Supertour Finals in Presque Isle, and I'm going to do some laundry. 'Twas quite the winter! </div>
Alexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03241445781480320172noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4968085316200546890.post-55605597592079115152019-01-21T09:35:00.002-05:002019-01-21T09:35:21.861-05:00The Bogburn: two perspectives<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6moGOGJg605Tl96LcWsxoaTaLrTpaXnNdtjEHlOkJEvlKNKKUtNB2qwQbs2maMY8TEoGFSGt9xXz5kxgtXon5u6ZcqONfITKWkj3n8h77m6pqn3yIFt4gHzblI9GvoS6qGAnIzEXP1U0/s1600/Bogburn5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1068" data-original-width="1600" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6moGOGJg605Tl96LcWsxoaTaLrTpaXnNdtjEHlOkJEvlKNKKUtNB2qwQbs2maMY8TEoGFSGt9xXz5kxgtXon5u6ZcqONfITKWkj3n8h77m6pqn3yIFt4gHzblI9GvoS6qGAnIzEXP1U0/s400/Bogburn5.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<b>Version 1:</b><br />
The indoor track workout got moved to Friday night, and I can't miss those because I paid perfectly good money to go run in teeny tiny circles. After the workout, I bribed Ed to pick me up by going out to dinner at one of our favorite brew pubs, and had too much beer and not enough water. We got home super late, so I put off all my ski prep until the next morning, when I groggily rolled out of bed and got to work on that, questioning whether this ski race was even a good idea. Mystery time happened, and somehow I had to leave before even making coffee and definitely before breakfast.<br />
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Picked up Ari, and we zoomed up north, where it was very pretty after the last snowstorm. Lots of people at the race, and we had to park way down the road. Conditions were soft and tricky, and on one corner the course was basically down to dirt. I didn't even use the test skis I'd set up, because Rob was already testing wax on the "chick sticks" which are flexed for me and Kathy, so I got sort of grumpy about having done extra work this morning. Skied a lap with Kathy and spent the whole time complaining about how terrible my life was, and how my problems are so much harder than everyone else's problems. Got back to the start area, and realized that I didn't have time to run up to my car to grab a thinner pair of gloves and a thinner hat, so had to race in wet mittens and a fleecy hat.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAtiEcdIqHqtWGrFp_0s2esnDY_EoICq7Bi-RKlFsEzWf-ABAfsqCybReqL0ZYGm34BtK14KvK3TFsi6CvsMv7UF0AG6ff88wi-x59yPWxS7jZSRhWgi3FdxDwWGdBnEB7iljjpjUp73s/s1600/Bogburn2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1068" data-original-width="1600" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAtiEcdIqHqtWGrFp_0s2esnDY_EoICq7Bi-RKlFsEzWf-ABAfsqCybReqL0ZYGm34BtK14KvK3TFsi6CvsMv7UF0AG6ff88wi-x59yPWxS7jZSRhWgi3FdxDwWGdBnEB7iljjpjUp73s/s320/Bogburn2.jpg" width="320" /></a>Figured I'd pop into race mode once I started going, but that never happened, and I sort of waddled around slowly instead of racing, feeling really stiff and sore after the track workout. I couldn't catch up to my 15-second girl, Jess M, and I knew I was faster than her, so why wasn't I catching her? God if you weren't such a fat slug you'd be skiing better. Fell on my ass on the corner with the dirt trying to avoid the rocks, now you'll never catch Jess. Look out for that gal who started behind you, she'll be tracking you any second. Slogged around the rest of the course and Jamie was taking photos on the longest hill, ugh, why am I so slow? Walked up one of the herringbone hills, and then on the second lap started passing some slower skiers, and that's the only reason I caught up to Jess, because she wasn't as good at passing. Thought I was doing awesome to hold her off, but turns out she fell in a river. Go figure, the only way to beat my competition is if they fall into a river. Finally trudged across the finish line, nearly six minutes slower than Kathy's time. Thank god that's over.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiupRalXfPLD7h-G0rhnB74fzsyNlRd6dfVKrOfHU8ow1R-MuCeH-i4FSbQ9FQi_ggYtvzO7ZQbXt4thUAUKqQOH3KWjJt4vle5Zibji6i4yYFBbPkCV4wRCt5klyRi6cI-6qSGC9sJ6IM/s1600/bogburn6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="914" data-original-width="1279" height="228" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiupRalXfPLD7h-G0rhnB74fzsyNlRd6dfVKrOfHU8ow1R-MuCeH-i4FSbQ9FQi_ggYtvzO7ZQbXt4thUAUKqQOH3KWjJt4vle5Zibji6i4yYFBbPkCV4wRCt5klyRi6cI-6qSGC9sJ6IM/s320/bogburn6.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<b>Version 2: </b><br />
Rather than cancel the indoor track workout when our usual Thursday became unavailable, the powers that be managed to get us access to the track on Friday night. I love indoor track, I love the group I run with, this is well worth the money I paid to be a part of it. This would serve nicely as some opener intervals for the race tomorrow! Ed kindly picked me up, and we got to have a really nice dinner out together at one of our favorite brew pubs, where I enjoyed myself, though I should have had more water. Luckily, the race on Saturday had a late start time, so I knew I'd have time to re-hydrate in the morning. Thanks to the late start time, I could put off my ski prep until the morning, and even though it took me longer than I expected, I made some really good skis. I didn't have time to make breakfast at home, but Ari, my traveling companion, didn't mind stopping in Lebanon for me to pick up breakfast and a coffee.<br />
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The course was absolutely beautiful, fresh snow coating everything and making the whole world a winter wonderland. This also meant that the course was soft, but I'd rather have fresh snow and a soft course than ice and rocks! Rob was testing skis when I arrived, which was great, because it simplified my pre-race prep, and allowed me to go for a nice pre-race tour of the course with Kathy, where she was a great sounding board for my troubles and made me feel a lot better about life. I was probably still thinking about our conversation when we started, because I didn't feel very race-ready, but I was happy to be out there giving it a hard effort.<br />
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Jamie was taking photos, and it was so great to see him out there again, after a medically-induced hiatus from ski racing. It took me a whole lap to catch up to Jess, who had started 15s ahead of me, but I was able to put some of the lapped skiers we'd just passed between us, and then I was on my own for the rest of the race. I may not have had the tiger's eye, but I really enjoy that course, and all the BKL kids were out cheering, and in the end, I won my age category, and a sweet buff. What a way to spend a day! I'm so thankful that Bob continues to host this race, it's really special.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Vermont post-snowstorm is the most beautiful time to be in Vermont.</span></div>
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<b>The story</b><br />
I recently read<a href="https://www.irunfar.com/2019/01/story-telling-animals.html" target="_blank"> this article </a>by Sabrina Little. It's worth the read. In the article, she talks about how changing the message of your story can affect your life, and while it's the same story, you have the power to change the message. This same story, the tale of my experience at the Bogburn, reads very differently from version 1 to version 2. I still want and need to acknowledge the things that don't go according to plan, but I have my friends around to help me overcome the challenges. Even if I don't reach my goal, I had a good day.<br />
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The hard part, sometimes, is how to change your story while you're living it.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZE_Eqw_hqlN8gbkypkBh5d5MBeiflNZ_ZkblNi9RfO_k3iFcoIVcIdaJxjSXjjuFrPnfC-DIg7cENh0QhEPG3QsiYWwHOLhumlMvxMHqC7KIgZlQalC6UqX8_ddzQRslcnnL7nIaMUro/s1600/downhill.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZE_Eqw_hqlN8gbkypkBh5d5MBeiflNZ_ZkblNi9RfO_k3iFcoIVcIdaJxjSXjjuFrPnfC-DIg7cENh0QhEPG3QsiYWwHOLhumlMvxMHqC7KIgZlQalC6UqX8_ddzQRslcnnL7nIaMUro/s320/downhill.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Great two days of gravity skiing with the folks. Gorgeous views, if cold and icy conditions at Stowe.</span></div>
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The part of the story I suppose I left out, is that it's been a great winter so far. I raced in the Craftsbury sprint weekend in early December, placing 9th in the qualifier and advancing through to the semi-finals, where I was faced with the hard truth that I was NOT ski fit enough to handle that many races in one day. But I knew the fitness was coming, and that doing a strength workout the day before the race, while not great race prep, was going to serve me well down the road. It did - I raced again the following weekend at the Craftsbury Eastern Cup, qualifying in 34th in the sprint (just missing the open rounds), but that put me into the masters' heat, in which I was the only master who deigned to show up. That was disappointing and a little embarrassing (not to mention, we could have saved prepping my skis a second time!), but it did mean I won the race. The 5k skate race the next day went really well - I was classified in the masters wave again, but my time would have put me around 39th in the open race, ahead of all my CSUers. They should go faster. It's nice to have good races, where you feel fit and rested and you're riding a really fast pair of skis.<br />
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From the Eastern Cup, I put in a great two week block of training, at Mont Sainte Anne and then back at Craftsbury coaching for Senior Nationals. That was a great week, not without its up and downs, but the ups were real high points. We had a big crew racing, and I thought they all comported themselves very professionally, and skied very well against the deepest field in the country. It was such a luxury to be waxing in a trailer - I'm not sure I'm up to waxing outside again, like we will for the rest of the season.<br />
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Now that we've had a couple weeks of good training under our drink belts, the race season is kicking off in earnest. Exciting stuff!<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Mont Sainte Anne with a gaggle of gigglers in front of one of the many trailside cabins</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJt2gIpaqpiQ7zcfHU6vmqey4JqDBmnpCL_j80HVlggZ1WsP8f7hwHOG4tbK3UHAvxwkVB-4-iEfxmcK9lRmBxgvP44ZPyQArx2N3f9dn7u-2KvIjJ820RX7lpXfZq73FQ0sEY1oz5E_o/s1600/msa2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJt2gIpaqpiQ7zcfHU6vmqey4JqDBmnpCL_j80HVlggZ1WsP8f7hwHOG4tbK3UHAvxwkVB-4-iEfxmcK9lRmBxgvP44ZPyQArx2N3f9dn7u-2KvIjJ820RX7lpXfZq73FQ0sEY1oz5E_o/s320/msa2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">The appropriate way to do MSA is to stop by the Boulangerie on your way home from skiing, before lunch. Those croissants are to die for.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">I like taking selfies with my team in the background</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3Gu_QpnBrJBjQDCBooQ35rDr-ucdhG09G28D7no-WxuYb9CEIE1SREtOIffShCxu0_bdSJcpkeawJW4JX0vv6B4nf1MzfKNOYRdmx-zy9dVo8gvbRiJiH6qzyMe7bpjpCSqjhK0fpga8/s1600/nationals1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3Gu_QpnBrJBjQDCBooQ35rDr-ucdhG09G28D7no-WxuYb9CEIE1SREtOIffShCxu0_bdSJcpkeawJW4JX0vv6B4nf1MzfKNOYRdmx-zy9dVo8gvbRiJiH6qzyMe7bpjpCSqjhK0fpga8/s320/nationals1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Ed and John, discussing where to put the big green bus for the announcers. Or something like that.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyqdwctST-1hD8SXnsaxfnjV0VE6d32DU2PXZznAXpq_jCEirfcF2BhrWWwk8asNC51y-2ss9XyHNgLihBYjOu0z-HHKJdJ59Znn_zX55EwyoYxKU8yRfwfCxhovfjkFLUOnTjkve6djY/s1600/nationals2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyqdwctST-1hD8SXnsaxfnjV0VE6d32DU2PXZznAXpq_jCEirfcF2BhrWWwk8asNC51y-2ss9XyHNgLihBYjOu0z-HHKJdJ59Znn_zX55EwyoYxKU8yRfwfCxhovfjkFLUOnTjkve6djY/s320/nationals2.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">The Nationals crew, enjoying one of Christina's delicious dinners. So nice to have a big house and somebody cooking for us. I got home and had forgotten how to take care of myself.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">CSU wax trailer, where you use a heat gun to get the windows open</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTrhokH5MkKec11wPMH9T77gMS4Yor15d4dydi_633t00od9iB6W83dLyaEXSMm7PslaRtYpfSX-vhkgfhUNpDaZJ84lnTSHEDmRid1LMFrVDdPmswSYoNPMWnRb2IjHQY7dXofjk2SEo/s1600/nationals4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTrhokH5MkKec11wPMH9T77gMS4Yor15d4dydi_633t00od9iB6W83dLyaEXSMm7PslaRtYpfSX-vhkgfhUNpDaZJ84lnTSHEDmRid1LMFrVDdPmswSYoNPMWnRb2IjHQY7dXofjk2SEo/s320/nationals4.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Kathy coaching</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Bullitt Timing's slogan: We bring buses full of cables, and zip tie them to everything.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCoR4qiuFb7VheoClyovZbLv63ZdEszWaxCPhQVYMBz3MoPAv_Gadv1NkZtPYiRpYk4RsCU6wEk5ApX0td-BbG51TBaeYUC50le9VVEkNlVOEaWYv6IcTtCO6TP4hrpFl_1-1GGVLfkfg/s1600/nationals6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCoR4qiuFb7VheoClyovZbLv63ZdEszWaxCPhQVYMBz3MoPAv_Gadv1NkZtPYiRpYk4RsCU6wEk5ApX0td-BbG51TBaeYUC50le9VVEkNlVOEaWYv6IcTtCO6TP4hrpFl_1-1GGVLfkfg/s320/nationals6.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Goofing off in coach-mode</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZvzjHFJSr_vMWS1edQRHiHUyA_doOLfUMsIdNl2CqPz3JT4CfJ0EMYOS2NDwZVBVUz-QPI_GxP_uNYn0IcSbv5WCQ8dDrAXpbSO9CHgOXmfdzo7qM7FCMzjB2JRvWAHLyBjTptT2lIwA/s1600/madshus.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZvzjHFJSr_vMWS1edQRHiHUyA_doOLfUMsIdNl2CqPz3JT4CfJ0EMYOS2NDwZVBVUz-QPI_GxP_uNYn0IcSbv5WCQ8dDrAXpbSO9CHgOXmfdzo7qM7FCMzjB2JRvWAHLyBjTptT2lIwA/s320/madshus.jpg" width="240" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Todd Eastman gave me a hat. I'd say it's a good fit! </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIEGLrfJ1SIt99dgO1nRzc1UtmIJmsrZMUfyHYNJGczVOjYvEn3tHqlEFEoQuZgOEuelQ3oQi7oL16Gc6O1I77kqQAFZ49NCmzN1jKyimQaLkmG6a5FnbXv5uidCAy5al2XB56y7kXYZE/s1600/nationals7.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIEGLrfJ1SIt99dgO1nRzc1UtmIJmsrZMUfyHYNJGczVOjYvEn3tHqlEFEoQuZgOEuelQ3oQi7oL16Gc6O1I77kqQAFZ49NCmzN1jKyimQaLkmG6a5FnbXv5uidCAy5al2XB56y7kXYZE/s320/nationals7.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Laura in the Nationals heats</span></div>
<br />Alexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03241445781480320172noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4968085316200546890.post-14002860608962079992018-12-04T10:11:00.000-05:002018-12-04T10:11:34.662-05:00Blue Hills Traverse and Thanksgiving Camp<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiL-UrklEX5XgZzlx4RAC82y_xvoE7U5rSx8mdnGm22ZncH71my-XmHFkv1FacyZUV8cbnKiPguhC6HUbg_5GuTRZvLz-MJtegwktY_HuA3DQuPHTWrhPmFqvq3knzS7YRfrL-LDX-fNSI/s1600/BHT1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="300" id="id_9b7_7018_3328_68c1" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiL-UrklEX5XgZzlx4RAC82y_xvoE7U5rSx8mdnGm22ZncH71my-XmHFkv1FacyZUV8cbnKiPguhC6HUbg_5GuTRZvLz-MJtegwktY_HuA3DQuPHTWrhPmFqvq3knzS7YRfrL-LDX-fNSI/s400/BHT1.jpg" style="height: auto; width: 400px;" width="400" /></a></div>
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This year's Blue Hills Traverse went to new parts of the Blue Hills, starting on Ponkapoag and transitioning to BH West. It was a nice course, with legit features (though 17 was annoying), friendly running with not too much green or pointy stuff or steep hills.<br />
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My plan for the race was to start reasonably fast, cruising on some of my marathon fitness when on trails and roads. I knew I hadn't been in the woods much, but was hoping the residual strength would carry me through, as long as I didn't do anything too stupid. That was all going swimming well for the first five minutes, and I was near some faster guys and feeling relatively comfortable. Five minutes isn't very long. Leaving #1, I was still debating a left/right route choice as I cruised down the hill, tripped over something crossing the trail, and rolled my ankle pretty bad. Youch. Had to stand there for a while, trying not to say bad words, to let the pain fade and determine if I could run. Eventually I decided I may as well start walking down the trail, and soon I could run again, if gingerly. The rest of the race, off-trail and and wobbly rocks were bad news.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6MjjOMjLmWrLYf_Q3h6zSg-Mv6820ROrQll7R-l2bxqz2RVMFCSao_JosdLHPXOyEBa7NvK9Q0ql9OM_cbNdjyEu46FPSkPiwaVFOhTUUWmhfpzlJuiykdv_LpyrkSHXepVjqzsiWoDQ/s1600/BHT2018-1QR.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="658" data-original-width="722" height="363" id="id_26a1_c4dd_54d6_fa53" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6MjjOMjLmWrLYf_Q3h6zSg-Mv6820ROrQll7R-l2bxqz2RVMFCSao_JosdLHPXOyEBa7NvK9Q0ql9OM_cbNdjyEu46FPSkPiwaVFOhTUUWmhfpzlJuiykdv_LpyrkSHXepVjqzsiWoDQ/s400/BHT2018-1QR.jpg" style="height: auto; width: 400px;" width="400" /></a></div>
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By #2, I'd caught to the tail end of a group containing Aaron, Bo, Neil, and importantly, Rachel. I don't care about the boys, but I really want to beat any women, and Rachel has some serious orienteering chops. She also has two young children, which can put a dent in your training volume and quality, so I thought that given the mass start nature of the course, I could probably out-kick her. But you never know, and now that my ankle was iffy, my confidence was shaken.<br />
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We were basically together the rest of that side of I-93, with occasional placement changes as we all took different micro-routes. I had fallen a bit off the end as we emerged from the woods and onto the overpass to cross the highway, and used the stretch of pavement to catch back up and move to the front of the group. Gotta play to your strengths, so I also used that time to scout some other paved or trail running routes for later in the course.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEij30Cbh4upJZImj-czlIgArbZdxv-qJzCJB3-qO5OmUyJkiAhQ-ddDI6GQrBseHxPZwpFgy_BkzY1eTz70_kxRm6KfrHEiv1GBsVZeQs7zUd3t8yIJuQRls7gvtZVJcwM3WLak4XWn6Nk/s1600/BHT2018-2QR.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="611" data-original-width="722" height="337" id="id_fe99_d7e1_ef8a_7f5c" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEij30Cbh4upJZImj-czlIgArbZdxv-qJzCJB3-qO5OmUyJkiAhQ-ddDI6GQrBseHxPZwpFgy_BkzY1eTz70_kxRm6KfrHEiv1GBsVZeQs7zUd3t8yIJuQRls7gvtZVJcwM3WLak4XWn6Nk/s400/BHT2018-2QR.jpg" style="height: auto; width: 400px;" width="400" /></a></div>
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After the butterfly loop, I chose the right-hand road route to 15, dropping Rachel, and was behind Jimmy and Ernst climbing the hill toward the trail to 16, where they solidly dropped me, despite lots of huffing and puffing on my part. I wasn't alone for long, as Aaron caught up around there, and helped me blow less time on 17 than I would have done alone, wandering on the hillside trying to find a little boulder.<br />
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We went left to 18, but the trail was rocky, and my ankle was bad, and then I got confused by the cliffs in the circle, going to the unmapped one first. D'oh. From there, Aaron went up to the road, and I went straight, and stopped early, not quite making sense of things. By the time I actually got to 19 I could see Rachel approaching. Dang! She caught me at 20, and we ran together for a bit before hitting a road, where I knew I had one more shot. I was clearly faster on roads, so I just had to make the break stick this time.
Took trails up toward 21, and I was thinking about running fast, more than my navigation, which is never a good plan. My brain, deprived of both oxygen and common sense, thought I was on a different trail than I was, and I ended up running all the way to the junction south of the control before realizing it, and had to hook way back to get the control. Luckily didn't waste time on it once I realized my mistake, but I knew Rachel wouldn't be far behind.<br />
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I had to be cautious running through the woods toward 22, and as I crossed the trail and started climbing, I saw Rachel pop out of the woods just south of me. I had maybe a 10-second lead, and I wanted to push that to 20-30 seconds so that I was out of sight. Ok, this really is your last shot now.
I pushed HARD up the climb to 22, catching and dropping Aaron and Jimmy, then blasted away before anyone could latch on, following the index contour (it's the big obvious one on the ground) toward 23, gasping and stumbling and yelping the whole way. Basically running scared. I chanced a glance behind me at 23, didn't see Rachel, but didn't let up down the hill. The effort paid off, and I ended up with a nice 1.5min lead, and the winner's gingerbread man! To be fair, I don't think Rachel was going quite as all-out as I was, but a win is a win, and it was a lot of fun to have to fight so hard to defend my title at this race.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEion9YpLKX40bzuR4xhqx4DZB7FkeFwM5FP53LFed5VWbeScBA6dpWZ8lCxThSeF2AGKnSTXHziBccd3Rrdu9Sh8aa40bFjyc4PD2E6CVWCSZRmhcmwwlUPVUESf1hbdsama8wpSL5st-Y/s1600/BHT3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="960" height="240" id="id_7fc_3e75_c43d_d84b" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEion9YpLKX40bzuR4xhqx4DZB7FkeFwM5FP53LFed5VWbeScBA6dpWZ8lCxThSeF2AGKnSTXHziBccd3Rrdu9Sh8aa40bFjyc4PD2E6CVWCSZRmhcmwwlUPVUESf1hbdsama8wpSL5st-Y/s320/BHT3.jpg" style="height: auto; width: 320px;" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">A blue-lipped smile</span></div>
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<b>Thanksgiving Camp</b><br />
After a nice Thanksgiving celebration at Ed's aunt and uncle's place (only 27 folks at dinner, a small gathering this year for them), I left Ed at home and headed up to Craftsbury for our three-day mini camp with the juniors. Craftsbury had gotten a couple sweet dumps of snow over the last week, so we had some really excellent early-season conditions. Race skis all weekend! We got in some excellent distance skiing, and then topped it off with either a time trial or some hard uphill skate intervals on the new 5k south course. Good times.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Forced family fun includes Thanksgiving walks at 15 degrees F</span></div>
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It wasn't all just blissful skiing, though. One afternoon, we had nearly the entire group together, doing a speed workout as we made our way around the 5k course. This is a thing we do all the time, all teams do it, it's great practice to race down the hills with your buddies and learn how to ski aggressively.<br />
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I don't think anyone was doing anything wrong; the boys were sort of jostling coming down a hill, and probably somebody miscalculated or misjudged or misstepped or something, but really I think it was just bad luck. One of my boys hit a tree at full speed, and things got real pretty quick. He was out cold, and it really freaked out all of his teammates. Luckily, CSU has a lot of doctors, level-headed kids, and wilderness response experience, and we were all there. So, Maile took most of the kids off on a race to get the medics on site, the doctors stabilized him, checking vitals and clearing the scene, someone else blocked the trail with some skis, and we got some jackets on him. Within about 20min the snowmobiles had arrived and gotten him to an ambulance, with at least one CSU doctor in tow.<br />
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While he's going to be fine, and is making a speedy comeback already, it was a really scary situation. Things could have been really different. The kids were understandably really freaked out, but I was really impressed with how well they acted in the moment. Thanks to the juniors reacting maturely, having half our coaching staff be medical professionals, and having the accident at one of the most on-top-of-it ski areas meant that this sort of situation couldn't have gone better. But I hope it never happens again on my watch.<br />
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Now we're solidly into the shoulder season, hunting for snow and stoically weathering the cold rain. T-12 days to the first race!<br />
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Alexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03241445781480320172noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4968085316200546890.post-7375735441157518552018-10-30T05:32:00.000-04:002018-10-30T07:56:09.675-04:00Loco MarathonI got the idea in my head a few years back that I wanted to run the Boston Marathon. I mean, I'm a runner, I live in Boston, it only makes sense that I should do this race. But you've gotta qualify for the thing, and that means running a fast-enough road marathon before you can even sign up. And of course, I wanted to run reasonably fast, so that when people ask the inevitable "oh, you're a runner? have you run a marathon?" you can be like "yeah, and a fast one too."<br />
<br />
I'm known for my humility.<br />
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After watching the 2017 race, there were so many people in it that I knew and they were all inspiring and I was all like "omg I wanna run this race!" But, it takes a while to get ready for a marathon, you have to do lots of long runs and do them on pavement and pay attention to pace, and all this stuff that is actually kind of new to me, because I run for time rather than distance, seeking hills and forest and rocks and things, and while I do regular track workouts, I have no idea how fast to run when it's just on a boring old road. So, I downloaded a training plan from the internet, tweaked it to fit all my other various athletic obligations, and signed up for the Quebec City marathon, pretty much the latest race I could run and still sign up for Boston to run the 2018 race. Enter the Great Smashed Kneecap of Summer 2017, an ill-advised 24-hour couch-to-marathon plan after 9 weeks off, and definitely no BQ.<br />
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That's ok, we all have setbacks. My kneecap recovered just fine, and I signed up for a spring race, convincing my friend Sharon to join me at Sugarloaf. Enter the 2018 World Cup course setting and subsequent knee injury (of the other knee) brought on through too much skiing, too little sleep, and far too much stress. That one took two months of patiently waiting for my body to fix itself, again without really being able to bend my knee during the recovery time. A little gun shy that mere stress could trigger actual physical ailments, I was careful returning to training, and hesitant to drop yet another $100 on a race entry if I didn't think I could race it. Thanks to time and the tireless work by the folks at Beantown Physio, I finally declared myself healed and ready to rock this July, and started to put in some miles again.<br />
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But I still didn't sign up for a race. When you're coming back from zero, it takes a long time to get to the point where you're putting in adequate mileage to start to contemplate long races, and I wasn't willing to let myself latch onto a race, yet. Mentally and emotionally, I couldn't handle it if something happened and I wouldn't be able to run. And yet the miles ticked by, one at a time, until I was finally reaching that strange point in marathon training where 10 miles no longer feels like a big deal. And, with a little prodding from Sharon, I signed up for a race on October 28th - the Loco Marathon.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsfLoXXbCHIiv6w_FAhzmc_MbsgPMwjp1gh6jRZ7QK1XSrsisWdLxT6uvFokEKi3JhfCKLz7DOVGIRvDHbzQPfYKNopMHUVT6AcrGa3v560fvAIXM6oKEJDHZESLeLTM6wMMoFCjOwqpk/s1600/Loco2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="960" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsfLoXXbCHIiv6w_FAhzmc_MbsgPMwjp1gh6jRZ7QK1XSrsisWdLxT6uvFokEKi3JhfCKLz7DOVGIRvDHbzQPfYKNopMHUVT6AcrGa3v560fvAIXM6oKEJDHZESLeLTM6wMMoFCjOwqpk/s320/Loco2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<b>The race</b><br />
B goal: BQ (3:35, though technically 3:30 because the race fills up)<br />
A goal: Faster than that<br />
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Sharon was running the half marathon, while I got to do a second lap, but we could start together. I really had no idea how fast I'd be running - you're supposed to know these things, but I didn't have much to go on in terms of half marathons or 10ks. I figured I'd do what I do best, run by feel, and listen to my body. I have something like 700 race starts over the last decade to draw experience from, so even though the race course surface may be different, I'm still piloting the same beat up body.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFKwz8vY_bMrRy_cmewuXX2L_cf6U0Dgyv_bvhvyTvxNvE3xFN9ERByghv5K7RFYs3J7dZ8b9-OlZCP2rwENDnD2hAtIuLkq3m2LbJBSrdq4tSV-65jQYkmTW04-lgwdwE9CTQGRaneJc/s1600/Loco4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="960" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFKwz8vY_bMrRy_cmewuXX2L_cf6U0Dgyv_bvhvyTvxNvE3xFN9ERByghv5K7RFYs3J7dZ8b9-OlZCP2rwENDnD2hAtIuLkq3m2LbJBSrdq4tSV-65jQYkmTW04-lgwdwE9CTQGRaneJc/s320/Loco4.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Pre-race vibe</span></div>
The first ten miles were a total breeze. The weather was cool and misty, I had dressed perfectly for it, I had a happy song in my head, and there were plenty of people around me. I started out behind the 7:35 pace group, knowing that I just had to tick off every 5-mi lap in 40 minutes or less to hit my Boston Qualification (BQ) time. I figured that I should slowly let the 7:35 guy get out of sight, but I'd rather fall into a pace early and hang on to it as things got rough, than try to summon the extreme mental oomph required to negative split anything. Never been my forte, negative splitting. So, I cruised through those first five miles quite happily, chatting a little first with Sharon and then with another two ladies that I was near. The course was gorgeous, rural and pretty flat, through farms and fields on quiet roads. I think most of the traffic was from spectators who were trying to get to good cheering locations.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8xCgO4PCYaMx3YmHz8p9-63fmdsZxGSYiNDyqNdSEkZhFbJctLQBFkhOaZRBG6hHoheiQrY8pdXF-OyXAFGHXOtVjx7fwPo5myaVTTC0W8nFCO3e3pkOntKREwC8778kxcTb1qMoELKQ/s1600/2018-LocoMarathon-9.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1301" data-original-width="1600" height="260" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8xCgO4PCYaMx3YmHz8p9-63fmdsZxGSYiNDyqNdSEkZhFbJctLQBFkhOaZRBG6hHoheiQrY8pdXF-OyXAFGHXOtVjx7fwPo5myaVTTC0W8nFCO3e3pkOntKREwC8778kxcTb1qMoELKQ/s320/2018-LocoMarathon-9.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHXGAL5wIu1OtSZWrrNL2liuhB9fqfxwPSO3HpxISYBNAjmEONsrWYt45oBbfTDpEowXSGri0nV-tj_rOJSrR272ZnCC9iW1h1wXt_ws5fFnrHVeJ5Qb8LyhmGXyDSNLtaypObffutoZQ/s1600/2018-LocoMarathon-56.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1068" data-original-width="1600" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHXGAL5wIu1OtSZWrrNL2liuhB9fqfxwPSO3HpxISYBNAjmEONsrWYt45oBbfTDpEowXSGri0nV-tj_rOJSrR272ZnCC9iW1h1wXt_ws5fFnrHVeJ5Qb8LyhmGXyDSNLtaypObffutoZQ/s320/2018-LocoMarathon-56.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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The second five miles were equally fun. I was relaxing up the hills, rolling down them, remembering to eat my special running gummies (gotta love a sport where you're not only allowed, but SUPPOSED TO eat gummy bears as you do it!), and smiling about how much fun it is to run. Each of the first two five-mile laps I'd earned about 2 minutes of cushion against my BQ, which I was sure I'd dig into later. The last three miles of each Loco loop were on a dirt rail trail, and I was expecting something a little more finished, maybe cinder. It was a bit of a surprise to thus find myself splashing through mud puddles on an uneven trail - hey, this is the good stuff! I wasn't expecting to actually have fun!<br />
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The course got much quieter after lapping through the half - seemed most people were just doing one lap. I started to pick off runners, seemed like a lot of people were starting to fade on lap 2. At the 15mi mark, I reminded myself that at Pisgah, I was only halfway done. This seemed to help with the almost-there syndrome that you otherwise get in long races. Stay focused, you've got a lot of running left to do.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEighE3JLTfMVfxlmiV4js-nL5EI2NmOu7du8ADGHhfxj-anfRuOEzS4O-G-5Whuds9TM1jiLFW9C9IFBKQ8Ug4x3haV6FtfXDChkgUIhyphenhyphennsBOo1ik31t3jnra_kY1BrJym-Pmlp9TcX_fM/s1600/2018-LocoMarathon-272.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1068" data-original-width="1600" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEighE3JLTfMVfxlmiV4js-nL5EI2NmOu7du8ADGHhfxj-anfRuOEzS4O-G-5Whuds9TM1jiLFW9C9IFBKQ8Ug4x3haV6FtfXDChkgUIhyphenhyphennsBOo1ik31t3jnra_kY1BrJym-Pmlp9TcX_fM/s320/2018-LocoMarathon-272.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJl9Y1SsXXWANUs_dODUkEHOBQP7zGtGZc9u-uaZ-R4vt8qjJ-KLnmugX7xzue7UaD5DvYdj0XJmNTVx8S_ldcioAtXHmMrCBlUmvOTRt5cB3RlmShhVk6C6UWBOJ40Y7SQHjyx6Tu2Qo/s1600/2018-LocoMarathon-480.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1068" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJl9Y1SsXXWANUs_dODUkEHOBQP7zGtGZc9u-uaZ-R4vt8qjJ-KLnmugX7xzue7UaD5DvYdj0XJmNTVx8S_ldcioAtXHmMrCBlUmvOTRt5cB3RlmShhVk6C6UWBOJ40Y7SQHjyx6Tu2Qo/s320/2018-LocoMarathon-480.jpg" width="213" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">We call this the staring-at-your-feet-face</span></div>
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The next five miles got tough. Some of it was being on a second loop of what you've already done, and some of it was just the accumulated repetitive motion starting to wear on me. I may be able to do 50ks and Pemi loops and whatever else, but those have so many different motions for your legs - this marathon business was the same damn thing, over and over and over. By my calculations, that's 18,180 strides that I took on Sunday, each one almost identical to the last. And, I was doing them considerably faster than all those training strides (maybe 720,000 strides, give or take a few thousand), because I didn't really know how fast I was supposed to be going in training. This wasn't nearly as easy as the first time through this loop.<br />
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Running was taking much more concentration, now, and I was more focused now, a little less smiley. My quads were doing their best to shit the bed, sharp pain with each step, and there's nothing to do about that except put it out of your mind and keep ticking off miles. I was very slowly reeling in a guy ahead of me when two guys that I'd dropped on the rail trail caught back up to me. This was excellent timing, because I was entering a pretty low point, wondering if I'd still hit a BQ if I walked the rest of the course. I got into their draft, back up to speed at 7:35 miles, and it was a lot of work, but I could keep my legs going through strength of will. Our little group of four continued to pick off miles, not much chatter now, and we finally got to the little hill before the rail trail and I knew I'd make it. I can force myself through three miles of anything!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPM7RxwUcuSt0f01XwnsuWbuXoK1rstXMKP7l9dBBubw7dwzIutu4A_d5Q8BtzskaeMstAixqZKgIVOh8iihHmOBJaW0iNl___ew5JIbpfylCpYE1ZqElVnYTU16hPJimh-j47t2vNUv4/s1600/Loco5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="666" data-original-width="413" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPM7RxwUcuSt0f01XwnsuWbuXoK1rstXMKP7l9dBBubw7dwzIutu4A_d5Q8BtzskaeMstAixqZKgIVOh8iihHmOBJaW0iNl___ew5JIbpfylCpYE1ZqElVnYTU16hPJimh-j47t2vNUv4/s320/Loco5.jpg" width="197" /></a><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Laughing at Sharon's sign. Chuck Norris never ran a marathon. It was really funny at the time. </span><br />
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Sharon was at the top of the hill with some funny signs, and that totally bolstered my spirits. I was looking forward to the mud, too, if only because I wanted to use different muscles, and as I churned my way up the rail trail I caught a glimpse of a woman way ahead of me. Target: acquired. I started pace counting, just to stay focused and take my mind off my quads and keep moving, and though it felt like it took forever, I eventually caught up to her. Two miles left. You can count to 1440, just keep counting paces. The last 5-mi lap dinged, and I was still banking time against the BQ. Go me! One more mile. Half a mile. Two tenths. Started to see more spectators. Into the final muddy field. Oh man I can see the finish! Crossed that line, and I have never been so happy to stop running.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Still running, not jogging. splish splash!</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirLYQ7rsM2fbH-7tVkQZ5v8Jmn3B-B9zc7uEtFHxMBHrbLpn9_ZWV40bQl5BYA7XKtvHJwUUhn7VBjwPVOJh-XZ_tIbAgG1YMRqLu2Jhzcg6-VMZL4l2IUDhqouk3le87KkBfvPc9hBbo/s1600/Loco.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="897" data-original-width="1186" height="242" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirLYQ7rsM2fbH-7tVkQZ5v8Jmn3B-B9zc7uEtFHxMBHrbLpn9_ZWV40bQl5BYA7XKtvHJwUUhn7VBjwPVOJh-XZ_tIbAgG1YMRqLu2Jhzcg6-VMZL4l2IUDhqouk3le87KkBfvPc9hBbo/s320/Loco.PNG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">HR and pace both slowly dropping as my legs crashed</span></div>
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Overall, I'm quite pleased with how the race went. I hit my goal, and even though I was exploring the pain cave for much of the last eight miles, I was able to push through without losing too much time. For having no idea how fast I ought to have been training, I discovered that the answer was "much faster than I did." It would have been nice to maintain my 1:39 half split, but I think without the faster road training, it just wasn't going to happen. A part of me wants to tackle this challenge again, because I'm fairly sure sub-3:20 is within reach, maybe even sub-3:15. But a much larger part of me is very happy to just sign up for and run the 2020 Boston Marathon and call it good (we all know a fast Boston Marathon is out of the question because of ski season).<br />
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The best part? Both knee injuries are just history. For the meantime, I have put that injury-demon to rest.<br />
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<br />Alexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03241445781480320172noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4968085316200546890.post-5538321757525525282018-10-29T12:57:00.002-04:002018-10-29T12:57:19.212-04:00Orienteering USA NationalsOrienteering USA Nationals were hosted by the Southern Michigan Orienteering Club and Orienteering Cincinnati, two weekends back. The joint effort meant that the venues were spread pretty far apart, but it enabled the event to happen, which was a good thing. Middle and Sprint distance races were in South Bend, Indiana, and the long distance was up near Bishop Lake, Michigan. Two states I hadn't orienteered in before!<br />
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<img alt="" id="id_ae9_16ed_6c7b_83bc" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-ZDk2heDHEIk/W9c7nNqFihI/AAAAAAAARhQ/-VGIBFiGGkIf5LPtR4BsmkTiZEBOGjyvgCHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" style="height: auto; width: 353px;" title="" tooltip="" /><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Drive from Detroit to South Bend featured a lot of this</span><br />
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<b>Middle Distance</b><br />
I'd had a pretty hectic week at work leading into the weekend, and combined with a very short night of sleep to catch the early flight to Detroit, I was feeling somewhat zombie-ish for Friday's middle distance race. The map, such as we'd seen before the race, looked to be a flat course, with a lot of trail route choices. I knew it would feel like a cross country race, so I tried to psych myself up, but couldn't quite tap into the right mindset. The cold soaking rain wasn't helping matters, and I would much rather have been back in the warm hotel room wrapped in a blanket.<br />
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I also badly miscalculated how much time I had before my start - I had thought I had 40 minutes, but it turned out I had 7 minutes. Whoopsie. I tried to keep the effort steady at first, to let my legs warm up, but then found myself lacking enough give-a-damns to either push hard or to push through any forest. I fell into the trap of reading one control at a time, and thus got totally caught by the trap with the uncrossable fence (that, yes, we had driven past to get into the park. D'oh).<br />
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Not seeing said uncrossable fence on my map, because I was being a little lazy with the map reading, I chose to go straight-ish out of 11, and crossed the muddy slough. That part looked so innocent on the map! I was chest-deep, with a foot stuck under branches, and wondering if that was how I was going to die. Spoiler: I got out. Shortly thereafter, I emerged from the woods and hit the fence, and had I read the whole leg, I would have just run around to the north, stayed dry, and saved a few minutes and a lot of annoyance. Ah well, orienteering. You think you're soaked through when you orienteer in the rain, but you're not *really* soaked until you've gone swimming.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">The red line is my GPS track. If you look at the beautiful piece between controls 11 and 12, you'll first see a zigzag on the trail, where I'm searching for a way through some thick multiflora rose. You can't quite tell how much time I spent wallowing in that thing blue line of muck, but that was a while, and then I had to run around the fence anyway. The thick dark blue line is the route I *should* have taken, thus saving myself a few minutes... d'oh. </span></div>
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The few controls in the woods after the stream-fence debacle were too few to get me back into a good mood. Mostly, I was upset that I had skimped when packing, and would thus have to wear this wet and muddy kit tomorrow, too. Anyway, I finished the race not feeling great about it, and like I'd left some 3-4 minutes out there in terms of effort and sharp navigation, but it was good enough for a silver medal behind Ali, who had blazed around the course in lightning time.<br />
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<b>Sprint Championship</b><br />
Saturday was colder than I'd expected, but in good news, my kit, that I had painstakingly rinsed out in the shower, was dry enough to wear. There were two sprints today, and the combined time would be used to crown the national champion. Ali could only race the Friday race, so given the depth of the women's field, this race was mine to lose. My recent marathon training has been a lot of slow miles, so I was somewhat worried that I wouldn't have enough get-up-and-go for sprint racing, and I was correct in my worries.<br />
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Speaking of marathon training, I was also trying to get in my last hard-ish workout on the plan. My compromise involved doing two mile repeats in the warmup for my first sprint, and while the mile repeats felt great, I could tell as I was running that my sprinting was suffering. Not surprising.<br />
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The first sprint sent us across a knee-deep ford of a cold river on the way to the second control. This wasn't cool, because my feet were now wet and frozen, and shortly thereafter I felt my lower legs lock up because of the cold. The course was relatively straightforward, and I had good sprint-flow, always knowing my exit direction and anticipating well, but I didn't have much speed to give it. That was enough to take the women's win by 35 seconds over second place, who wasn't actually US-Championship-eligible, and third place among the men, just 43 seconds behind Wyatt.<br />
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<img alt="" id="id_a5c_bd7_c141_8842" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-69gOJMfmxJ0/W9c7nHd37MI/AAAAAAAARhY/rwdGflydWDssS6VK7b5P_yKPi9xCvyI8wCHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" style="height: auto; width: 353px;" title="" tooltip="" /><br />
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We had a short break, and then it was time for the second sprint, which promised to be more woodsy. Alena, the second place woman from the morning's sprint, was starting just 1 minute behind me, so I was worried that she'd get to hunt me down. Indeed, after a few micro-route decisions that were the wrong decisions, and one long hesitation in the floodplain near #11, she had made contact. Darn! I tried to keep up, and slowly narrowed the gap, but the race was over too quickly. At this point I was totally exhausted, the heavy warmup, two races, and all of last week's stress crashing into me all at once. And we still had a 3h drive to get to the banquet location and our hotel for the night.<br />
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<img alt="" id="id_1dbb_b90d_82d7_dd7" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-J0mxwXOP9zM/W9c7nEmVxkI/AAAAAAAARhU/YznpflufO74cbpwEV4-yy09gSFfVXV-TACHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" style="height: auto; width: 353px;" title="" tooltip="" /><br />
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Handing out the medals after the sprint</div>
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<b>Long distance championship</b><br />
It felt like morning came too soon, especially considering how far west in the time zone we were. Pitch black at 8am! Today's race, up near Bishop Lake, promised to be some interesting glaciated terrain, again with relatively thick undergrowth, but at least some good navigational challenges to keep things interesting. It also promised to be even colder than Saturday, with the front that had blown through and brought a little ice and snow the night before. Exciting!<br />
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My plan for this race was to keep the effort pretty low, and treat it as a long training run. See the above thing about the marathon. I knew that my nearest F21 competitors would likely be running even slower, and I didn't want to totally trash my taper by building on the fatigue I was already feeling. So, the intention was to have perfectly clean navigation, looking for good micro-routes, sending it down the hills, and taking it easy on the uphills. This plan in general went pretty well, and the slower pace definitely helped me have clean navigation.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Fun glacial stuff!</span></div>
<b><br /></b>This was interesting terrain and a fun course, not quite as nasty vegetation as I'd anticipated, despite plenty of green, which was well-used as a navigational challenge. I started out carefully, not sure how I'd deal with the glacial terrain, and made a couple hesitation-errors, but got into my flow moved steadily. I found myself choosing straight-ish routes, and reading the topography well enough. While this certainly wasn't a super fast time for me, it was good enough to beat all the women, even Alena, the speedy non-US-eligible runner! I was very pleased with that, as it was a little unexpected. Woo!<br />
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<img alt="" id="id_a843_855f_7102_a602" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-ELeMD9TZUR4/W9c7ngd1FQI/AAAAAAAARhc/aEuWaqeacLgpRkI4zMvQgh8hqBKRNdiRgCHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" style="height: auto; width: 353px;" title="" tooltip="" /><br />
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This is my last year racing in the elite category as per age classes. I can always choose to keep running against the elites, and may well do that for a while, but I also have permission to race the "old ladies' next year. Looking forward to it, but it was nice to go out with two gold medals and a silver!</div>
Alexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03241445781480320172noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4968085316200546890.post-2576564493406243392018-10-04T14:36:00.000-04:002018-10-08T11:06:09.796-04:00Pemi loopThis hike has been on my bucket list for a while, so when Ari mentioned that he wanted to run the Pemi loop this fall, I thought it might fit perfectly in with my marathon training. Kind of. At least if you look at it all squinty or something. I mean, hiking over 10,000ft of climb is totally good prep for rolling out 8-minute miles endlessly, right? Well, at the very least, this promised to fill my soul with mountain views and rocks and leaves and things, and I was all in.<br />
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Unfortunately my body didn't totally agree with this all-in attitude. My right foot hadn't quite recovered from Pisgah, and throwing another 50k at it, this time with hills, was not kind. But I started the day hoping for the best, because that's what I do.<br />
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We went debated the merits of clockwise vs counterclockwise in the car, and ultimately settled on clockwise, mostly because that was how Ari has always done it in the past, and it means you reach Galehead Hut after having already done the bulk of the climbing and rough trail. Gabriel and I were up for whatever, having never done this loop before and happy to rely on someone else's expertise.<br />
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We jogged off toward the Osseo trail with high spirits. Up the trail to Flume Ari and Gabriel quickly dropped me, and I discovered that my legs were definitely feeling the heavy training load from last week. I made the conscious decision to back off a little, because life is a lot more fun when you're not suffering, and gosh was it a beautiful day for putting one foot in front of the other! The boys didn't have to wait for *too* long at the top, and the ridge between Flume and Liberty was great. We jogged along happily, but once we hit Little Haystack, we started running into the crowds on the Franconia Ridge. I don't blame them, because that is the most amazing accessible trail that I can think of, but we passed maybe 100-150 people between Little Haystack and Lafayette, in both directions. The whole ridge was in a cloud, which took away any sense of distance, but it was nice to not get totally fried by the sun.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Looking east from Flume. One of those days!</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">South from Flume.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Hey we're going to go into that cloud! </span></div>
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I had to do handstands on top of Lafayette, because tradition, and then we left the crowds behind as we traipsed off toward Garfield. I had been feeling pretty good along the ridge, but various injuries were starting to niggle as we descended from the ridge, and I knew I'd be in for a long day. Normally I can dance down the hills, but not this day. I tried to put the pain out of my mind, because with some overuse injuries you have the luxury of knowing that you're probably not doing longterm damage, and you can just push through. But, I was certainly feeling pretty battered by the time we'd gone up and down Garfield and the following lumpy bits of trail. Galehead was a welcome site!<br />
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One of my old skiers, Hannah, is working at Galehead this season, but unfortunately was out packing food for the hut last Saturday, so our paths didn't cross. But, she left me a plate full of bread and cookies, and a cardboard Pemi Loop Queen crown, which I tried to wear for the rest of the loop. Unfortunately, cardboard isn't a great material for durability when you're wearing it on your sweaty head, but I loved the thought of it!<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Looking down into the Pemigewasset wilderness from Garfield</span></div>
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A bowl of soup at the hut, and then we headed off for our last real climb of the day, up South Twin. It's tough to get moving again after sitting down, but you don't really have a choice. Unfortunately by the top of this one, my plantar fascia foot was starting to really hurt, and the subsequent ridge, which should have been awesome running, was just sort of a painful slog, trying to match pace with the boys, and not being too successful at it. I'd never been up to Mt. Bond before, and it was gorgeous. Beautiful views of the Franconia ridge to one side and the Presidentials to the other, nothing steep or difficult to traverse, just lots of nice trail. Bondcliff was as cool as everyone has always said it is; I'd like to go do that again and have a picnic up there.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">My Pemi Loop Queen crown on top of South Twin</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Ari and Gabriel heading up Mt. Bond</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">The boys on top of Bondcliff</span></div>
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Thus some 22-something miles into the day, we finally started downhill, and my foot was pretty upset at being asked to bear weight. We still made it down reasonably quickly, but then those final five miles of flat old railroad by the river... those were rough. I couldn't put power through either foot, and resorted to sort of hillbounding with my poles, at a struggle shuffle 13-minute mile. Oof. Takes a long time to cover flat ground when you're going that slowly, but Ari was a good friend and hung back to tell me stories. Gabriel couldn't stand the idea of that final piece of trail taking so long, and ran ahead. I can't blame him, and wished I'd been able to manage a more respectable pace, but sometimes you just gotta run what you brung.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">The eponymous river</span></div>
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So after a very long slog, we were back to the car, some 10.5 hours after starting. 30 miles and 10,000ft of climb is a big day, no matter who you are. What a crazy awesome day. Of course I wished I could have gone faster, because that's who I am, but for now I am very satisfied having just made it around. While that may qualify as a bucket list item, I'm not writing off doing it again, on fresher legs!Alexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03241445781480320172noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4968085316200546890.post-49661363940557487012018-09-24T11:44:00.000-04:002018-09-24T11:44:21.758-04:00Pisgah 50k<div>
Laramie kicked off a few weekends of racing, which is the good stuff as far as I'm concerned. Upon coming home, we had the Louisa May Alcott 5k with my junior skiers, and I jumped into the 10k, in light of my upcoming marathon. I had some diaphragm cramping problems, and sort of had to cruise my way through it, but it was definitely still fun to pin on a bib!<br />
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<img alt="" id="id_91fa_d99_ffe4_1ade" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-EnqIfCJqTPU/W5aNJOrBxQI/AAAAAAAARXs/iCWres0sJdc-LZb6841CljrzMyPQqVvXwCHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" style="height: auto; width: 353px;" title="" tooltip="" /><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Managed to win my age class, by virtue of having not too many other people racing the 10k in my age class. But that meant I got to pose with Uta Pippig! </span><br />
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That afternoon I headed up to Pawtuckaway, for UNO's famed camping weekend. I skipped all the daytime orienteering, but arrived in time for the potluck dinner and the Wicked Hahd Night-O. I was going back and forth with Ernst and Neil for most of it, but didn't really have the energy or ability to run away from them, and ended up in 2nd place behind Neil. Super fun!</div>
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Because two races in one day wasn't enough, I was set to run the blue course the next morning (the longest hardest one). But, enough other people around me at breakfast were running the next one down that I decided to follow the herd. The fatigue from a pretty heavy training load in Laramie, combined with the altitude and a tough week at work, meant that I was hardly upset about this decision! I had a relatively clean run, with the one exception being that I lost a trail I was trying to follow on my way to control #11. I didn't notice this for too long, and corrected poorly, dropping about two minutes. But my slow and plodding pace still netted me third overall, and ahead of all the ladies (though not by much). I'll take it! <a href="https://attackpoint.org/racesplits.jsp/race_29150" target="_blank">Results</a>.</div>
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<img alt="" id="id_6091_6b5d_fee1_c432" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-d7P-XWywPl0/W5aNJLjHMKI/AAAAAAAARXw/tiFUPN25qAUGJt6ISmSDSzeOitxzVenpwCHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" style="height: auto; width: 353px;" title="" tooltip="" /><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">So fun to see so many kids getting ready for the vampire-o after dinner! </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhotH7DIBy631OnllOzLgyOn3MA8P2-bMWO9nnbJNhIdTqO-MxaVHneLG5rdDE-QLB96y0cZRQUEM5PpiiQrVqMRcfQWewQIQZJIwE0r_61dIcbP-QlgfBzFD7O790icecMx461jIoikDY/s1600/pawtuckaway_night-o_2018_QR.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1252" data-original-width="1600" height="312" id="id_cd02_7e2f_fca5_9975" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhotH7DIBy631OnllOzLgyOn3MA8P2-bMWO9nnbJNhIdTqO-MxaVHneLG5rdDE-QLB96y0cZRQUEM5PpiiQrVqMRcfQWewQIQZJIwE0r_61dIcbP-QlgfBzFD7O790icecMx461jIoikDY/s400/pawtuckaway_night-o_2018_QR.jpg" style="height: auto; width: 400px;" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">The WHNO course with my track on top. Click for larger. You can see where I totally decked myself on the way to 15, because the track goes to that bright red you-were-stopped-here color. </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjs8EbrsLKIIpmzBiVVQi0VedUNbiSVyq2ON04At5fJYzcTVBDuUJiScxRdryoroEwu_f6NKIFPkXSCzq2oY3bpj4oau6rSQSOLGNzXP6yhGUwCVrOBoMl0rtr_0rdIk1NYCnKy8kLmA5k/s1600/pawtuckaway_red_2018_QR.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1254" data-original-width="1600" height="312" id="id_b03b_a22e_b0f6_9b83" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjs8EbrsLKIIpmzBiVVQi0VedUNbiSVyq2ON04At5fJYzcTVBDuUJiScxRdryoroEwu_f6NKIFPkXSCzq2oY3bpj4oau6rSQSOLGNzXP6yhGUwCVrOBoMl0rtr_0rdIk1NYCnKy8kLmA5k/s400/pawtuckaway_red_2018_QR.jpg" style="height: auto; width: 400px;" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Sundays' course with my route. Pretty proud of how straight I went from 7-8! </span></div>
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<img alt="" id="id_c3eb_a2be_749e_ad91" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-Wag8ag1AAnA/W5aNI6xk_cI/AAAAAAAARXo/HiPUfKoYIQEuHUIEFUbqUW_VIbyH6XUnACHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" style="height: auto; width: 353px;" title="" tooltip="" /><br />
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After Sunday's course, Ed had managed to show up with his new vehicle, and we went for a nice trail run on the windy singletrack. That is a much more fun trail when you aren't trying to use it to navigate! We'd offered to pick up a couple controls, since we were out there late, and as I collected controls, Ed collected a much better treasure - fresh chanterelles!</div>
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<img alt="" id="id_f91f_9c34_f552_1654" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9aeznnxbG9HjYdcZcuKNlKCUIAXX7B3OcG4xc0Thkc7i5FLYtorZprmCT8VsH1AtO8ONL8MkYvkgOpPrKLAkAR7573jOGbtjOmjklHguS_qcoOpydfGmCuD7h8CuyXDZLr5jza48l2FA/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" style="height: auto; width: 353px;" title="" tooltip="" /><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">How he spends most of his time when it comes to the bus</span><br />
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<img alt="" id="id_ccbd_896c_6445_750e" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-FC7PnqPdFZ8/W6kFUk0rpQI/AAAAAAAARag/iL5NSCzR4rksHp_CLDa6GIf1jIEp4CbgQCHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" style="height: auto; width: 353px;" title="" tooltip="" /><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Actually driving places now! </span><br />
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<b>Pisgah Mountain 50k</b><br />
Anyway, you came here to read about the Pisgah 50k, not my wanderings around Pawtuckaway. I'd sort of been targeting this race, partly as a lead-up to a marathon in a few weeks, but partly because I haven't run it since 2013, and I wanted to run it again and successfully. The really difficult thing is that I knew I had to let go of 2013-version-Alex, because I know I am not that fast anymore. I wish I were; from the numbers you'd think I could match past efforts, but I think a large part of this is that my mindset has changed, and I'm less willing to lay it all out there in pursuit of a result. I had re-read my report from 2013, and the memory of how hard I'd been pushing, to keep up with Kelsey and then to hold her off, was pretty fresh. I didn't know that I wanted to do that again.<br />
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So, my goal for the day was to enjoy it - I usually run well when I'm smiling. I had 50 kilometers ahead of me, of this beautiful, piney, forested trails, and I had no obligations today besides putting one foot in front of the other to cover distance. So much fun! I really was looking forward to this. Unfortunately, the weather looked to be pretty awful - humid, and warming up to the mid-eighties by midday. With an 8:45am start, I knew I'd have quite a few hours of running in uncomfortable temperatures. Ugh. As I feared, the hot weather dictated much of the race for <span style="font-size: medium;">me.</span>
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<img alt="" id="id_6a41_10f7_4c77_1032" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaPFZVJInBupHJkGYaj0pZgQpBmQc6VZt6bOSnWOgHioCDEBoPyT5CplyyJl-YVs4vvOnmXse9chTfBd8dFVj76biYbDJO3BugMh4bjjFnFoLokkvIp-_J0WBQCEq6Y5NIhCkW-1C1h0I/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" style="height: auto; width: 353px;" title="" tooltip="" /><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Starting in a cloud. 97% humidity.</span><br />
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We started in a cloud, and I noticed that my heart rate wanted to climb too easily. I tried to take it easy and just chat with people in the beginning, and it was a really enjoyable first eight miles. Somewhere along the way I came to Emily and Tom, NENSA folks, and they were stopped, Tom having smashed his knee crossing a slippery brook. He insisted he could walk just fine, so I kept going, pretty sure Emily would come flying by soon. I got to the aid station about a minute faster than my last time, which was worrisome because of the humidity (was I working too hard?!), but encouraging that the marathon training of raising my baseline speed has been working.<br />
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I walked up the road climb from there with a group of three guys, and then things started to get tough as we kept going up on the trails. Emily passed me by, and I didn't even try to match her pace, feeling gassed and too out-of-breath. I ran the downhill well, catching back up to my three guys, and ran through the aid station at the bottom, passing Emily in the process, though she soon passed me right back.<br />
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I topped up on water at the water stop around 12mi, and then forced myself to do a bunch of jogging over the next few miles to the third aid station, on the lookout for bees the whole time. Didn't want to get stung again! I was still pushing the downhills pretty hard, but taking it easier on the uphills. Somewhere in here I had my first heat shivers, not a good sign. I arrived at the third aid station and got more heat shivers, so decided to back way off and just walk all the way up Pisgah mountain.<br />
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Of the three guys I'd been running with miles 8-16ish, the gray-shirt guy ran off strongly from the aid, and I never saw him again. Black-shirt guy passed me early up the climb, but blue-shirt guy, named Joe, caught me more slowly and we chatted a bit. I kept walking, trying to bring my HR down. My right foot, which has a touch of plantar fasciitis, was really starting to hurt in here. Coming down the hill, I had to focus on running, full stride and whatnot, because I just wanted to go slowly and limp on my foot. It's hard to change gears to a higher one, but it has to be done! I caught both black-shirt and Joe coming down the hill, but I wasn't feeling awesome. It was hot, I ran out of water near the top of Pisgah mountain and thus had a mile or two of dry running, and my stomach was starting to complain about this effort in this heat.<br />
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The fourth aid station is the start and the finish of the Kilburn loop. As I topped up water, guzzling quite a bit of it, the leading woman came in, having just finished the loop. She was also leading the race. Impressive! I waddled off toward the loop as she loped off down the trail and toward the finish, and I was feeling kind of negative. My foot was really unhappy with the gravel part of the trail, my quads and hamstrings were feeling the strain of running the downhills hard, and my stomach didn't like all the water I'd just guzzled. I made a concerted effort to keep sending it down the hills but I was definitely entering survival mode, and I did a bunch more walking than I should have back up the hill.<br />
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I finally got back to the aid station, and now the shortest way back to the finish was to just follow the course. Phew. I tried hard not to limp on my foot, because I didn't want to cause some other injury from running funny, and I passed a dude who was walking, which made me realize I wasn't actually that badly off. Into the climbs up Davis hill I did some pace counting to motivate myself to keep running, and near the top I heard footsteps behind me - Joe! We shared a few miles, walking the uphills and trying not to limp the downhills, and then when we hit the gravel road I told him he better run ahead - I was going to do some walking and my stomach was really unhappy.<br />
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About 0.7mi from the end, I passed the tailgating crew, and they told me I was third woman. I chuckled, and asked if they had any cold beer. I was promptly delivered an ice cold, delicious, bubbly, IPA, and it was heavenly. Finally something that I wanted to ingest! I drank about 3/4 of it before dropping it off at the next driveway (as suggested by the tailgaters), turning and giving them a thumbs up, to a rousing cheer. Started jogging again and managed to get across the line about a minute before 4th place, so it's good I didn't take the time to finish that beer. <br />
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So, while the race wasn't everything I'd hoped, I did manage to enjoy myself out there. I know I don't run particularly well in humidity and heat, so I sort of expected my stomach to turn at some point, but that was a tough one to finish. I don't like that it was 41 minutes slower than last time, so I guess I'll have to come back next year!<br />
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Super thanks to the race director and all the volunteers - the course was lovely, very well marked, and the aid stations were friendly and stocked with all sorts of good food. Great event!<br />
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Alexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03241445781480320172noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4968085316200546890.post-56014721336690641962018-09-04T20:00:00.000-04:002018-09-04T20:00:04.230-04:00Rocky Mountain Orienteering Festival<div>
The Orienteering USA Annual General Meeting was out in Laramie this year at the Rocky Mountain Orienteering Festival, and that seemed like as good an excuse as any to do some orienteering and dust off my map-reading skills before a busy fall. Laramie has some great orienteering, a mix of fast open short-grass prairie, rocky granite stuff, and a little bit of pine forest, that's rapidly dying due to pine beetle infestations. Between the great visibility and the firm ground underfoot, the orienteering there is super fast and confidence-inspiring - basically, orienteering in Laramie makes you feel like a real badass.<br />
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<img alt="" id="id_50f6_5b5c_fb63_ba9d" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-A_dQkZhaRnI/W46kH_f-V7I/AAAAAAAARSY/nNI3j23ZTW8jLvWd5tT_-bnm-5LFWkmlwCHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" style="height: auto; width: 353px;" title="" tooltip="" /></div>
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The altitude, though - that takes some getting used to. 8500+ feet is a lot of elevation, and on the first day stairs were a real struggle. I was out here two years ago, and pushed hard straight from the get-go, which led to some mild altitude sickness. This year, I had six days instead of three, so I determined to take the first two days a little easier.</div>
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<img alt="" height="491" id="id_c009_3c94_51a7_32b6" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBPy2qSFKIwxxkJOX1wjYloPjYUaQherij1iWfUWrF1WUM2ABzWt8jaNoiHXtroqroliuiVbiPkC5DW89IpOLPKStrix8wrBzVb0S-qCfB5EY09013fpwIHB6dNBE5ixiQFceFuREAVes/s640/%255BUNSET%255D" style="height: auto; width: 353px;" title="" tooltip="" width="640" /><br />
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The first day was a mass start run, on a wide-open plain. I walked every uphill, but let my legs go a little on the downhills, keeping a small pack in sight. We had a few controls in the woods in the middle of the run, and I was able to drop my pack, which always feels good, and then the course finished with some nice downhill legs, again, things to make you feel like a badass. Very enjoyable start to the week!<br />
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I was sharing accommodation with Tyra, a friend on the US Team, and the next day as we headed up toward the races, there was a sign that I-80 eastbound was closed due to an accident up on the plateau. Well, shoot. We tried one option to get around, but there just aren't that many roads in Wyoming, and this one ended in a padlocked gate with no trespassing signs, so that was that. We decided that the best possible thing was to make lemonade out of those lemons, and headed west into the Snowy Mountains, to do a longer hike. Such a good decision!<br />
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<img alt="" id="id_e2ef_2d19_9957_d81b" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-LKFGvVGUVIA/W46kIUqO0hI/AAAAAAAARSg/vvB4yVdAWNcc5u4aBIYXDCRTWh71wWTfwCHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" style="height: auto; width: 353px;" title="" tooltip="" /><br />
Big sky country<br />
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<img alt="" id="id_e3ce_1a95_2901_8f13" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAdWVuP4p4EtmWxeXBvJBFnR7AF14_RXb703VhiFAosTaUkavpfA1bJVdLirRfRsMniqXzIvMO9QlMBcT8WF7jmIRfBX3j4a9mglApD8z5qsQiZnx4qNt3zVl2OWjTKIImU5KWqSRE8Xk/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" style="height: auto; width: 353px;" title="" tooltip="" /><br />
Bigger sky country<br />
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We started at Lake Marie, and immediately started climbing, up to about 12000 feet and Medicine Bow Peak. It was gorgeous, open alpine tundra with a smattering of rocks, and of course Tyra and I felt the need to run back and forth on the trail taking way too many photos.<br />
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<img alt="" id="id_1aa3_e3dd_ebef_74e1" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-_EdsGx7z3bQ/W46kKiNi7NI/AAAAAAAARSk/zOMO3qskyMADiD2VO4bnc8joekNTuPYnwCHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" style="height: auto; width: 353px;" title="" tooltip="" /><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Tyra in the zone</span><br />
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<img alt="" id="id_9ccf_de3e_2780_afaa" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-0BYwGE81YeY/W46kK9DnZUI/AAAAAAAARSw/arFONbTCRCsblNCTiU12wNWssDqHva31ACHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" style="height: auto; width: 353px;" title="" tooltip="" /><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Gallumphing along, ponytail flying</span><br />
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The top of the peak was really cool. It's really the highest thing around, and nothing makes you feel more on top of the world than actually being on top of the world. Quick lunch, and then we headed out along a ridge rock-hopping the top, aiming for the end of the ridge and the next batch of alpine lakes.</div>
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<img alt="" id="id_d35d_d419_a215_5c09" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgojD-_qveMPc7za-OsngY9JdXZ4nnbQItksCJ1_zyxGrBz8_PJoUyUWBIAY6_0qyOoW_J_b2Dy_2Yu_t6g5N23_lKSMP57EcwrhU7gF6kvfCV5W3MwD86TGmccA0LEnbA56Q1OjinY3to/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" style="height: auto; width: 353px;" title="" tooltip="" /><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Lake Marie behind me and the ridge we went up to get there</span><br />
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<img alt="" id="id_d6a7_af21_d260_9a71" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-NOhUdc60b1w/W46kLry6J4I/AAAAAAAARS0/Met-1M2y7lcsnKohuiINiULiP1d1J0Y3gCHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" style="height: auto; width: 353px;" title="" tooltip="" /><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Looking down toward the shelf lakes and Brown's Peak</span><br />
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<img alt="" id="id_54d8_ca8a_37ac_ecc4" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-4lLnmmscxFo/W46kMPaw5EI/AAAAAAAARS8/eW2MOI2ZlE0nXQ6ajGK-f9hsz0mY7YTxwCHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" style="height: auto; width: 353px;" title="" tooltip="" /><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Descended to South Gap Lake, and eventually back up and over Brown's peak, but without a trail. There was a trail marked on the 1980 USGS map, but that was long since disused and disappeared. No problem in this terrain to just bushwhack, though, since everything is so open and accessible. But that did make for some slower miles.</span><br />
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<img alt="" id="id_c0ba_f69f_689c_2b0c" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-S4s299kKAoc/W46kMPmRfcI/AAAAAAAARTA/X3Za4uPwkeow0twP8P19QtP80U_i1MdjwCHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" style="height: auto; width: 353px;" title="" tooltip="" /><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Medicine Bow Peak from the other side, as we trotted down a gorgeous gently-graded footpath back to where we started. A very nice way to finish a long day! </span></div>
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<img alt="" id="id_a4a8_993d_3365_417e" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-GixYOZQlpdI/W46kMIH7q9I/AAAAAAAARS4/sKdjWv9BFJUebfSwn-hvmWw8T9vbaN6AgCHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" style="height: auto; width: 353px;" title="" tooltip="" /><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Lake Marie</span><br />
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So, while we completely missed the One Cowboy Relay race, our little excursion into the mountains was well worth it.<br />
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The next day was the first National Ranking Event race, of which there were four. It was a middle distance course, which meant technical orienteering that would keep us on our toes. I haven't been on a map much this summer, but had a good pre-race plan that kept me finding the controls one after the other. The only thing I regret is that I had none of that elusive flow, where you always know where you're going next and how you'll get there - it was more of a stop, look at map, go, stop kind of race. But, it was good enough for the win! </div>
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<img alt="" id="id_321e_c919_7f5c_c05b" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-6URjVXXuvSM/W46kM8IQt_I/AAAAAAAARTE/iCEQtt62blchCncmA4TCU8LDmAfnEtdlACHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" style="height: auto; width: 353px;" title="" tooltip="" /><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">This is a really cool rock up on the plateau. Naturally, Tyra and I went to the top. It's what we do. </span><br />
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<img alt="" height="328" id="id_10b0_d91d_27ae_1bbf" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-Tj-YxELmQ-g/W46nqYy5bCI/AAAAAAAARUM/mTEw3_CG2AovrSm-nUWp3g9RVGG0a6FZgCHMYCw/s400/%255BUNSET%255D" style="height: auto; width: 353px;" title="" tooltip="" width="400" /><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Super fun map, technical without just being a jumble of rocks. Those rocks in the northern bit were really awesome - some big slabs and boulders and all sorts of other rock configurations, that really challenged the orienteer to look beyond the rock to the landforms supporting it all. When done successfully, you could fly, but if you just looked for the right rock in a pile of rocks, that was slow. </span><br />
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<img alt="" id="id_2769_ac30_706d_9738" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-0XiHx5D087s/W46kNpfx5UI/AAAAAAAARTM/VGrPwMYfSxsLmvWw1N-30l28gSW8BMc1QCHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" style="height: auto; width: 353px;" title="" tooltip="" /></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Handstands overlooking the orienteering terrain</span><br />
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After my success in the middle distance course, I didn't want to get complacent for the following three longer races. The scoring worked such that they'd count your best two of three races, so I figured I may as well start hard and see if I could hold the pace. Day 4, the first longer race, was in a surprisingly technical area. I had been expecting more of the short-grass prairie and fast running from the day before, since we were literally across the street, but there was much more sage and pine forest to contend with.<br />
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<img alt="" height="285" id="id_276_51a9_2f0_bc16" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-x9ayW7uGG-g/W46kNa-5srI/AAAAAAAARTI/W3SQEnhaIGMuMCryKGeV78lWaR-ZvMK9wCHMYCw/s400/%255BUNSET%255D" style="height: auto; width: 353px;" title="" tooltip="" width="400" /><br />
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I managed to keep my head screwed on, though, and really pushed the downhills when the opportunity was there, while fighting juuuuust enough on the uphills to keep moving. I was feeling pretty good, considering that we were racing at 8600', but definitely not my normal self up the hills. The sage also made for difficult running - the stalks are really woody, and you have to sort of pick your way between the plants, otherwise you kind of just crash into a bush and get stuck. Overall, I was pleased with both my navigation and my effort, and I ended up winning the women's class by a big margin, and third among the men.<br />
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The next day Tyra and I were pre-runners, so that we could go out adventuring later in the day. Unfortunately, I don't think I'd had enough coffee at that point in the morning, or maybe I'd just lost too much energy in the day before, but I put together a really terrible, unfocused, lazy race.</div>
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<img alt="" height="273" id="id_9a1a_550c_26b6_7beb" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-SM_6IK5ER7A/W46voS-FFSI/AAAAAAAARUc/5DP-x5tEFAIqsEnpGjIOO5Iq9dDrCPh3ACHMYCw/s400/%255BUNSET%255D" style="height: auto; width: 353px;" title="" tooltip="" width="400" /><br />
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I had good speed on some of the long legs, but I was incredibly unfocused in the circle, and was losing huge gobs of time on each control. In hindsight, I was focusing too much on the pace, and what was happening was that I was taking 2-3 minutes for my heart rate to drop enough for the oxygen to actually be used by my brain for me to find the control. In the end, I made about 10 minutes of errors, and finished about 5 minutes behind Sydney, a newcomer to the US Team, and well back among the men. Even though I know I'm retired from this sport, and thus not allowed to beat myself up, I was upset to have navigated so poorly, especially on such a fun course.<br />
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<img alt="" id="id_d9a1_b003_29ca_ee64" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-_lNyDXjiwW4/W46kOpP_-1I/AAAAAAAARTU/oTPBErJA1OMIXPVzcGpuR_Lo6fx7tluMACHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" style="height: auto; width: 353px;" title="" tooltip="" /><br />
But we went on a small hike after, and that made everything better. This place is just so beautiful.<br />
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<img alt="" height="266" id="id_c48d_5111_1244_a077" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-WEqNDJUv4Gg/W46kOr1HZaI/AAAAAAAARTY/WBsNUo3FmjkF4ZFUPwrl6gQLjPOzdOEtgCHMYCw/s400/%255BUNSET%255D" style="height: auto; width: 353px;" title="" tooltip="" width="400" /><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Dave Yee photo from the Middle Distance race</span></div>
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The final race I was determined to be clean, and aggressive with my navigation - always know what's coming! I started 2min behind Tyra, which is of course the preferred position. I watched her off towards 1, which meant I didn't have to read my map for a while, and took a solid 15 seconds out of her right there. I immediately paid for running too fast by crossing the wrong marsh. I thought I'd corrected for that reasonably quickly, but still lost a minute to Tyra in the execution of that leg. Whoops.<br />
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<img alt="" height="400" id="id_ccbc_3db6_c415_dcc1" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-GAQqii5Nups/W46nqQf9DgI/AAAAAAAARUQ/LqrSl5iuAWU3Qq4Rt4MZ19jIST2nZL5LwCHMYCw/s400/%255BUNSET%255D" style="height: auto; width: 353px;" title="" tooltip="" width="317" /><br />
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Good execution of a straight-ish route to 3, did a bunch of walking to 4, and then apparently my stick didn't register at 4. Huge bummer, because it beeped for me. Down to the lower trail, and then I made my own crossing of the marsh to 5, which involved waist-deep water with muck underfoot. I was hanging onto trees to keep from sinking into the muck, and then one of them broke off in my hand and luckily I still had momentum to lunge for the next tree. I emerged from the marsh relatively unscathed, and the dry air meant that I didn't stay wet for long.<br />
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I re-entered race-mode around control 5. I knew things had been a little wobbly up to that point, and it was time to lay down some faster km. Although I didn't know it at the time, I was in third for the women at control 5, about 20 seconds behind Sydney. But I was in fight mode, and comparing splits after the race, I was taking little bites of time out of each leg, which adds up to a lot if you do it right.<br />
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Exiting the technical rock stuff and into the fast stuff, I knew it was time to really get my suffer on. I kept my head up looking for micro-routes through the sage, and up the gradual hill to 15 I could see Tyra's back, but couldn't tell quite what the gap was, or if it was enough. I was pushing pretty much to my limit down the hill to 16-17, and nearly cracked coming over the hill to 18 and the finish, but it was enough - I had the fastest time.<br />
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I ended up taking about a minute out of Tyra, but of course it doesn't count, because I don't have a punch for #4. Luckily, I beat Sydney by enough on the first longer race to outweigh how much she beat me by yesterday, so I took the overall win. Winning is fun!<br />
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This trip was a ton of fun. Good company, good vibes, good orienteering, good adventuring, good training. Super thanks to RMOC/LROC for all the work that goes in to putting on this event!<br />
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<img alt="" id="id_452c_6b81_8aee_a2e5" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-1jmReLdY7B8/W46kOC7f8tI/AAAAAAAARTQ/QSL5oov6GBUoC7yl_puOlT13wtcPAtZyACHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" style="height: auto; width: 353px;" title="" tooltip="" /><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Prairie portraits: me and a goldfish cracker.</span><br />
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<img alt="" id="id_3b3_930e_a731_76b8" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-nNuQYZIsobA/W46kOmgL0cI/AAAAAAAARTc/HP3quDJti1UdQatZL1xvjwN4NQ0unzfngCHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" style="height: auto; width: 353px;" title="" tooltip="" /><br />
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The swag! </div>
<img alt="" id="id_c32f_5ccf_3fa6_f7d" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-56A2hMntQjY/W46kPDAfvFI/AAAAAAAARTg/EL_2C2v6Y10_pe1dWs-0ElVWRq0UudoWQCHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" style="height: auto; width: 353px;" title="" tooltip="" /><br />
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It was a great little vacation out there, and I am so thankful to all the volunteers who made it work. Can't wait for my next chance to orienteer in the Laramie Range!<br />
<br />Alexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03241445781480320172noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4968085316200546890.post-70410162032099010082018-08-16T11:47:00.000-04:002018-08-16T11:47:24.005-04:00AdventuringI haven't raced much this summer. I had to sit out the Greylock race, with my knee still bumming, and even though I've since taken myself off the injured list and am training again, I haven't found my racing mojo. I miss it.<br />
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I finally pinned on a number last week, at the Cigna Elliot 5k. It wasn't pretty. A muggy day in the upper eighties, at the end of a workday where I've drunk more coffee than is advisable and less water than might be recommended, with a big lunch to boot. I've put down some reasonable base, but not much for speed lately, and what speedwork I have done has been more like slowwork. I keep waiting for fitness to catch up, but maybe it's time to more aggressively chase it. At least at this point I've laid down a baseline, so hopefully soon I'll jump beyond it.<br />
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<img alt="" id="id_8498_3802_64aa_bd4c" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-jEUsD1jjoks/W3Wa7g8jknI/AAAAAAAARP0/z3gDLjpGKtYknjV9pfgdydM25B_ZxT-lwCHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" style="height: auto; width: 353px;" title="" tooltip="" /><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">View from a morning run. May have turned into a 10am arrival at work. Oops.</span><br />
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Now that I'm off the injured list, and putting in a little base, I've signed up for the Pisgah 50k. The key will be to run it with no expectations of past-Alex, who could run fast and won races. I'm trying to come to grips with present-Alex, who doesn't look to be winning any races soon. Either way, win or lose, the training needs to happen, and it's nice to have a goal to work toward. The rest of the fall looks like a fun line-up of races, too. So this is all exciting!<br />
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<img alt="" id="id_f81f_d5fd_6ef2_53e1" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLAYjXPynEKmDSDlJQra9tN5YP44zq3yx83kjCZGUQcmj_d1iBIEMXOyiwdNnUzEdu7yTGc1jCiirGEs8XIzru5Y0jNx50T-A0DkU2kmM72jdSYZVxQ-KYWqoYChNG-9MyhK_S17obHT8/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" style="height: auto; width: 353px;" title="" tooltip="" /><br />
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Here are a collection of photos from the last few weeks of adventuring. It's been fun, if hot, and I wouldn't change a thing.<br />
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<img alt="" id="id_faef_e248_29fc_4268" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-Jo24JsZussI/W3Wa7u2PGwI/AAAAAAAARPs/iJSkDqfIbikTay7dMAtp0bO9DQxJsN19ACHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" style="height: auto; width: 353px;" title="" tooltip="" /><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Country store lemonade stops</span><br />
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<img alt="" id="id_bd1f_88f2_bfb0_a2cf" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-2MSbj9ilGaQ/W3Wa8T7usFI/AAAAAAAARP8/ktrzLnkvbQoXlPqbtdtF9IGOlc1UHEftACHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" style="height: auto; width: 353px;" title="" tooltip="" /><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Rolling some great roads</span><br />
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<img alt="" id="id_7aa3_ec44_4b80_517b" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEge_llZjAi9Mj3vXRfqVlm8QPbY3wvD_dl-1tIPsmQY5es_qQFXC8IpHVPGcVrmVB93oGz5fAWKcec9PiKlwNJWLMDlQ78H0NJpkHTEg3PtPnDTIrzXzr0ENvdlymZz3CC3jdqChvpLJh8/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" style="height: auto; width: 353px;" title="" tooltip="" /><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Little bit of green tunnel action means that when you get a view, it's kind of awesome. </span><br />
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<img alt="" id="id_3aad_fc68_3beb_c681" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUeslKeUnFF2Lk_KqUngxGMNVhAIG48Z1Fn4NnMoiBIgx1te5KoY0IbCEVTjqbe0Y-pxnQN1c-bxD0YaVDPIOUCG_Dls5Fk22JVuD2uNcRrnHZiRpO35UXoLiBNuYbF0_l3C41cncl3ms/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" style="height: auto; width: 353px;" title="" tooltip="" /><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Post adventure-run selfie with my ski boys</span><br />
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<img alt="" id="id_750e_42d2_5259_d6d8" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguDzvOZYuBF1ii8j3x8voOcTSJpWdUoJVQMXLzSSTkjYPoD6mOewiLbffHXQI5HGIdQ-24UmqULclfmwuIE2MfMhsu1VS9A9u3YrQ99p2ZnKk3_2DFKjru6hu6kKd-fVUpNaBG8K3UNCg/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" style="height: auto; width: 353px;" title="" tooltip="" /><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">We've been enjoying the flowers from Red Fire Farm. Turns out, flowers are pretty! I like them!</span><br />
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<img alt="" id="id_1c39_7a35_3702_9b1b" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-1UCfFGUdMjQ/W3Wa-ZSiMhI/AAAAAAAARQU/WGNiIRCR3uAg01nKUCrWSL5-MW25W_CKACHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" style="height: auto; width: 353px;" title="" tooltip="" /><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Ed's new project: the Bullitt Timing mobile. </span><br />
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<img alt="" id="id_961_6950_5295_1589" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-YAWHETGicKI/W3Wa-STRK3I/AAAAAAAARQQ/xtS2s6wxdCQkF7QBAhvbUY6V25BB3KJ7ACHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" style="height: auto; width: 353px;" title="" tooltip="" /><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Ed at work. That's some piece of engine. I think. </span><br />
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<img alt="" id="id_eb27_182d_a466_5f3e" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjl5TXbZbaVos8-FXx3wnVDh_mnR4Ykk65pG_vt-4qwMYp9C-lb9gyAEBtFzCbMhnkfVko1t6Rv7v2tQ0yaPYUyqLfK_kQulBNBCg4l6QmIs6pwfa-yjAt_vOPeta3LPPKBykE7aZu-9YA/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" style="height: auto; width: 353px;" title="" tooltip="" /><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Sunset hike with another CSU adventure weekend</span><br />
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<img alt="" id="id_9371_2b62_fa0c_5d86" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-urU_jets30k/W3Wa-ivrRcI/AAAAAAAARQY/x8XD1itG3ZMAg0Aq81IdeJaZh-BEv22qQCHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" style="height: auto; width: 353px;" title="" tooltip="" /><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Slightly underwhelming sunset, but the setting made up for it.</span><br />
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<img alt="" id="id_897c_9b83_9423_8fa7" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-4ilvpKQViaM/W3Wa_IOPUKI/AAAAAAAARQc/y87C8-qO7m41KC_TRWeOldQkhU8FkdyJgCHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" style="height: auto; width: 353px;" title="" tooltip="" /><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Adventure run along the Long Trail. Not actually much running going on in this photo.</span><br />
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<img alt="" id="id_34d3_1006_f99f_b081" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-kWr-KIF7i2I/W3Wa_kDnS_I/AAAAAAAARQg/RebyCscMOAs_HFS9NR3Bis63jcOGWBvwwCHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" style="height: auto; width: 353px;" title="" tooltip="" /><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;">There might be nothing I like better than putting one foot in front of the other moving through terrain. Happy to be able to share this with my skiers.</span></span><br />
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Alexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03241445781480320172noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4968085316200546890.post-19661458362543252012018-07-20T12:26:00.002-04:002018-07-20T12:26:52.871-04:00CSU ski camp/vacationI just got back from two weeks of vacation; a week in Vermont with Ed's family at "grammy camp," followed by a week in Winchendon coaching at the CSU summer camp, which ended around lunchtime on Friday, just enough time for us to head north to Jess and Graham's wedding party in North Pomfret.<br />
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Monday was tough, lemme tell ya.<br />
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The good news is that my knee finally appears to be healed. I could ramble on about lessons learned, but really it's just me trying to figure out how to deal with being old. I'm not 21 anymore, and turns out my body needs more rest than I like to give it. I'd say I probably passed my crash course in wisdom, but with like a C-, because then I went and sprained my ankle again. Whoops.<br />
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Luckily, the ankle healed enough for me to enjoy all the things I wanted to while on vacation.<br />
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<img alt="" id="id_be30_6_b40d_ed12" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-VXQTeeKkoFQ/W1IIvAlrsDI/AAAAAAAARD4/kgpIryW3SWgWDJEg0R0JK6HcIYrqFMQ-ACHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" style="height: auto; width: 353px;" title="" tooltip="" /><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Like maple creamees</span><br />
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<img alt="" id="id_9c4e_9596_77f8_fc93" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdV94jhq9BFQ_ILFsP0ilroABMSagoeeK4pOaHIcs3oOZHUSTE1JlG1CuzAFao0teb8pxEui_MdGTWFSFjhy-iW0IJ4UxqdgHsXinLFXCknt8s3M6Dit3VMVAhD5tiOxwfRp8qPAjngY0/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" style="height: auto; width: 353px;" title="" tooltip="" /><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">First time my subi has pulled anything. Not a heavy lift, but it passed the test</span><br />
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<img alt="" id="id_3d5f_f5b7_9905_832c" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-07zjxrGEv4A/W1IIvSKS05I/AAAAAAAARD8/w1JQSyA9XEU0crIb1UqGMMVOyGPHljQKACHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" style="height: auto; width: 353px;" title="" tooltip="" /><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Sunset from Ken's place on top of the hill</span><br />
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<img alt="" id="id_9951_9fc5_e892_462" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-n6cLBJNqNDE/W1IIvQ5qNBI/AAAAAAAAREA/82mTaTtaE-AEoO6tUP9VQ-1CLw4VoDFkACHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" style="height: auto; width: 353px;" title="" tooltip="" /><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Uncle Ed</span><br />
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<img alt="" id="id_9bc7_f4cd_1b45_7938" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-FtzfPOhzayg/W1IIwCK22uI/AAAAAAAAREM/Xu8Xd3XxQakVLro6Rf3HFnHd4OK8-h9cgCHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" style="height: auto; width: 353px;" title="" tooltip="" /><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Trail run/hike from Mad Tom Notch to Big Branch with these two goofs</span><br />
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<img alt="" id="id_b7a2_5c25_8f4c_88de" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-j9RG3xkmHKU/W1IIv1S_weI/AAAAAAAAREI/euiW3gtiUvQQffYzP8yXUnqh0UDKI4zPwCHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" style="height: auto; width: 353px;" title="" tooltip="" /><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">First year Ed didn't do the fireworks. I was relieved.</span><br />
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<img alt="" id="id_ab5c_78ba_b4ab_7a4a" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-B4eEMojb8Vc/W1IIwRc3NxI/AAAAAAAAREQ/wi5YeoZDyQoJ8tVFyU_e_N5CJtAfCCvDwCHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" style="height: auto; width: 353px;" title="" tooltip="" /><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">One of the meals we served. Pitas. Delish.</span><br />
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<img alt="" id="id_e146_8eff_1d_9198" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-5JbVsDWerIE/W1IIxiayW2I/AAAAAAAAREY/Pgk0B4Y77O07Bf_k67TKF8gPIV41M9AtQCHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" style="height: auto; width: 353px;" title="" tooltip="" /><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Finally got some good mountain weather as I headed off to camp. Clear and dry.</span><br />
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<img alt="" id="id_7410_16dc_cbd0_ae5d" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh02tVJaX2PO5h6KPlTJ3BXCK29lxJIZTmIxt0Hs9aXwYnni3woM91qhBlidskRIwKNUmQ2_XvAgHWLBkhCHQ7GRIsBp__tRtvhVIWkQ8AJdjaGc57BOEnG3g01QwlgQz4m1xGfdP5IK0s/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" style="height: auto; width: 353px;" title="" tooltip="" /><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Back to basics: gotta hillbound to be a good skier.</span><br />
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<img alt="" id="id_eb1f_3eec_67a4_780c" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlA7uluNobX1bT9QESnWsRvSsYv2iLx4oKRS5c2m-fIn8HOkBq-_PPGa9lnXjwsbPluLavYqebgxxCIAJYhlcuufsc6lQENafjvlEBe9lOgSEF1vCp0zhWEABDULd2uwAZmY_nfP8_Goc/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" style="height: auto; width: 353px;" title="" tooltip="" /><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Raspberries were spotted. Mayhem ensued.</span><br />
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<img alt="" id="id_124b_ab7a_f781_847" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-KIdBPV5nKhM/W1IIyK9V0dI/AAAAAAAAREc/1gcZnU4xVX0qI4UIbLNo2PvFUHogAjdXACHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" style="height: auto; width: 353px;" title="" tooltip="" /><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Annual minigolf tournament. Rob beat the rest of the coaches. No real surprise, since he did go to Stratton Mountain Golf Camp.</span><br />
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<img alt="" id="id_5f22_79c8_6533_61cd" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-eEG3Bligzg4/W1IIyDahRoI/AAAAAAAAREg/LCHXgy8z8BcYBSdlhtXC6_TV40jXsCEmACHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" style="height: auto; width: 353px;" title="" tooltip="" /><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Mountain day on top of Monadnock with Kathy and one of the kids</span><br />
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<img alt="" id="id_8434_6bef_efac_30c7" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaduFsvYFTYkGJbjUjL1UUOSYNt4_3kVYEsIG7QZUYc0YCcyLXEgdDJVgIZp6IrGJCvzfQwGSv6lWlBtr2xT3RukRYDehBQbhihD7XM-7eqg-pHecnrA_N9ji9b1Z5TEJDSsb1W6QGx50/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" style="height: auto; width: 353px;" title="" tooltip="" /><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">This is such a fun little peak</span><br />
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<img alt="" id="id_34f3_eb3e_fbdf_74ad" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-rKVM0_wIhM8/W1IIzg1xeEI/AAAAAAAARE0/kj_fkVHH1esdZ8oNMMgZgGd_c69cBJ4RACHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" style="height: auto; width: 353px;" title="" tooltip="" /><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Running and hiking with a great group of chatty girls</span><br />
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<img alt="" id="id_c4a2_cdd8_6997_e27" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-dJmfCdL24lI/W1IIzNDJ4MI/AAAAAAAAREw/W6eiyRJkQagjhE_FdEhYuQoHXbFoL4pIQCHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" style="height: auto; width: 353px;" title="" tooltip="" /><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Monadnock doesn't look as big from down here in the lake</span><br />
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<img alt="" id="id_9f61_24a0_41d2_4908" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-KzW1IeT3OmM/W1IIyxPnPkI/AAAAAAAAREs/tLRRPk8rQrwzoDHq4tCdUyQiOSpN0OzDACHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" style="height: auto; width: 353px;" title="" tooltip="" /><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Then up to North Pomfret, where we celebrated Jess and Graham being married, and Andrea being born, and generally having a group of fun people in one place. Also, we picked raspberries. Lots of raspberries. </span><br />
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<img alt="" id="id_2ccb_76a1_cf55_1ff5" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-h5YQsT70vmM/W1IIztVvfPI/AAAAAAAARE4/mDjSnKVo-sQ8AC2-2IizlBpG3Kmu8a-1wCHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" style="height: auto; width: 353px;" title="" tooltip="" /><br />
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Alexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03241445781480320172noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4968085316200546890.post-29822634577719603782018-06-19T18:39:00.000-04:002018-06-19T18:39:00.161-04:00Boston Sprint Camp and a skier adventure weekendEd and I pulled off the fourth year of Boston Sprint Camps two weekends ago. This is a fun event, usually very personal and interactive thanks to the small number of runners. Like the past few years, we had a little over 30 people, and the weather and vibes were great. We used three new orienteering maps - Cutler Park, Millennium Park, and Jamaica Pond - always fun to run on new places! Cutler was a double edged sword. It's a long walk, about a mile, to get down to the good terrain. But then, given the unproductive glacial geology going on down there, the forest is superb. People really enjoyed the course we did down there, despite the walk.<br />
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Sprint Camp started unofficially with the Thursday night park race at Moakley Park, in Boston. This was our final park race of the season, and most of CSU hung out afterward to have a potluck. Brendan from Inov-8 stopped by with a demo fleet of shoes, much to the enjoyment of the runners. We had a couple out-of-towners joining us for the Thursday race, and that was a nice ending of the season.<br />
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<img alt="" id="id_b0af_6fcd_31d6_f11e" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-EKWReJDZ55g/WykVMzuREKI/AAAAAAAAQuA/guiWEvOWxIQ0rOIOCf8KrBS-lSYlwWFLgCHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" style="height: auto; width: 353px;" title="" tooltip="" /><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Inov-8 demos at our last park run at Moakley!</span><br />
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<img alt="" id="id_56ba_a033_2de5_a593" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1MOzARQxbHYzoif_Vm5BfRX3niWVn_Mq2RQ_Z7VL3HD1SyV2Oc4GCNoEU45tbyKSi0oD5Lo2Nyne7UiX1vhyV02FLGwOCSoei8hTkZcJTy-2WFIKoKftTKX19Sl9l_rivL0MXYLAPUCY/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" style="height: auto; width: 353px;" title="" tooltip="" /><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Sara Mae setting up the potluck</span><br />
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<img alt="" id="id_da4d_71ae_4613_f3ad" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8_A-mUyo2oxJoyJNhEKxEzRiJGXvLWODRl7p2AFBCInaG1l7fs2ZM2IxQ0UOzfXbouHba4q5MWWgZmxkPx_J9euxMOoPLUN5hun7hUC1d2WzfVw3PQU2SZ2W9XxZtFImRHxoV55lOV2w/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" style="height: auto; width: 353px;" title="" tooltip="" /><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Race day shopping. Should have gotten fewer bananas and more m&ms.</span><br />
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Sprint Camp started officially on Friday with a day in Cambridge, doing a bunch of training exercises at Danehy Park before moving to Fresh Pond for the evening race. I only put one control in the middle of a patch of poison ivy... oops. Next time, I'll leave that one out. Lunch from Anna's Tacqueria, always delicious.<br />
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Saturday was out in the Newtons, starting with a "peg relay" in Nahanton Park. Mass start, but some controls have pieces of surveyor's tape looped on. If you get there and there is still a tape, you take it and run a "bonus loop," which serves the purpose of constantly consolidating the pack, making for lots of head-to-head racing. So much fun!<br />
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<img alt="" id="id_eb3b_85b9_729_fcde" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-yZ1E5xNwSZ8/WykvlRJ3VwI/AAAAAAAAQww/mcgYwbYx2KwklY-s-R5wMe_eGlofWORgQCHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" style="height: auto; width: 353px;" title="" tooltip="" /><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Izzy in to the first peg control</span><br />
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<img alt="" id="id_b0b2_82b_d9bb_f867" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-i7AzOZRPssY/Wykvlo3qiII/AAAAAAAAQw4/gRaeekE5Fp42XvjSvLfcpejIMOyxYotuACHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" style="height: auto; width: 353px;" title="" tooltip="" /><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Keegan leading the whole race, taking a streamer to go run some bonus controls</span><br />
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<img alt="" id="id_3288_ccec_46dc_d5cb" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-dRy_gBTTbeY/Wykvlp2PJ1I/AAAAAAAAQw8/Z3BHdq0VcNYcMuptV_e9jep0KIUSFBctACHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" style="height: auto; width: 353px;" title="" tooltip="" /><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Izzy leading Bridget, Kristin, and Marie</span><br />
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<img alt="" id="id_665e_f32c_d0eb_ef71" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6HySIUfbRhrzXNRHIyRFeILqhJvxa243dwGgA5ep2xJwU5fwMYeWikcr7bfAkfg-idszXYKugS5Djzg0lRPRo9NAdhliYz_SHJNdqLLoIj3bquAW5UJDULiYQ1MefwycMckNzEg0IcH8/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" style="height: auto; width: 353px;" title="" tooltip="" /><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Tori leading a pack in to the first "peg" control</span><br />
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<img alt="" id="id_43c4_e262_3ba4_1fb0" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-PK7MxNgvhh8/Wykvmc0jTjI/AAAAAAAAQxA/NDdpLTvXg783mZyMMivJ9W83BX2KX7beQCHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" style="height: auto; width: 353px;" title="" tooltip="" /><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">How to exit a trail: no hesitations!</span><br />
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From there we headed down to Millennium Park, for some more training exercises and then an e-punched park race. Ed made me take out any legs that went straight up the hill, and that was a good move. We ate lunch from BrickFire pizza there, and everyone was pretty hungry by then.<br />
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<img alt="" id="id_495f_974e_5f78_7935" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-eYeW6iuJrJ4/WykvmjgLQaI/AAAAAAAAQxI/1wZKOCnQP7Ahnqu2QDw7jLPe30eaFrTBgCHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" style="height: auto; width: 353px;" title="" tooltip="" /><br />
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The final race was down at Cutler, on the new map in the gorgeous woods. Despite the mosquitoes, I think everyone really enjoyed that race. We quickly hauled in controls, and then went home to prep for Sunday's bracket race.<br />
<img alt="" id="id_69db_5658_3ea5_f921" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgL1g-Uvd9US66co-QyHOKEf7ylXobswrUnxzZJGACFvFm19HQHXqp4piGJR3Jx7AV3j42wkgdmrhpGPsmDxrpmuP-1gfw1N_wZwDSTRAfOYOknSR-tTy5zY16n9uDHsKl84DxYGZiPlmQ/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" style="height: auto; width: 353px;" title="" tooltip="" /><br />
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<img alt="" id="id_fd48_4673_7f6a_ac11" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-PpFu3hBdTK0/WykvnDHnYsI/AAAAAAAAQxQ/jaPwy1ltYtgO-uJrI2w_jD5YF8Rf-vRAQCHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" style="height: auto; width: 353px;" title="" tooltip="" /><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Route choice - Tomas took the trail, Pam cut through the woods.</span><br />
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On Sunday, the Bermans stopped by to help us organize things. We were based in one location, but runners did six races in total, and each one had a different start and finish. We all marched out to the southernmost area together, and they ran the qualification race there. From the results of that, I slotted all the runners into eight heats of four, and they ran the first of five elimination heats. There's a big complicated bracket to explain it all, and we fell down by not having this thing printed out ahead of time. Next year. I think we actually managed to stick to the bracket and not screw anything up, which was a minor miracle considering I was basically sitting there with a pencil and a clipboard trying to interpret the basic results from the mini screen we were using in the field. Phew.<br />
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<img alt="" id="id_64a8_70fa_6215_2a96" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-UdedMm2iCFQ/WykvoMlxxHI/AAAAAAAAQxY/5V22LlpLWEQZAvdtv9_Ss_VgO6NcrGalACHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" style="height: auto; width: 353px;" title="" tooltip="" /><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Huddling in the shade before the start of the qualification</span><br />
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<img alt="" id="id_3b87_a838_d258_1c6d" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-rSmT5xRnSoI/WykvoO2_xFI/AAAAAAAAQxc/U-Ub_T8vDXQngHrZ5Gq7TrEmOY328rD1gCHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" style="height: auto; width: 353px;" title="" tooltip="" /><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Heat #2 under way!</span><br />
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<img alt="" id="id_780a_72c6_e444_49c0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEPeTsj7XSjmmDYAeNBB5nk5zL99SOCUypUIEsOnafOhclX66pXVkIrrODLcXpyOPgZYGdGDhdsmsK6Svnp3l7loINmNmwqddXHd01raMz_dj6TIUFDykCBNVsoWkMwL2zht01TDLeBSs/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" style="height: auto; width: 353px;" title="" tooltip="" /><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">One of the master heats starting out</span><br />
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<img alt="" id="id_14f7_be7e_9e69_2bea" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-hMLrP1VYDC4/WykvpXiU_II/AAAAAAAAQxg/Epq0c24FDdo45-AFfu5R_1UQ_vTrahDlACHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" style="height: auto; width: 353px;" title="" tooltip="" /><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Junior heat starting off. Read the map, THEN run</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Ed manning download, in the field</span><br />
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Five heats later, everyone ran the final sprint, now in heats most closely matched, and it looked like a ton of fun. Everyone loves head-to-head racing, and boy did I wish I could jump in. I'll have to go back to the Seattle Adventure Running Tournament!<br />
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<img alt="" id="id_59d9_b6fa_3a39_9cd6" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-D6TchJVD9OU/WykvqogUyCI/AAAAAAAAQxk/OSfQ3iz3DMMTgqilQK-uPclLjhZg4TQpQCHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" style="height: auto; width: 353px;" title="" tooltip="" /><br />
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Lunch from the Noodle Barn, award pies, and then it was over. Quite the whirlwind, but thank god for such great hanging-around weather.<br />
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<b>Adventure Weekend</b><br />
Last weekend was the first CSU adventure weekend. We center this one around the Greylock mountain race, which I've raced the last few years. Unfortunately this year, I'm still recovering from my injury this spring, and didn't want to jump into the race, knowing that I have a hard time holding back when I'm wearing a bib. So the usual thing of "beat Alex's time and I'll buy your ice cream" had to get shifted to beating last year's time, which was a pretty soft one to beat.<br />
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<img alt="" id="id_5f75_ee55_e232_b1ae" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-pNNKORue70s/Wykvrao7xYI/AAAAAAAAQxw/9mEgjjwSQogfd1WX2BCNMYYZE-hRHJglACHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" style="height: auto; width: 353px;" title="" tooltip="" /><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">One of THOSE days. Great pavement, perfect day to ski</span><br />
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<img alt="" id="id_712a_57e4_4637_65d0" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-kEz_K_HRK7Y/WykvrY__QjI/AAAAAAAAQx0/5F-SykkMQKwmwmNGKfTpYCcBL_o1MBwDwCHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" style="height: auto; width: 353px;" title="" tooltip="" /><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">I love these old roads up in the Berkshires. Maple trees lining the view of fields and forests, hills for days. </span><br />
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<img alt="" id="id_a5e_28ea_403b_9c64" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-xcOuAZVIp4w/WykvrchuYxI/AAAAAAAAQx4/vTqWdf6wlcUakm1Mx9v1Z_qd5HR2isqcQCHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" style="height: auto; width: 353px;" title="" tooltip="" /><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">The boys cruising past my favorite field of wildflowers</span><br />
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<img alt="" id="id_35c8_9ad6_95b3_1aa6" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-auoakaKlAjM/Wykvr2ZbvaI/AAAAAAAAQx8/-ck_w6FN2x0ujXthVUQarL4HNz9VqyLXgCHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" style="height: auto; width: 353px;" title="" tooltip="" /><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Sending it off a cliff in Adams</span><br />
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<img alt="" id="id_a983_3623_878c_985" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-Qj4rR4jei3U/WykvsiNXW1I/AAAAAAAAQyE/qTByvoIJep87Oh3BkBkcKXfJtXR3cJt-QCHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" style="height: auto; width: 353px;" title="" tooltip="" /><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">The crew up on Pine Cobble. Seven athletes, two grownups. Make that nine athletes, seven of them in highschool. </span><br />
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<img alt="" id="id_b774_d45f_50ae_261" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-VtmR8UKODAE/WykvsqhTItI/AAAAAAAAQyI/mObrqWPWo2MePRwbWJQCHcZD6vy7c44CgCHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" style="height: auto; width: 353px;" title="" tooltip="" /><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Tunnel of green, line of runners.</span><br />
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<img alt="" id="id_2ffe_bbe1_cabc_7e3" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSNv3nILHpDk5AeaeioIvtcwIJjpoloy9Dy5LjRWwSqDK7eogKY2iG3MQIvmQIfAMN_Ik55tJyg0IbOXP2BO1Ig_0dgiUBfi-Bm43UE9Sx625RWS3LyYv4RjtXE_O8yhJHn7ixL8e5Nn4/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" style="height: auto; width: 353px;" title="" tooltip="" /><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Calm morning on what ended up being a hot day. Kind of glad I wasn't racing.</span><br />
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<img alt="" id="id_8dfe_dff1_edcb_83f5" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-FYj_Ka_6fLM/WykvtH0IXMI/AAAAAAAAQyQ/WJTNart-kPwyTlS3m5XD8zVF9jGL_B5fQCHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" style="height: auto; width: 353px;" title="" tooltip="" /><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Love this</span><br />
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Despite lots of fun on Saturday, including a very hilly rollerski and a bonus hike up Pine Cobble, five skiers braved the start line, ready for the longest race of their lives so far. They all made it around, some with smiles, some with blisters, all agreeing that it was the best sort of Type II fun they've ever had, with at least one kid admitting to having a lot of Type I fun, too. Two boys earned free ice cream, and everyone felt very proud of themselves. Good stuff!<br />
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<img alt="" id="id_3b43_7fa6_7622_862b" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-cZ1X8sNJ04k/WykvtKfM9jI/AAAAAAAAQyM/Jm88fFombxQDlleauSItBzm0ILujqSlmwCHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" style="height: auto; width: 353px;" title="" tooltip="" /><br />
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Looking forward to a weekend at home, now...</div>
Alexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03241445781480320172noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4968085316200546890.post-58234380936892121902018-06-15T22:32:00.000-04:002018-06-15T22:32:03.556-04:00Unstarted racesMay had promised to be this great month of racing. When I lined up the competitions in February, training was on track, and I was super psyched to get to the point of the season where the work is done and you're just reaping the rewards of being really, really, really fit.<br />
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If you've been reading this blog, you'll know that didn't go according to plan. What do you mean, I'm only human? So anyway, what with 7 Sisters, the Billygoat, the Sugarloaf marathon, and the Westchester County Challenge/Team Trials races already paid for and lodging/transport arranged, all that was left was for me to travel around to races and cheer on my friends. It could have been a lot worse; sitting at home moping. And there's still be time for a bit of a social life, such as it is for us.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Ed playing with Andrea over at Jess and Graham's house - "I don't understand why she's crying, she seemed fine when she was flying through the air!" </span></div>
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<b>Sugarloaf marathon</b><br />
The Billygoat was worth doing, despite the setback in my injury, and actually might have been good, because it made it very clear to me that I should NOT start the marathon the next weekend. That had been my A goal for the season, so it actually wasn't as hard as I imagined to not start the race - knowing you're completely unprepared helps instill common sense, sometimes. It was a lot of fun to cheer for my friend Sharon, as she set a 46-minute PR. So impressive! That looked like a fun course, so maybe someday I'll be back for it.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Still so full of energy 11 miles in</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Reccing the course the day before, with a couple tourist stops. Here in front of the Bigelow Range.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">View from our condo. Hi car! </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">This part looked more painful than the running part. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">First stop: Gifford's, this one in Farmington. Then we stopped again in Portland; I wanted to eat at a place called "Duckfat", but unfortunately it was too long a wait, so we ate fries somewhere else. Nice to break up the drive home from a marathon with walking and eating. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Love this sign!</span></div>
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<b>Westchester County Challenge</b><br />
The final weekend of May was Team Trials. I avoided this race last year, because I wanted to make it really clear, to both myself and my ex-teammates and officials, that I was done. Retired. Not coming back. This year, I felt like it would be safe to do the races, since I was so out of shape and out of orienteering practice that it would be very clear that I wasn't "racing." This was the first really hot weekend of the season, and I suffered mightily. The combination of being really out of shape, unused to spending time on feet, and 90+ degrees was not a good one, but I did see a new max heart rate, highest since college!<br />
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The first race was the middle distance, and I had a blast navigating through the technical but fast terrain at Westmoreland Sanctuary. Unfortunately, as the heat and my lack of fitness caught up, I started making mistakes near the end of the course, and dropped about four minutes total. Still, I was proud of my navigation, all things considered, and had so much fun. This is how orienteering should be! But boy oh boy did I miss my fitness.<br />
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Sunday was the Continental Relay Championships, and Team Giggles was back in action! Izzy Bryant joined Ali and myself, complete with Wonder Woman socks and pink tiaras. We were taking ourselves very seriously. This was at Mountain Lakes State Park, and again the orienteering was very fast. I didn't have much speed in my legs, but my knee held up great. Maybe orienteering is actually good for it? It was so much fun to be running in a relay again!<br />
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Monday (Memorial Day) was the long distance race, and I decided not to push my luck. I took Barney for a 5-mi walk, which thoroughly tired him out with his little legs, and took the sting out of my legs enough that I was happy enough to have not started. It was also fun to stay in the "team" house that my friend Greg had organized. Ed and I figured that we can't contribute that much to the senior team, but at the very least we could show up and cook for them, so we did. Nice to feel useful!<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Relay start, led out by local exchange student Vilppu. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Valerie and Barney, two very good reasons to go to this event</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Team Giggles! Wonder Woman socks and pink tiaras ftw.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi11GA8VFOs8ODQgz3K6K4iqNVZuErL4Sdyugg9n70xuDGxKd95XtwPR7fhmvE9hGuMK2aw0zdn01GmEImPpSQmrfTTVwbqPrTH-XQeajcbqoiXmq968f9IckRWUf8iwMfDYmdof44E5lQ/s1600/01caf98ed8b7e4349bc6f4dc5e0494d6c98b8fdb79.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi11GA8VFOs8ODQgz3K6K4iqNVZuErL4Sdyugg9n70xuDGxKd95XtwPR7fhmvE9hGuMK2aw0zdn01GmEImPpSQmrfTTVwbqPrTH-XQeajcbqoiXmq968f9IckRWUf8iwMfDYmdof44E5lQ/s320/01caf98ed8b7e4349bc6f4dc5e0494d6c98b8fdb79.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Great arena for the long distance race at Mountain Lakes State Park.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Barney enjoying his walk</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Modeling my tiara. It stayed in place for the whole relay! </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">The QOC/CSU team! Kenny, Alli, and Boris. Barney is just a mascot.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSkVLu0pd1HF0Avs9VSLD8jayC2i09mbwGsSy5hUi-T1s0TKBuZ6QsqwgyLIYYbmP_BVBf86-xfwKGAVtMGJnP9hkaJE1a27Vw2QMMzEEnj5EGSiiaZWQo5wCpG37eM-YyZhBbgC5Qyro/s1600/013df367f3f75d39412956bd8516d3a4a1d527c107.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSkVLu0pd1HF0Avs9VSLD8jayC2i09mbwGsSy5hUi-T1s0TKBuZ6QsqwgyLIYYbmP_BVBf86-xfwKGAVtMGJnP9hkaJE1a27Vw2QMMzEEnj5EGSiiaZWQo5wCpG37eM-YyZhBbgC5Qyro/s320/013df367f3f75d39412956bd8516d3a4a1d527c107.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">The movers and shakers of this sport - Balter, Larry, and Sara Mae. Love this adopted family.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Geeking over maps and splits</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Boris in superdad mode.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Great to see Ali running in the team trials again. She won the overall handily, but is still working on regaining that strength and fitness you lose after creating a mini human. She'll be rocking by WOC!</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Ed setting up the announcer's booth.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Cheering squad of Tom and Jennifer! And of course Barney. How does he get into all of my photos?</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Team Giggles being serious</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Beagle orienteering</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Barney helping Ed with the download station</span></div>
<br />Alexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03241445781480320172noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4968085316200546890.post-20998946420580882892018-06-12T11:26:00.000-04:002018-06-12T11:26:50.700-04:00Billygoat 2018The Billygoat is one of my favorite races, and also one that I happen to be very good at. Long mass start orienteering race where you're allowed to follow people? sign me up! This year, however, thanks to the knee injury, I wasn't prepared physically for this race. I had a long debate in my head as to whether I should even start, but eventually came to the conclusion that I may as well try. Who needs running training for a running race?<br />
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We headed down on Saturday night to hang out with Boris and Alli and Barney and Inara (one of these four is a beagle), before making our leisurely way over to Blue Mountain, in Peekskill.<br />
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<img alt="" id="id_4d09_2524_2b46_245d" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpK-UQ3doB-GWTiin3sbeL_K5GKGXgBYslboJ13DoZYFH9Yfrzw3AhTjkYOP1oVUizJMVUOqoXQDukVr3YWW_WIli-8Ap1oO7Nnf6QvaK_nmHveub2b7kw6zZnZPjjcFRzEDakD500aLU/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" style="height: auto; width: 353px;" title="" tooltip="" /><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Ed will sleep here in the dog bed. Barney doesn't mind too much.</span><br />
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<img alt="" id="id_aefa_8361_58bf_e44f" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVNK2eaMtuCLdmxvhUZXTvyFHaFerZLHCGJJ_wK4n3N5c_cHpZIgUDOL8C_eQYBK7nyGloQMfkHlWGh1_ZoypDbBg7O3oYhlxgISM9uSQCgfwt9Inch8mUgA95uoScpP85iMfwYASkrNM/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" style="height: auto; width: 353px;" title="" tooltip="" /><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Inara did the long race, entirely in the child backpack that Boris was carrying. They had the fastest finish split, but I hear they hiked the rest of it.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Blue Mountain is a fantastic place for orienteering. The trees are tall and well-spaced, with very little groundcover and not even too many downed branches and trees! Lots of great cliffs and rocks to play in. I was last here in 2012 for a training camp run from Neil's house, when he lived in Peekskill. Good times!</span><br />
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So anyway, my plan was to race conservatively. Walk all the uphills, navigate perfectly, and enjoy myself and enjoy the fact that I was out orienteering on a lovely map in great weather. This plan lasted all of 15 seconds, because as soon as we started running, I entered race mode. Old habits die hard.<br />
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<a href="http://sprintseries.org/doma/show_map.php?user=alex&map=3170"><img src="http://sprintseries.org/doma/map_images/3170.thumbnail.jpg" /></a>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Click for full map</span><br />
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The first leg had a route choice, and I went left, chasing some fast boys and running with Bridget from West Point. I had my money on her as a winner, but I wasn't going to go down without a fight. As we ran up the hill, I confirmed that she was much stronger than me up the hills right now - I am so out of shape! Turns out that not training doesn't do much for your aerobic capacity. My breath sounded loud in my ears, my heart was pounding, my legs were burning. The self doubt didn't creep in, it jumped in. You're too unfit for this, your knee is probably going to start hurting, you shouldn't play these games if you haven't prepared for them. I tried to ignore the evil little voice by telling myself to be super clean in the navigation, but the fact that I haven't been in the woods in months had left me rusty, and in the technical areas I was really hesitant.<br />
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I was running frantically, continually trying to make up time for stupid little mistakes, and never giving myself time to regroup and get into the map. Rushing the navigation meant I kept making mistakes, and then I'd run faster to try and make them up, only to make a mistake because I was getting tired. By #2 I had already dropped three minutes in mistakes, and was at the back of a very large pack that I wanted to be in front of. Of course then I pushed the pace hard, and had made it to the front of the group by #6, but at a high energetic cost.<br />
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I was running near Jeremy from HVO at that point, and despite dropping another minute in the vicinity of #8 and basically letting the pack catch back up, we were still in front heading down the beautiful hill towards 9 and 10. At this point, I felt like I probably had the speed and endurance to pull this off, assuming I was actually in the lead for the women. Oh, hubris. Down the hill toward 10 I got wayyy off my line, wandered about for a while trying to figure it out, and ultimately dropped about three minutes. On a single control. Oh, this was getting painful.<br />
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Now I was behind the pack again, but still fighting. The downhill trail run towards 11 was built for me, and I pulled a minute back on the pack there. 11 was the aid station, and the volunteers were surprised to see me so far back, which was both humiliating and nice at the same time. They still believe in me! But I'm really sucking at this! As I ran around the pond toward 12, I could see the pack disappearing into the woods, and I was in hunt mode. Working way too hard, I finally caught the tail of the pack at 14, and told myself that I was not allowed to move to the front for at least one control, to let myself recover. I could tell that any matches I had had to begin with were totally burned by now. I had dropped 8 minutes in mistakes at this point. Oh how I wish I'd just gone slower and in the right direction!<br />
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Anyway, I was feeling recovered enough to push things again toward 15, and once at the front I promptly lost contact with the map and led the group in a merry little swamp dance for a bonus 1.5 minutes. Oops. The group splintered a little bit after that, and I finalized my decision to skip #20 - in this race, you can skip one (and only one) control. In hindsight, 24 was a much better skip, especially considering I really didn't have any more gears to kick into for the extra trail run I'd given myself. Even worse, I took a wrong turn at a trail junction, costing myself an extra 2.5 minutes. Once back on the right track, I ran into Bridget and Kristin and Tyra, who had just punched control 20, which I had skipped.<br />
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So of course, I bluffed, and ran past at full speed. Kristin yelled to Tyra "go with Alex!" and Tyra followed. Damn. Luckily, she fell for my bluff of running faster, and as we started uphill to 21 she took the lead, and I started walking. My evil hope was that Tyra would have run too fast and would thus make a mistake in the circle and I'd get ahead. This worked, but I also made a mistake in the circle, wandering around too high up the hill for two minutes before figuring it out, now behind Kristin and Bridget again (but Tyra was even higher on the slope).<br />
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Anyway, at that point the writing was on the wall. They all skipped #24, which I had to go visit, and I eventually limped into the finish thoroughly beaten and broken, three minutes back and in fifth place. All told, I dropped about 16 minutes (MINUTES! I normally measure mistakes in seconds!) over the course of the race. That was embarrassing and humbling, but the good news was that my knee held up ok, and my fitness wasn't as atrocious as I had expected. It was a good hard race, fast and fair, and I really enjoyed battling it out with that pack. Next year, I'll be smarter.Alexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03241445781480320172noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4968085316200546890.post-59906866907621051602018-05-09T14:34:00.001-04:002018-05-09T14:34:11.367-04:00The off seasonIt's been a long while since I've had a true off season. Once I transitioned to no longer thinking of myself as an elite-wannabe-skier, the off season felt superfluous, and there was so much fun stuff happening in April! Enter years of great racing and training with the US Orienteering Team, trail races, and mountain biking.<br />
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This year, I've had a niggling, vague, undiagnosed injury all spring, that sort of appeared just after we wrapped up the ski-o World Cup. Yes, there are studies linking low sleep to injury rates. Yes, I've done all the usual things that should prevent/fix/heal injuries. One of these days, it might get better, but until then, I've reluctantly joined the injured runners club, and am trying to adapt to "normal" life. I don't like it. At least I can still ride my beater bike to work, but much more than that starts to trigger Bad Things.<br />
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The worst part about being injured, especially with no real reason or endpoint in sight, is the struggle with identity. It becomes very clear how intertwined my sense of identity is with my athletic adventures. When you define yourself as an athlete, open to any challenge, what happens when you can't move the way you want to? Hand in hand with this of course are body image issues, that I hadn't even known existed.<br />
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So, it's been a slow spring. I did get in a few late-season skiing excursions, and conditions for that were simply superb. The number of times I said to myself "if this is my last ski of the season, I'm ok with that" was starting to get silly. I've had to cancel a few races, which is of course upsetting, but I maintain hope that I'll get through this, intact, and stronger than ever.<br />
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It's not all doom and gloom. Here are some photos of mellow spring adventuring.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Awesome late-season crust skiing at Prospect, on a bluebird day</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">It's not fun until you get caught in an April snowstorm on your bike. I was trying to make a loop that didn't really want to loop, but in the end it worked out and I emerged from the woods.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">A warmer day, or at least a dryer one, exploring some nearby trails</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Coaching some new young'ns</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Artistic foliage shots while cheering for runners at 7 Sisters</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">The view along the Holyoke Range ridge, with time to take it in this year. Still torn up about not starting the race, but it was the right decision, for once.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Orienteering selfies! Helped to vet and set controls at the Junior Nationals, at Mt. Tom. Beautiful forests, and a really great event. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Becky and Ed hard at work figuring out points over a pile of Indian food during the Mt. Tom Junior Nationals</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Finish line at Junior Nationals</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRreyuZew10PtAdeNLMwsFEyo387wMqsMEiIJp8kWTXv2fBZqbcWKUPMWRXTQUxrJolmmY7obM6wBdT2FzQJP-tWjCnqBmC-snAGWEZsb4bd2qyr9gBIiuR-bSMOtpmdsG4rLS8JiSMuA/s1600/MtTom.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1600" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRreyuZew10PtAdeNLMwsFEyo387wMqsMEiIJp8kWTXv2fBZqbcWKUPMWRXTQUxrJolmmY7obM6wBdT2FzQJP-tWjCnqBmC-snAGWEZsb4bd2qyr9gBIiuR-bSMOtpmdsG4rLS8JiSMuA/s320/MtTom.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">More orienteering selfies! It was a glorious misty morning, and I really enjoyed waking up and checking controls for that event. </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHoF4qMYkgztkenwuhWtPIzEo2rDlQvsKcl4DZygB8VtCUTfhx2sAlFpQbKi1ITtkjcIsyg-s4q7umZxkcVUz_oQJaicRAp7rRDdbTXIU7fcKFli8nMa_ljhDOz-Sv0wkNy7Lq1EbMkZU/s1600/MtTom_mud.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHoF4qMYkgztkenwuhWtPIzEo2rDlQvsKcl4DZygB8VtCUTfhx2sAlFpQbKi1ITtkjcIsyg-s4q7umZxkcVUz_oQJaicRAp7rRDdbTXIU7fcKFli8nMa_ljhDOz-Sv0wkNy7Lq1EbMkZU/s320/MtTom_mud.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Day two of Junior Nationals poured buckets. Our arena turned into a lake.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Park-o selfies!</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMav69DCDQUpHqo8kVwZSuHvqp5qdqHT-bJ50kSSiiBqhm5SQ4XXQgJH-iykQfJHOqC4dbufTxg57cyDYH0dAJX3V7Lzvx-Q4kMkeL3TXcAgOOEdA-EnByL2PwNtnWId9XYiUu1GYN4Lk/s1600/parko.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMav69DCDQUpHqo8kVwZSuHvqp5qdqHT-bJ50kSSiiBqhm5SQ4XXQgJH-iykQfJHOqC4dbufTxg57cyDYH0dAJX3V7Lzvx-Q4kMkeL3TXcAgOOEdA-EnByL2PwNtnWId9XYiUu1GYN4Lk/s320/parko.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">A warmer day for a park-o. Love that we have this Thursday night orienteering series. </span></div>
<br />Alexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03241445781480320172noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4968085316200546890.post-85004312882782941272018-03-30T08:26:00.001-04:002018-03-30T08:28:23.138-04:00Spring Fling and Supertour<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
I hadn't been planning to head back to Craftsbury for the Supertour Finals. But, Ed had been in Vermont for a month, with no plans of coming home, timing various races, so that was my only chance to see him. And, it turns out, watching your heroes race in person is pretty cool. All the USST members were there, including Kikkan and Jessie from the gold medal relay team. I definitely cried when I watched that Olympic race, because it was just so cool to see Kikkan do it. She's been driving this sport for the last decade and a half, inspiring women and girls around her, leading by example, and building up a team around her worthy of Olympic medals. What a way to wrap up your career.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-kz3VCyUi2uWFfynhDdKy-DvysvbNKITcQILESvuMrxWXgxossWxuRumMrSoUAlByM8m59Xd22Ua3ePv7BXCfF96ooMAT8pfvZ_FPw-n3YU4qo4o46s_6trgrvucf1XMUm_L8z0xs8bc/s1600/insta.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="747" data-original-width="752" height="317" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-kz3VCyUi2uWFfynhDdKy-DvysvbNKITcQILESvuMrxWXgxossWxuRumMrSoUAlByM8m59Xd22Ua3ePv7BXCfF96ooMAT8pfvZ_FPw-n3YU4qo4o46s_6trgrvucf1XMUm_L8z0xs8bc/s320/insta.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Kathy and I with a strong fangirl game, getting a selfie in front of Kikkan Randall finishing her race</span></div>
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Anyway, I got to see them race. They're so stupid fast. I got to cheer for graduated CSU juniors, who were also going stupid fast. The weather was awesome, and to top it off, there were citizens races after the Supertour races, so I got to race too! </div>
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Saturday was the 25k Spring Fling, twice around the flattest loop they could put together. The weather forecast ended up being totally wrong, calling for much more wintry conditions than what we found, but Rob and I did our usual ski coach thing of testing rills and topcoats and skis, and we ended up on some ripping boards. Unfortunately, our one junior in the race never gave us his skis, so didn't have the same experience.</div>
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The race was a self-seeded mass start, and with over 200 racers, this meant chaos. It then had ~2km of flat to downhill terrain, so the chaos wasn't going to end for a while. Luckily I made it through the start unscathed, and in a reasonable position, a little ways back from Rob and Bob and ahead of any women. Gotta look out for ponytails and round butts in a mixed gender mass start. There were quite a few BKL skiers mixed in, doing the one-lapper, and they were kind of hard to ski with, sprinting ahead and then coasting. I guess you don't learn about pacing until you're older. </div>
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My skis were great, so I spent a lot of time hanging out in a tuck. We finally started climbing up Sam's run, and I was with some masters that I knew, happy to not go any faster. A few minutes into that, a large group of college-ish-aged boys came through, clearly having gotten stuck in the start and not having the skis I did. One guy from my group upped the pace to go with them, but the rest were content to keep to our plodding ascent. We finally hit the crest, and I enjoyed the ride back down, gapping my group. Wheee! I could see Bob and Rob as we climbed back up to the Center, but I knew they were doing one lap, so didn't burn any matches to close the gap. </div>
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The second lap was much more lonely, since a bunch of folks had pulled off after one lap. I was skiing with Steve M for the beginning, leading on the flats and he'd lead on the uphills, and still the three other guys I'd been with on the last lap. They started ducking and weaving as it warmed up and got sunny, trying to stay on the shady snow, which was a lot faster. Sometimes I followed them, and sometimes I just took the short line, because my skis weren't that dramatically slower in the sun. </div>
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It spread out a little on the climb up Sam's, with the Craftsbury guy pulling ahead a little, and Steve discovering that his skis were dogs in the sun and dropping off the back. We started to see the back of my junior who hadn't waxed his skis, struggling in the slush and the sun. By the top, we'd made contact, and could see one other skier way ahead of us. Nice to have another rabbit. </div>
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Coming back up Ruthie's, I got sick of the ducking and weaving, and took the lead. The pace had also started to feel a little stale. Let's kick this up a notch! I was feeling good, and could tell from the various breathing noises behind me that some of the guys were having to push a little. It wasn't a break, but that wasn't what I was going for, I just wanted to ski my pace for a bit instead of following someone else's lead. They came around on the final climb past the cabins, where we finally made contact with our rabbit, Ethan T, also suffering on slow skis. Up the finally little climb and into the finish I guess I didn't push as hard as I maybe could have; I had no skin in the game against those masters, and they were all gunning for each other. It was a good fun race, though, and my longest all season, so it was nice to feel strong at the end. </div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">You guys, skiing is just so much fun!!!</span></div>
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Sunday was relay day. First we watched the Supertour teams throwing down, which was a really cool experience. Then it was time for the NENSA Club Championship relay. I was on a CSU team of Tom Smith, Amie Smith, and Rob Bradlee. That would be team Fluorinated Bacon to you. Amie supplied us with bacon socks, and we were ready to roll. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOhYIZHoQvrnwo6BYPd2q6tlC7Zp10f5X6wKU-SL5gZRGkfdq6Qbvefn8sZs79QKjBK_zUvtEVa2m9dOjq0-aXcC-60d7UVKEtC4bQWl8A1qKiqeULK-MjodxKyqBFcaN-mIc20qUGnk8/s1600/Flourinated+Bacon+1+%25281+of+1%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1201" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOhYIZHoQvrnwo6BYPd2q6tlC7Zp10f5X6wKU-SL5gZRGkfdq6Qbvefn8sZs79QKjBK_zUvtEVa2m9dOjq0-aXcC-60d7UVKEtC4bQWl8A1qKiqeULK-MjodxKyqBFcaN-mIc20qUGnk8/s320/Flourinated+Bacon+1+%25281+of+1%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Rob went first (classic) then Amie (classic), then Tom (skate), then me (skate). Rob had a solid first leg, but Amie struggled a bit with the kick, and dropped some time. Tom had a good leg, reeling in quite a few teams, and tagged off to me maybe a few minutes behind the next mixed 200+ team, and even with the Mansfield Ice Agers, another mixed 200+ team.<br />
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My skis were rockets again, and I shot down Murphy's field barely holding the corners. Whooooooowee! Passed three teams by the end of Murphy's field that I hadn't even known I was behind. Then on the rolling stuff out past Duck Pond, I discovered that actually I was pretty tired. Rick, from Mansfield, caught back up, and I hopped in behind, even though that took some effort. Down the little hill in the field, I made sure to take the lead to give myself space, and that was the last I saw of Rick.<br />
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I started to push pretty hard up Eleanor's, knowing he was right behind me, and passed two BKL teams. Some people were cheering at six corners, which was helpful, and I got two more teams doing that little loop, but looking at results it appears those were both third-leg skiers. Back onto race course fare after that, over the B climb and into the final bit on Lemon's haunt, not too many people around to chase down.<br />
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I ended up with one of the fastest last-leg times, which was sweet, and held off Rick by putting 30 seconds into him, which was also sweet. We're listed as fourth 200+ team, but I think there's an error because the team in third is the SLU coach and three of his athletes, no way they're old enough. So a podium finish for team Fluorinated Bacon! Super fun.
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I'm super glad that I went up to race this weekend. It was a really fun way to wrap up the season, and now I'm ready for a little down time (though I won't say no if a ski trip pops up in my future). </div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Ed catching some zzz's during the jury meeting... turns out he doesn't like early mornings. Who knew? But he and John crushed the timing game again, quietly making everything work and run smoothly. Fantastic.</span></div>
<br />Alexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03241445781480320172noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4968085316200546890.post-41444921434338263082018-03-26T10:28:00.000-04:002018-03-26T10:28:40.799-04:00Eastern Highschool ChampionshipsThe last official race of the season was the Eastern Highschool Champs, up in Rumford ME. CSU sent pretty much every kid to this race on the Massachusetts team, and I was head coach, which meant I could make all the other coaches do the work while I ate brownies and watched the races.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqv0t1L_Cmi4NCkyh-f1CBcXcF7tIlxd5hgOiNlSCrMdtpViEr53FUJDWTEFdCpLRRAmoND3rKYhj0aFB0lKpa-dDBJMLb1_tSkDlYG4TMVouIgOV7QP_QPgjuwMtXtMO9vYTYsPb2ciI/s1600/013fe74b7a03fa428e370402d53a4a8d915def193e.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1011" data-original-width="1600" height="202" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqv0t1L_Cmi4NCkyh-f1CBcXcF7tIlxd5hgOiNlSCrMdtpViEr53FUJDWTEFdCpLRRAmoND3rKYhj0aFB0lKpa-dDBJMLb1_tSkDlYG4TMVouIgOV7QP_QPgjuwMtXtMO9vYTYsPb2ciI/s320/013fe74b7a03fa428e370402d53a4a8d915def193e.jpg" width="320" /></a><br />
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Race venue was Black Mountain of Maine, in Rumford. I love this race course, it's hard but fair, with some good climbing and lots of skiing, not just a highway. I don't love the smell of the town of Rumford, but that paper mill employs a lot of people, so can't complain too much. Usually the wind is blowing the right way to take the smell away from the ski area.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Love how many women we have on our coaching staff. I think we may even outnumber the men on this team, not a normal thing in the ski coaching world. Brian Burt photo.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Caught in the act of actually doing some work. Brian Burt photo.</span></div>
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First race of the weekend was Friday's 5k skate. Turns out the Massachusetts boys all brought their A-games this year, and absolutely carried the team. The CSU boys were a large part of that, led by senior Oliver in 5th, then James in 6th, Ayden in 16th (huge race for him!), Jackson in 18th, and Jacob in 21st. That was just the first page! Laura led the girls in 6th, with Shea 11th, Madeline 13th, Amelia 21st and Rebecca 25th. Super strong showing for first-page results, though unfortunately Mass also had a reasonable showing on the last-page results, too, for the girls.<br />
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Saturday morning started with a mass start classic race. Hardwax in March! It's always great when EHS isn't a total klister-fest. We had more great results from my CSU kids, and mass starts are so exciting to watch. Laura moved up into 4th, skiing the whole race with the lead pack, followed by Shea in 9th, Madeline 15th, Rebecca 16th, and Amelia 26th. The boys absolutely sent it again, led by James in 2nd, Jacob in 6th, Oliver 18th, Henry 22nd, Jackson 24th, and Linden 27th.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj90uCsCwOQfARBEeY_qYQkVpy4Cq5BRyPyUW4OYU7cnza7Wib1GG2csiawi5D2xQY3Vy5t_RiMBqD4L9qv2o5l6oOcRad4gp6VbLTDinLhTUAZxzF1aDMo49hKXwy75ZMMGKCoU42nrZ4/s1600/01cd651da8765bfa7c1f27967911277b834fc139cb.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="704" data-original-width="984" height="228" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj90uCsCwOQfARBEeY_qYQkVpy4Cq5BRyPyUW4OYU7cnza7Wib1GG2csiawi5D2xQY3Vy5t_RiMBqD4L9qv2o5l6oOcRad4gp6VbLTDinLhTUAZxzF1aDMo49hKXwy75ZMMGKCoU42nrZ4/s320/01cd651da8765bfa7c1f27967911277b834fc139cb.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Start of the girls' mass start. Winter conditions.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Boys' mass start, OSnow in a good start</span></div>
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Saturday afternoon was the sprints, wave starts with one skier from each state in each wave. That's a super fun format for spectating, again, and I really enjoyed watching the races. Mass had a great day in the sprints, and we ended up 2nd among all the teams after the three individual races. On the boys' side, CSU put 10 in the top 33! That's pretty good for a single club that trains on a golf course in eastern MA. Huge results Alex, Kevin, Dwight, Connor, and Thor, stepping way up.<br />
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The final race of the weekend is the mixed-gender/mixed-technique relay. This is my favorite race of the weekend, because the kids tend to absolutely send it. Nothing makes you work hard like doing it for a teammate! We had a couple really good relay teams, and it was a super exciting race to watch. We took the silver medal, which was the first year in the last eight or something that we haven't won the relay, but that was a tall order this year with Ben Ogden on the VT team. He put something like a 40-second gap on the field, which is almost impossible to make up. But in making that move, it strung out the pack, and Jacob was able to hang on for a little while, buying some time for the rest of his team.<br />
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Our second relay also had a great ski, with some really gutsy moves along the way. They ended up in 7th, and our third relay was 11th, just 0.1 seconds out of 10th. NH ended up beating us on the day, but not by enough to move ahead, so Mass held on to the silver medal position! I'm super proud of this team and my CSU kids, the guts and determination and attitudes they brought made a huge difference in both the results and the professionalism on the team.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">My boy Jackson absolutely crushing the last leg of his relay. Brian Burt photo.</span> </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtcQHqC5fiJhkkfVo0fIO7B92dfrWO4eyzBl2bPjgeiYRAaX-QZ9V7bvv87WAAKgM6t0Kb0bSTxDOdnkAz_3mJpyUtEDY1dDIUQGTFfJXiaPh1RxMHom-UTNN15kAtXNZoeesAfGF5aDg/s1600/40854983822_f49d17b3e8_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1072" data-original-width="1600" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtcQHqC5fiJhkkfVo0fIO7B92dfrWO4eyzBl2bPjgeiYRAaX-QZ9V7bvv87WAAKgM6t0Kb0bSTxDOdnkAz_3mJpyUtEDY1dDIUQGTFfJXiaPh1RxMHom-UTNN15kAtXNZoeesAfGF5aDg/s320/40854983822_f49d17b3e8_o.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Start of the relay, Laura and Kate in good position</span></div>
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My kids skied great. This senior class was the one who had been on the fateful bus trip from Fort Kent four years ago, and it was great fun to have them close out their Highschool careers at this event. I was super psyched to see the great attitudes everyone brought. Lots of positive energy, fast skiing, and some heavy snotcicles.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgej2cgFPgGPd5YgYt_FTcV1avdeMHurysxIUTgdFPiiATiP2-u186SFV4zj_okV_btCTAxVpLvn53SwAUcGbQ8hxFMUkXGb278v9QvHmmudb1xaNSf3m02XJlf-fNpQAVkWH1804KTY3I/s1600/01fb3b9d84160a60259b6a97ef0934640bb66736d0.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgej2cgFPgGPd5YgYt_FTcV1avdeMHurysxIUTgdFPiiATiP2-u186SFV4zj_okV_btCTAxVpLvn53SwAUcGbQ8hxFMUkXGb278v9QvHmmudb1xaNSf3m02XJlf-fNpQAVkWH1804KTY3I/s320/01fb3b9d84160a60259b6a97ef0934640bb66736d0.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">The relay podium, Mass in second place! </span></div>
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Thanks to all my coaches who did the actual work! Hilary Greene, Robert Bradlee, Maddy Wendt, peter Rayton, Frank Feist, Gunther Kern, Dorothee Kern, Susannah Wheelwright, Hiram Greene, Graham Taylor. And a huge thanks to NENSA, Amber Dodge Freeman, and Chisholm Ski Club for hosting this great event!</div>
Alexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03241445781480320172noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4968085316200546890.post-294387346375103942018-03-13T14:41:00.000-04:002018-03-13T14:41:02.756-04:00Craftsbury World Cup<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Probably two years ago, Adrian and Ken got excited about hosting a World Cup for ski orienteering in the US. They got the IOF excited (which doesn't take much, considering that orienteering with a global distribution is one of the goals of IOF, so they're always ready to jump if North America wants to host something big), and somehow got us committed to the thing before <i>exactly </i>having all the key players placed. I'm a sucker, so I got roped into course setting with barely a fight. With hindsight, should I have pushed back more, and had them find a different course setter? I'm not being boastful when I say that I think we needed me in the roles I was filling to pull off this event to the level we did, so I'll stand behind my decision to be course setter. But this last week was not easy, especially for a gal who likes her sleep.</div>
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But, I got to talk on the radio! Here's a link to the piece by VPR: </div>
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<a href="http://digital.vpr.net/post/do-you-skio-ski-orienteering-world-cup-comes-craftsbury#stream/0">http://digital.vpr.net/post/do-you-skio-ski-orienteering-world-cup-comes-craftsbury#stream/0</a></div>
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That sounds a little negative. This event was pretty awesome. We just needed four times as many competent volunteers with very specific and hard-to-acquire skillsets working on the event.</div>
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I won't bore you with the details leading up to the event. But consider it like planning a wedding, where nobody gets married. And if you screw up, the entire party will be upset at you. Particularly for the World Cup athletes, this is their livelihood. No pressure. </div>
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Early on, Andy Hall had volunteered himself to help with course setting, and that was a lifesaver. We went a few times up to the venue to scout trails, and way too many hours on setting and redoing and redoing and redoing courses, and then redoing again on the night before the event when we finally understood how the map would look. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkFo5qx1nPx1G-bwQ8dGbGZPbjik3G0Zq_uYnMTxch0qimdRqTGiZ47-lTau4HEoMKgNZcyNfgoXQ4eRrtjL-Dc_mD3yV-PcwPUKnA-3Us6v0hm_C__MMcafxdp4x1eJU6mIDOekbfzys/s1600/01016c120999229a33c5c980f625c03789d457fa75.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkFo5qx1nPx1G-bwQ8dGbGZPbjik3G0Zq_uYnMTxch0qimdRqTGiZ47-lTau4HEoMKgNZcyNfgoXQ4eRrtjL-Dc_mD3yV-PcwPUKnA-3Us6v0hm_C__MMcafxdp4x1eJU6mIDOekbfzys/s320/01016c120999229a33c5c980f625c03789d457fa75.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Andy and Ollie, clearly in charge because they both have radios and coffee. Ollie was a little skeptical about this whole ski orienteering ordeal, but I think he came around by the time I saw him sharing beers with the Swiss "pirate" wax tech. </span></div>
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The fun thing about ski orienteering is that the map will change on a daily basis, depending on the grooming. Our Senior Event Advisor, Antti Myllärinen, was a whiz with the snowmobile, and managed to get things groomed that we didn't think were possible. That was pretty great. COC staff currently refer to him as the "badass Finnish groomer," and rumor has it they're going to name a dog after him. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4Z8RxdfwcNus-Cm5eDVu8ho7P0kROKCD5w15hfZBEkEaj0SZITf6PCYh2h4WvdpkjV9rRrogLcutWFispgNYNqmCMY5mhkvUbjaVTIaWkLGIChgGjGNIsNulNvxiwI4Vd_OVL9ec5GB8/s1600/01d5e866450edeb3d6ba862c7698ede5ab8ae40c63.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4Z8RxdfwcNus-Cm5eDVu8ho7P0kROKCD5w15hfZBEkEaj0SZITf6PCYh2h4WvdpkjV9rRrogLcutWFispgNYNqmCMY5mhkvUbjaVTIaWkLGIChgGjGNIsNulNvxiwI4Vd_OVL9ec5GB8/s320/01d5e866450edeb3d6ba862c7698ede5ab8ae40c63.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small; text-align: center;">Antti, our badass Finnish groomer. And everything else.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOy7l_PtauGMmkTv5Ttat5NpQZbHE5rZhu9sjxe0avmTNqvqJP7McibJXKjkrX8f58kRBxblaCA6M_HspSnLORIWPkS4WM2UdjmagzeRf_oVYjpGrZa25Hbl54XO9BWBU8Muwg62NsarU/s1600/013af0167892f89a441aa79f01a40a0a2ca87efebf.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOy7l_PtauGMmkTv5Ttat5NpQZbHE5rZhu9sjxe0avmTNqvqJP7McibJXKjkrX8f58kRBxblaCA6M_HspSnLORIWPkS4WM2UdjmagzeRf_oVYjpGrZa25Hbl54XO9BWBU8Muwg62NsarU/s320/013af0167892f89a441aa79f01a40a0a2ca87efebf.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small; text-align: center;">Our junior IOF Event Advisor, Staffan Tunis. This guy also won the World Cup back in 2012, so it was great to have him around to pick his brain.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRq2Mz6Ox31vRNXpmK1St0KdodEpcXnZxKbQTA77AibPaSRW3-rU6RsUZq8Z5xXUPV2_0fbIHp4dOf2YFqQJQ4KxQlI6rEK0nEH3Eqmhi_5lNKjY1n69jZzgnbP2BBnPeLoh6yEiyhF04/s1600/JCL_5435W.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="641" data-original-width="960" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRq2Mz6Ox31vRNXpmK1St0KdodEpcXnZxKbQTA77AibPaSRW3-rU6RsUZq8Z5xXUPV2_0fbIHp4dOf2YFqQJQ4KxQlI6rEK0nEH3Eqmhi_5lNKjY1n69jZzgnbP2BBnPeLoh6yEiyhF04/s320/JCL_5435W.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Super thanks to Bill and the rest of the Outdoors Center staff for all their help this week. I think they were fairly entertained by the craziness of this sport, and enjoyed learning about something totally different than the usual slew of ski races they're so familiar with. John Lazenby photo.</span></div>
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So the order of events is that you have to redo the map, reset all the courses, place all the controls, and not screw any of that up in about 12 hours before every race. There's no way that's not crazy. Good thing ski-o is so much fun, or nobody would do it. The local kids (and grownups!) were all pretty excited with the narrow trails, too, and people were getting a real kick skiing around them. That made me happy. We had really good turnout for the Tuesday night open race.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8Cyu-G1AYpV3-93Yuno6UKyAWMTNBVpBBx2ec5lij1F53XUT4h86mHGqAyOkCv6v9AVotIfrwuS8YWIf8Zwh-CIGqnZb1eCXQ_3jV5_wB5yz_s1orNklViKUeXSH1BGG8-bLwTdEC45U/s1600/JCL_1962W.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="641" data-original-width="960" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8Cyu-G1AYpV3-93Yuno6UKyAWMTNBVpBBx2ec5lij1F53XUT4h86mHGqAyOkCv6v9AVotIfrwuS8YWIf8Zwh-CIGqnZb1eCXQ_3jV5_wB5yz_s1orNklViKUeXSH1BGG8-bLwTdEC45U/s320/JCL_1962W.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Adrian, our fearless leader, in the opening ceremony parade. John Lazenby photo.</span></div>
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<b>The Races</b></div>
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First race of the week was the sprint race for the World Cup, and Middle distance #1 for the masters. Conditions were thin, frozen corn snow that softened into slush for the masters, with a generous scattering of branches, dirt, rocks, and pine needles. It took a good skier to stay on your feet, and Tove Alexandersson, the women's champion, said that she felt like a pinball, bouncing off of trees the whole time. Lots of broken equipment, but that's part of the game in this sport. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnN4YAYZlpsT7_YcHnCgpX4CQRpvuVlZ1OZXPDz6-HLUwNrgr8Qo9BXIzKESrentb1eNmEQPDKo7hrSJ_iDPcgKTJi6cZqd-ERLPNLWRDj1Hrv4Wf-iLnsSqhyphenhyphenVJu9TsT_4nr6ehiQ8HQ/s1600/01a4b3ce9212e16d821eb8afab0be2d487b317385d.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnN4YAYZlpsT7_YcHnCgpX4CQRpvuVlZ1OZXPDz6-HLUwNrgr8Qo9BXIzKESrentb1eNmEQPDKo7hrSJ_iDPcgKTJi6cZqd-ERLPNLWRDj1Hrv4Wf-iLnsSqhyphenhyphenVJu9TsT_4nr6ehiQ8HQ/s320/01a4b3ce9212e16d821eb8afab0be2d487b317385d.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Not such great snow conditions. </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_BgdF7jBhrI4YRJkuWYOcXDtNA1G9uKvAaaFEZtexj2Ao7LSczqq8YE1d9393Xdc6DqHZXpZmW76QYNDT2ymQMp1G3pgE9RuR7YUSkqJTGLL9ELNGlzPVxgs2-Ix6sYrnZJ9iDsC9f30/s1600/Middle_M21_1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1136" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_BgdF7jBhrI4YRJkuWYOcXDtNA1G9uKvAaaFEZtexj2Ao7LSczqq8YE1d9393Xdc6DqHZXpZmW76QYNDT2ymQMp1G3pgE9RuR7YUSkqJTGLL9ELNGlzPVxgs2-Ix6sYrnZJ9iDsC9f30/s320/Middle_M21_1.jpg" width="227" /></a>Next up was the middle distance for the World Cup, and the second middle distance for the masters. These were good courses, but the snow continued to be thin. I started to hear some complaints from the older skiers about how they didn't appreciate the thin snow conditions, but they were also complaining when I didn't send them into the small trails, so really, there's no way to win. The wide trails were still in excellent condition, because Craftsbury has one of the best grooming crews out there. Anyway, the World Cup racers all seemed to enjoy the middle distance courses, and that left a warm fuzzy inside for Andy and me. </div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Men's middle distance map. Pretty great courses, and the athletes </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">seemed to really enjoy them too. Humility has never been my strong suit.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyL4HEttn2_JFA1Mp4mV1eq8IEtpfgB-aKQ18k3h-GG6rsrqy5i51x87lSCsp8RHVHH4aDl2-0YIkZOpenw9bddc7tH9fXwGqDHOQXRihi2RrmxkaQLVZq5oNkUfa7Q8xNzPXEuh8DEg8/s1600/Middle_M21_2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1136" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyL4HEttn2_JFA1Mp4mV1eq8IEtpfgB-aKQ18k3h-GG6rsrqy5i51x87lSCsp8RHVHH4aDl2-0YIkZOpenw9bddc7tH9fXwGqDHOQXRihi2RrmxkaQLVZq5oNkUfa7Q8xNzPXEuh8DEg8/s320/Middle_M21_2.jpg" width="227" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjs5F92sboeqwzHbAFx4NTM3vpTXXoonDU_PFIpOsQrkZ7VJ8BToHZvZ4BFHNQVfwPWQGbca3SyvYfBMzjCM7mLN47COF1Z6vkobJHa1nukRfL3ff-sdcQftLDqfFX1OmDIMv6MYlk9HxM/s1600/JCL_3970W.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="641" data-original-width="960" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjs5F92sboeqwzHbAFx4NTM3vpTXXoonDU_PFIpOsQrkZ7VJ8BToHZvZ4BFHNQVfwPWQGbca3SyvYfBMzjCM7mLN47COF1Z6vkobJHa1nukRfL3ff-sdcQftLDqfFX1OmDIMv6MYlk9HxM/s320/JCL_3970W.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Men's champions on the middle distance: Erik Rost, Linus Rapp, and Jorgen Madslien. Lazenby photo.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsVBnqyQmvvikIbt6B8HkXYvoSNTa2mo1-abuRQZpTDo7cLnG8xzid9H1aGXDliFCI4VlFKzP-K94a_0xSWVRxsGooEs5hEFki6h4j4_sOzFfYw_oPslhH65C2IrCH50ljUvZTqxXigmM/s1600/JCL_3185W.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="641" data-original-width="960" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsVBnqyQmvvikIbt6B8HkXYvoSNTa2mo1-abuRQZpTDo7cLnG8xzid9H1aGXDliFCI4VlFKzP-K94a_0xSWVRxsGooEs5hEFki6h4j4_sOzFfYw_oPslhH65C2IrCH50ljUvZTqxXigmM/s320/JCL_3185W.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Estonian racing through the forest. Lazenby photo.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWdfnLZ3SJ5I0yZBSmjZXKJH_0QysPizScW-r36SJtfSHgHbov1JOlrHB3s_MsR3XsX8RERNhCH_jD570A0WpbHQudrFmWFjIoBHlmI1K91yX1_kFxdzOHJ3vwZqzltEuMvIexRrx7NFM/s1600/JCL_3417W.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="641" data-original-width="960" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWdfnLZ3SJ5I0yZBSmjZXKJH_0QysPizScW-r36SJtfSHgHbov1JOlrHB3s_MsR3XsX8RERNhCH_jD570A0WpbHQudrFmWFjIoBHlmI1K91yX1_kFxdzOHJ3vwZqzltEuMvIexRrx7NFM/s320/JCL_3417W.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">It happens. Lazenby photo.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSG7S6MCyWXdGvR1BBWISNsHOfJIFDq4gSrPDJDTwd-Bu5vSKc1rJ5KsrYl3lyfBy-1jh0R3T_yI7fwN-xcuCM2dlyew4vdGdVQX0JOlQAN_juS_ID33-uF2xLb86vzWw-j99tFYozE-8/s1600/JCL_3471W.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="641" data-original-width="960" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSG7S6MCyWXdGvR1BBWISNsHOfJIFDq4gSrPDJDTwd-Bu5vSKc1rJ5KsrYl3lyfBy-1jh0R3T_yI7fwN-xcuCM2dlyew4vdGdVQX0JOlQAN_juS_ID33-uF2xLb86vzWw-j99tFYozE-8/s320/JCL_3471W.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Tove Alexandersson skiing aggressively, a style she's known for. Lazenby photo.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqKC2F5pybbou1rLvqa5EVau2TRLtoAa0k06iI9eMyBVI7VdMuYMe_kZiXpy9DSRK-WBd0YPQzdzn7dekxW5SC-lNFbFqf82W2LR6EubuWpJrhFX_WwzW6u67G79tnH7i_zRQgHtkHSqQ/s1600/JCL_5804W.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="641" data-original-width="960" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqKC2F5pybbou1rLvqa5EVau2TRLtoAa0k06iI9eMyBVI7VdMuYMe_kZiXpy9DSRK-WBd0YPQzdzn7dekxW5SC-lNFbFqf82W2LR6EubuWpJrhFX_WwzW6u67G79tnH7i_zRQgHtkHSqQ/s320/JCL_5804W.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Beautiful weather for the sprint distance. Lazenby photo.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7b-0JTP5lU6yunL4JMUNFU5pKHPkAtn3Y2tF4mLXrFsIu6P1MhDVmkbqsdsl95OcbrjDz-G1gvWgX9NBSmEMcQYNToFYnVt2QUhgxJPB07kK6XR8x-elYtG6zYeLH6FMflRkunFq3d74/s1600/011b568b62ed24c054899499581df0dcaf74992ff7.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1515" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7b-0JTP5lU6yunL4JMUNFU5pKHPkAtn3Y2tF4mLXrFsIu6P1MhDVmkbqsdsl95OcbrjDz-G1gvWgX9NBSmEMcQYNToFYnVt2QUhgxJPB07kK6XR8x-elYtG6zYeLH6FMflRkunFq3d74/s320/011b568b62ed24c054899499581df0dcaf74992ff7.jpg" width="302" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Snowfall!</span></div>
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We got some snow finally on the "rest" day, Thursday. It was actually a reasonable dump, 8 inches or so, and that was good news except that it meant now we had to regroom and remap the entire area. Cool, no problem. We got behind on Thursday, and every step seemed to put us more behind, enough that we had barely finished printing all the maps by 5am when it was time to start getting the controls into the terrain. I still think it's a small miracle that our little team managed to get everything into the terrain and with the accuracy that we did - unfortunately, we did have one control mislabeled, and that caused some problems. There was no formal protest, but it leaves a really bad taste in your mouth to know that you've screwed up, and that it ruined somebody else's day. The mistake was in not having somebody who had actually slept review what we were doing. Live and learn, and hopefully never find ourselves in that position again. We also had a crucial gap in our information train, and some of the masters went out without knowing that they had a map exchange to do, which ruined more peoples' days.</div>
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On a related note, I don't remember my last all-nighter, but the experience has certainly not gotten any more pleasant with age. Kudos to Andy and Staffan for suffering through it with me.</div>
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Anyway, the final race was a sprint relay, mixed gender. This was good fun to watch, with the athletes going head to head for most of the race. The Swedish team of Erik Rost and Tove Alexandersson won the race, even though Tove broke her ski near the end of her last loop. I hopped into the open relay with Ari, just for kicks, and it was fun to race on my own courses. At this point I knew the trails so well that it's not like the navigation was a challenge, but it was a lot of fun anyway. </div>
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Then on to the banquet (with a quick stop by Hill Farmstead). Some of the details for that had been left to the last minute, but we made it work, and the athletes all got their awards. </div>
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Overall, a great week. It may be a lot of work, but it is rewarding to see something of this magnitude come together. Hopefully once I've caught up on sleep I can distill some of our lessons learned into something we can apply to our National Events.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhP0uJvGiI8Gqyv_LvSSIBseMU8cZhhmoAFbI1usicS1qkbhqrFPNh1_1BvsG0KTsS5hdMXvrmM2nd3p5cJXlo_cj-AVBxUCxfYMwjwgvLfVhWhreEdHPFe6q8tTBjQTK1AvqiYsI1JbJ8/s1600/01b37c3653b4dc69f897b2c5931420b9d11b880537.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhP0uJvGiI8Gqyv_LvSSIBseMU8cZhhmoAFbI1usicS1qkbhqrFPNh1_1BvsG0KTsS5hdMXvrmM2nd3p5cJXlo_cj-AVBxUCxfYMwjwgvLfVhWhreEdHPFe6q8tTBjQTK1AvqiYsI1JbJ8/s320/01b37c3653b4dc69f897b2c5931420b9d11b880537.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Overall world cup winner Andrei Lamov</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyB564a-y0YXXKoZZ5M3Doxkk9F37Vtfnu7EFcTi2P98DWdN0kseDU3P_Prs2pcDcoVt4Jxoys4Q3rMvC67YnNybZq0zs9d_imL8aqgBEFY3L98nQH4mN6FGLCaZhP7SIhi5LaFRI-Qh8/s1600/01c87f514b40e689b39f58d260c4c8ead54633ab3f.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyB564a-y0YXXKoZZ5M3Doxkk9F37Vtfnu7EFcTi2P98DWdN0kseDU3P_Prs2pcDcoVt4Jxoys4Q3rMvC67YnNybZq0zs9d_imL8aqgBEFY3L98nQH4mN6FGLCaZhP7SIhi5LaFRI-Qh8/s320/01c87f514b40e689b39f58d260c4c8ead54633ab3f.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Flying ponytails! Salla Koskela, women's long distance winner.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjahnpAS9TVpMUkwmK4hQ7yAlsZgCImzEtT9HS0GfsDCKBnCRpSndENhQ8BtHGVcMQyUfbDf4D7rPjHqzfuud6EF7wPY7PPbCxYxT5H4hepeNKa0xPkyHdcQ1vVGPk8oqnqXqq_3_6gR4Y/s1600/01c3224b3c6f9dc6208f7503023b9a9dcc9d583ee6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjahnpAS9TVpMUkwmK4hQ7yAlsZgCImzEtT9HS0GfsDCKBnCRpSndENhQ8BtHGVcMQyUfbDf4D7rPjHqzfuud6EF7wPY7PPbCxYxT5H4hepeNKa0xPkyHdcQ1vVGPk8oqnqXqq_3_6gR4Y/s320/01c3224b3c6f9dc6208f7503023b9a9dcc9d583ee6.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Team USA - Ari and Jimmy! Next time we'll get them some team uniforms.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEio4GMFcsekQ3aD5IpO_ImrN63bNvEXU6J3s2aB1YY_K0RWf1lf4biTP4vRLKEr_xB6hI51MA34ciHyvYkT0FSok4NPArOpip3ByHPkP0NHCBkI3inLWdd9LNDiBGXu7zJOcw41kPIc9ek/s1600/01cd3c71aca6767741479f7154b3489b383d501acb.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEio4GMFcsekQ3aD5IpO_ImrN63bNvEXU6J3s2aB1YY_K0RWf1lf4biTP4vRLKEr_xB6hI51MA34ciHyvYkT0FSok4NPArOpip3ByHPkP0NHCBkI3inLWdd9LNDiBGXu7zJOcw41kPIc9ek/s320/01cd3c71aca6767741479f7154b3489b383d501acb.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Race office before the chaos.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUNh3SQPeDYIO42LT-KfjdZkCiLIwSiMjVWSPt-R26JQ2E2vEZRzQiPaeu49x8U4sZvjtc1XgH_z9B9LRmvFUSp6NLUpmfBEhulyPat8LN5AUZ8qXo_ewRCkGOGxenQDk6HYpKqhRMdbw/s1600/01cec272f4c4f0050b58e00edbb6cb20f91f01e395.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUNh3SQPeDYIO42LT-KfjdZkCiLIwSiMjVWSPt-R26JQ2E2vEZRzQiPaeu49x8U4sZvjtc1XgH_z9B9LRmvFUSp6NLUpmfBEhulyPat8LN5AUZ8qXo_ewRCkGOGxenQDk6HYpKqhRMdbw/s320/01cec272f4c4f0050b58e00edbb6cb20f91f01e395.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Boris was our announcer, and absolutely crushed it. And, he got to announce from the inside of John's sweet remodeled bus.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMDIkH9uw1bGUWef7XKng32c6QTv9pzh_9QEck1s2rNBuwklzcbocDIPgIEYReOxGMVx0YCsfzHDF7csUNcM-cLCXx1eYgOEwT_d06J6nfC7x49fYuQcAQk23LHA1TkG13s65hABRBmT8/s1600/01fe645e0fca9ae0abc41886618d6c90b8051dffd3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="790" data-original-width="1600" height="157" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMDIkH9uw1bGUWef7XKng32c6QTv9pzh_9QEck1s2rNBuwklzcbocDIPgIEYReOxGMVx0YCsfzHDF7csUNcM-cLCXx1eYgOEwT_d06J6nfC7x49fYuQcAQk23LHA1TkG13s65hABRBmT8/s320/01fe645e0fca9ae0abc41886618d6c90b8051dffd3.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Not all manmade features are on the map. Probably better throw some snow on this one...</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3B61SxLHLOZcxR_Zej-v-x9aasq5FxNm8cWQTR3I5U3HJ5_Tw8o8Ke2EHt7J6SWqjOzYZJtROtjlNl5RL7-Jl0ejHhC1J1ZuM8WvKD3WgcHYLOXyk89m4uEtPcceKMIw1N3ef5LfRsu4/s1600/014ce3cace5fa5185516d2ebb0a0b0e25a4547795f.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1280" data-original-width="960" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3B61SxLHLOZcxR_Zej-v-x9aasq5FxNm8cWQTR3I5U3HJ5_Tw8o8Ke2EHt7J6SWqjOzYZJtROtjlNl5RL7-Jl0ejHhC1J1ZuM8WvKD3WgcHYLOXyk89m4uEtPcceKMIw1N3ef5LfRsu4/s320/014ce3cace5fa5185516d2ebb0a0b0e25a4547795f.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Very serious course setting team.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVL0D9EpzGWjilY9g5YIfa2znwoh-0SXzzC70_mXLwdPOpo39GbxNvmkLnjNFYbiAiTy8qdLIzhyphenhyphenhf6CLGYcjv8B1mQqCh5sIx-vnujIO2CjboFEtcaTD5Hi9UTMD0FNY06UMSls-aiUk/s1600/016c27c787c4d70f11fabf586eb48db64a24ec47e8_00001.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVL0D9EpzGWjilY9g5YIfa2znwoh-0SXzzC70_mXLwdPOpo39GbxNvmkLnjNFYbiAiTy8qdLIzhyphenhyphenhf6CLGYcjv8B1mQqCh5sIx-vnujIO2CjboFEtcaTD5Hi9UTMD0FNY06UMSls-aiUk/s320/016c27c787c4d70f11fabf586eb48db64a24ec47e8_00001.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Office team, getting ready for the chaos</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhb6NoYM7SsjDsYQ_1M3FfAt-kI5iUoilVXM5hOIharC2PgKIrr2mGiALRfD4vGTo5tR9MQgr9ZJT28OiZQSwrAHUDjuYNTxhtlDa6dtOKToMVT6wcPM3yFB5f6f8kH0gxdk-mX98cKsXI/s1600/0125a3a6ed98555e8c8b6aa0b493a70208cf9bd404.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhb6NoYM7SsjDsYQ_1M3FfAt-kI5iUoilVXM5hOIharC2PgKIrr2mGiALRfD4vGTo5tR9MQgr9ZJT28OiZQSwrAHUDjuYNTxhtlDa6dtOKToMVT6wcPM3yFB5f6f8kH0gxdk-mX98cKsXI/s320/0125a3a6ed98555e8c8b6aa0b493a70208cf9bd404.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">John and his bus</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJmuZRh6kb2n2BVwcVV45W-M4g3Oe-4b4OEubkGI-Ofo_aTAa4HDykrl4tY232u7lkXQBDCO93NHeRBC6eXmVN5zZpNX8xR7c0k7pRBdVvA5ceXz4Cult7qqQQjPrHluKgfdt3IBRtSHM/s1600/0166a23c80bc56e04374de3bddf106ef129023714d.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJmuZRh6kb2n2BVwcVV45W-M4g3Oe-4b4OEubkGI-Ofo_aTAa4HDykrl4tY232u7lkXQBDCO93NHeRBC6eXmVN5zZpNX8xR7c0k7pRBdVvA5ceXz4Cult7qqQQjPrHluKgfdt3IBRtSHM/s320/0166a23c80bc56e04374de3bddf106ef129023714d.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">The crush within the office when maps are announced as ready to return</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-4iJyLbA4K1SjYfZjEex9EsQC9sPXwyJMVkuP1m6ME7AXNar4dTM7SNjfATBVgmoD0hNnLnfQggwyur1oEczFmXnrRkmT5fvC5p1SY5a4OD9BAxAeyP1ZgeaJRLaYaltm0VH__TiRmpc/s1600/long.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-4iJyLbA4K1SjYfZjEex9EsQC9sPXwyJMVkuP1m6ME7AXNar4dTM7SNjfATBVgmoD0hNnLnfQggwyur1oEczFmXnrRkmT5fvC5p1SY5a4OD9BAxAeyP1ZgeaJRLaYaltm0VH__TiRmpc/s320/long.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Long distance medals</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjk14tQx3lkjqyln7a0JMlQJ2Ve_vMtUewhW3KaTGuHgyQzEMHsKNlzahWj9hlpbcE8Hr7uFhNU9guawFX44VYZQvPdzaDqSg1J-HisC2rB_-A4bum51Y7zGTUVLD0gtkE_xL3onkiQWnY/s1600/180306080452.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="900" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjk14tQx3lkjqyln7a0JMlQJ2Ve_vMtUewhW3KaTGuHgyQzEMHsKNlzahWj9hlpbcE8Hr7uFhNU9guawFX44VYZQvPdzaDqSg1J-HisC2rB_-A4bum51Y7zGTUVLD0gtkE_xL3onkiQWnY/s320/180306080452.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Jimmy on the start line. Photo by Greg Walker.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaDkfCot2qkGcIYpl-Bzcn3dHC8xr83o3CveR-mOTGLIb1GpQSVnN-KxOkOAOIi-MhRsY50XHCWc-GBNhtqMIDHv8PBhZRL1OJHoPtUxc3cA8TLnJlchFqciYdS-ZNKtT4XSFqrJrYsSs/s1600/180306081202.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="600" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaDkfCot2qkGcIYpl-Bzcn3dHC8xr83o3CveR-mOTGLIb1GpQSVnN-KxOkOAOIi-MhRsY50XHCWc-GBNhtqMIDHv8PBhZRL1OJHoPtUxc3cA8TLnJlchFqciYdS-ZNKtT4XSFqrJrYsSs/s320/180306081202.jpg" width="213" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Pain faces. Greg Walker photos</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVhiqI_8SypA-MewmbwBH_WL7-Z885i96kwdXtx5eQ00m-aXbFgiLczpGJ8Wiah91O5YkGvZN4fSJFBxRRGH2IUYr4SaB52TuMi4dJGiAj5SbjOkDwR6IE4ewYEDbITlMopkjhPL9AQe0/s1600/180307083307.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="900" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVhiqI_8SypA-MewmbwBH_WL7-Z885i96kwdXtx5eQ00m-aXbFgiLczpGJ8Wiah91O5YkGvZN4fSJFBxRRGH2IUYr4SaB52TuMi4dJGiAj5SbjOkDwR6IE4ewYEDbITlMopkjhPL9AQe0/s320/180307083307.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Ed's timing hut. Greg Walker photo</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSocPaTyzWxyNtZyWSqjtXBYkxdRpg7EXeTAcu7YYVtGi_KDvLZEaeHuqsCFOnnzfw5Nc1TXWWqN_MQEKuUooAT8QVNbIENCed3eso9WciVTMpwmV6RFLhBeiaBXjQkQKl1R5-Oll29go/s1600/180307093107.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="900" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSocPaTyzWxyNtZyWSqjtXBYkxdRpg7EXeTAcu7YYVtGi_KDvLZEaeHuqsCFOnnzfw5Nc1TXWWqN_MQEKuUooAT8QVNbIENCed3eso9WciVTMpwmV6RFLhBeiaBXjQkQKl1R5-Oll29go/s320/180307093107.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Lamov coming to the finish. Greg Walker photo</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWVSVDuV6f6QjNgvAhY2BvE4TFDnwssVzxCPiOW02nonG6iertDTjgtabO0jqh51wmpbDT46bN-FaiRUqT7K2c3dD6zKbS2CtyKtfpakHhjZpZAUonO4E2oQYYCyI5IiX-6tEIzs_QCT0/s1600/180307094101.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="900" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWVSVDuV6f6QjNgvAhY2BvE4TFDnwssVzxCPiOW02nonG6iertDTjgtabO0jqh51wmpbDT46bN-FaiRUqT7K2c3dD6zKbS2CtyKtfpakHhjZpZAUonO4E2oQYYCyI5IiX-6tEIzs_QCT0/s320/180307094101.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Finnishing. Ha. Greg Walker photo.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIdpxnVMKHiPmcUswRAB597w_iNfuLaPvVJWpAr3qI46eM5fH3JqQ0GSOyQCi2EpttOFAffZH6GEnJVqK-Qbk91yZjkbkzItA4gPWE-_aOYWkUCZp8hNvdGIe_6ONQHAIopDrMK1DROkY/s1600/180309082120.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="900" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIdpxnVMKHiPmcUswRAB597w_iNfuLaPvVJWpAr3qI46eM5fH3JqQ0GSOyQCi2EpttOFAffZH6GEnJVqK-Qbk91yZjkbkzItA4gPWE-_aOYWkUCZp8hNvdGIe_6ONQHAIopDrMK1DROkY/s320/180309082120.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Mass start - Greg Walker photo</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-204aLDv9fRdtsPGbrtsjUAsHlBlMzMQCZ1rNAYF-RA3MRXPsAoE8eJSMRvXMx4O_I9PCVh_g2GNBUhxdneXlwCDeTSrzSifLnPqcBGOSh9UvZFnsgrTmQAfZ71S6I04rw8IFppAFahw/s1600/180309085131.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="900" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-204aLDv9fRdtsPGbrtsjUAsHlBlMzMQCZ1rNAYF-RA3MRXPsAoE8eJSMRvXMx4O_I9PCVh_g2GNBUhxdneXlwCDeTSrzSifLnPqcBGOSh9UvZFnsgrTmQAfZ71S6I04rw8IFppAFahw/s320/180309085131.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Women's start. Greg Walker photo</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLNZXhXUmudn7-UBeHH7f4fQzGw5DWdyw0zwZT2GgU3SCgRybY2oqLVqRR1vK9NwFuLN0EizQIOlLXBVEb7yvlulrSLPRWPtArzvgomUVwO1-9VSl4WXzbuA0KChyWCRznPqgg_3tuIpQ/s1600/01b2e18f7596cdd07f1b2e548e6d8961410ad0bd4d.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLNZXhXUmudn7-UBeHH7f4fQzGw5DWdyw0zwZT2GgU3SCgRybY2oqLVqRR1vK9NwFuLN0EizQIOlLXBVEb7yvlulrSLPRWPtArzvgomUVwO1-9VSl4WXzbuA0KChyWCRznPqgg_3tuIpQ/s320/01b2e18f7596cdd07f1b2e548e6d8961410ad0bd4d.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Craftsbury breakfasts are my favorite part about going there. This week didn't disappoint. Somehow I didn't gain 5lb. Must have something to do with the 18 hours of skiing and 18 hours of sleeping that happened while there.</span></div>
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A huge thank you to everyone who made this week possible. It was a successful week in a great venue.Alexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03241445781480320172noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4968085316200546890.post-45515624236616558882018-03-02T16:01:00.000-05:002018-03-02T16:01:57.786-05:00Planning for a World CupY'all. Nobody said that hosting a World Cup for Ski Orienteering was going to be easy. But I clearly did not give it nearly enough respect. Supposedly I'm just setting courses, but we all know how that goes, and now I'm doing a whole lot of other jobs. So if you haven't heard from me in weeks, don't take it personally.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMBrAVRtNGiSEK5LyghIgjpK1PS8PLGe9AxxLKRrBWNsFWz9_rKxKua-edEbLDis-3JAVpmKd4In41YhTfIxjXoktMHSwv7dQ9ykGRl4UGH1Fgbox72zLriiS7FU8AqXTFXiOSOARPcFk/s1600/4x6-01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1088" data-original-width="1600" height="271" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMBrAVRtNGiSEK5LyghIgjpK1PS8PLGe9AxxLKRrBWNsFWz9_rKxKua-edEbLDis-3JAVpmKd4In41YhTfIxjXoktMHSwv7dQ9ykGRl4UGH1Fgbox72zLriiS7FU8AqXTFXiOSOARPcFk/s400/4x6-01.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Next week is the big deal. Final round of World Cup for the season, and the World Masters Championships. It's gonna be awesome.<br />
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<img alt="" id="id_3d53_ff34_97a8_1fc1" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-50Vab8ZWYvg/WpjQhjPa0EI/AAAAAAAAQag/f_0cWTJxIbQlAv6K3Fm9QpS6bgQT657xQCHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" style="height: auto; width: 298px;" title="" tooltip="" /><br />
Adrian, event director and on-site coordinator<br />
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<img alt="" id="id_86fc_ac0e_c0a3_b81e" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiff0AuPII5cslIVND9s5xlRF9kzCVn6voEkJ7x1CpZzOeFKaI-8zRFaxZZtDI_9tFF9Rk3VZD3UBHE4wple2lnhqJlQ7bu5ljlTWaOhqYmmuu2k_DlQE7W_0lLJ4uMkGueCmDGk2yXrqw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" style="height: auto; width: 298px;" title="" tooltip="" /><br />
Andy, fellow course setter and excellent snow shoveler. We put in a pretty big work weekend last weekend, and Adrian's been doing that nonstop.<br />
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<img alt="" id="id_c548_2313_57ff_f23c" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-jdcGkNXcKKA/WpjQhlBa9II/AAAAAAAAQak/ap9oQdq4NMIjmc6JlGV7SVEe9kMXsWfMQCHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" style="height: auto; width: 298px;" title="" tooltip="" /><br />
Spring skiing at its finest last weekend, beautiful crust skiing<br />
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Alexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03241445781480320172noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4968085316200546890.post-18889193214697893282018-02-14T13:37:00.000-05:002018-02-14T13:37:53.176-05:00Final Eastern Cups<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
The last three Eastern Cups have gone by in a blur. We were at Rikert the weekend before Masters, and then Craftsbury the weekend after. I only did the skate race at Rikert, knowing I'd be needed for waxing at the classic sprint. Plus, conveniently, I don't really enjoy classic sprinting the way I enjoy skate sprinting. Fun to watch lots of my skiers qualify for the heats and move through them with aplomb. </div>
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<b>Rikert</b></div>
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Sunday's individual start 10k was one of those races that's just sort of meh. I didn't have good energy, and made up a lot of my time on the downhills, which were icy and sketchy enough to scare other people. Really enjoyable and ripping fast skis. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVtQIyJPsR7vmjwo7tUMKWxam0SPEOO-50QY3Y0iQYb4QzjoFsAJjpuapWPJc2T-W0MsGQ3gXVHbnTQlOezP825_xw5rkckter7uxcuMGmM7bluYpXpI4sKaavJsereHP5wN6GCUFFFLs/s1600/Rikert3.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1059" data-original-width="1600" height="211" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVtQIyJPsR7vmjwo7tUMKWxam0SPEOO-50QY3Y0iQYb4QzjoFsAJjpuapWPJc2T-W0MsGQ3gXVHbnTQlOezP825_xw5rkckter7uxcuMGmM7bluYpXpI4sKaavJsereHP5wN6GCUFFFLs/s320/Rikert3.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Ed on the wax team, at both Rikert and Craftsbury ECs.</span></div>
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I started third bib. I wanted the first lap to feel in control, so consciously backed off on some of the hills. I could definitely feel the accumulated fatigue from last week at work and yesterday's classic sprint insanity, and my quads didn't really like the idea of going up hill. The downhills were insanely awesome, I was carrying so much speed through the bottom of the hills it was just not fair. I had a pretty empty course through loop 1, my 15-s girl visible and slowly getting closer. I caught her on the long climb, and stayed behind for a bit before finally going around at the top, to give myself clear snow before the downhills. That worked and I opened a bit of a gap, passing my 30s girl too.<br />
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Second lap I sort of wished the race were over already. I let myself push harder on the uphills, and my legs protested harder. I came through just after a Mansfield gal was starting, and that was a nice motivation to catch her. Some traffic this lap, but I was still finding space on the downhills to do my thing with confidence. I was on a such a high, just knowing that everywhere I went, I was leading the race. Go me! But that didn't erase the fatigue.<br />
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Third lap I was totally done. Tried to keep moving but I was dropping seconds right and left. Skidded a little of the icy corner at the top of loop 1, but still came out of the hill with a ton of speed. Had to do a lot more V1 up the long hill on loop 2, just unable to keep the speed up in V2, arms and shoulders and quads and hips just totally trashed. I managed to put in a pathetic little surge over the top of the final hill and keep my space, avoiding taking out the girl who was on her butt on the next icy corner, and did what I could into the finish.
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13th overall, which was a big improvement over my seed spot of 22, and met my goal of a top 15. Sweet!<br />
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<b>Craftsbury</b><br />
The third weekend of Eastern Cups was supposed to be at the Trapp Family Lodge, but they didn't really have enough snow for that. So, the backup site was Craftsbury. 5k classic on Saturday, and 10k mass start.<br />
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I started 15s behind Lily K of Harvard, and my goal was just to enjoy the day and ski well, no shuffling. I felt pretty fresh in my warmup, which was also a welcome surprise - last week was crazy, and I was expecting a lot more accumulated fatigue. Skis were great, and I had closed a lot of ground to Lily over the first flattish km, and actually closed the gap on the first B climb after the sleeper hill. Sweet. Forced myself to stride the steep bit even though that took a lot of arm wax, and that was what got me ahead of her.<br />
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Skis were ripping down the long descent, and I recovered nicely. Up the A climb I kept it light and swingy, letting Lily pull ahead of me and pace me up the hill. Still not really digging deep, and I recovered well again on the long descent before Screamin' Mimi. Heading up, Lily attacked from the bottom, and I let her drift ahead again. I admit, I did a little shuffling through the striding zone. Then we turned the corner and I obeyed my directive I'd given the kids in the course tour, and really punched it over the top. Slid past Lily and my 30-second girl, and gave it some good hard double poling to gain momentum.
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Some recovery down the gentle S-turns, and then remembered to properly stride past the cabins. That was really the only part that felt like real work; I probably left a good 15-30 seconds on course just through a lack of give-a-damns, but that was fine. That was fun, and skiing it at 10k pace instead of 5k pace greatly upped the fun factor.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMcjFG6TilydhTB6ggkPb_Wy147aqrqd7WdhyKtpBAy5R4Tmb3Ghc99TB3lsMxY_13m2DiPWDCmJhIsEuiO2hj9EpXQ1BjhyphenhyphenMyTKOJ5t78lCiIRbNnU5QxD5vn4fE0eagJbPVyAbJnjTw/s1600/28286944489_724239a901_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1072" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMcjFG6TilydhTB6ggkPb_Wy147aqrqd7WdhyKtpBAy5R4Tmb3Ghc99TB3lsMxY_13m2DiPWDCmJhIsEuiO2hj9EpXQ1BjhyphenhyphenMyTKOJ5t78lCiIRbNnU5QxD5vn4fE0eagJbPVyAbJnjTw/s320/28286944489_724239a901_o.jpg" width="214" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Huh. The tracks aren't going that way... Guess I wanted the other side of the trail? </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvWoP-cHTGjtDCQA3mWHCJnC-W5CagHRP4HTgaCSCr_co6DpACb2begrzcfVnxtsR-7BzRjVC03A35posHj7PZqemff-gwWEozRs6qFhK2rJtjUxFY7OT3hlf_zcetQiQcz_oINMbPO1Q/s1600/39167722075_538dfbaf65_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1072" data-original-width="1600" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvWoP-cHTGjtDCQA3mWHCJnC-W5CagHRP4HTgaCSCr_co6DpACb2begrzcfVnxtsR-7BzRjVC03A35posHj7PZqemff-gwWEozRs6qFhK2rJtjUxFY7OT3hlf_zcetQiQcz_oINMbPO1Q/s320/39167722075_538dfbaf65_o.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Going forwards again. </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicVLvpwB-riXbjncbhXWAO10HbiE788n2_PQ64qB4W9CuobCpflmJYRyCH8dsKdfYVhLmjGVul-FkV2m_Zbl8lQ-4hxLDsulMM0_WtqLxxAtD6E2kVTQt_C-9uZjLyQt_d21pMCMkzM4o/s1600/madshus.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="720" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicVLvpwB-riXbjncbhXWAO10HbiE788n2_PQ64qB4W9CuobCpflmJYRyCH8dsKdfYVhLmjGVul-FkV2m_Zbl8lQ-4hxLDsulMM0_WtqLxxAtD6E2kVTQt_C-9uZjLyQt_d21pMCMkzM4o/s320/madshus.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Sweet boards.</span></div>
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Fatigue caught up for Sunday's race. I did a few too many course tours, but that's my favorite part of race day, so I can't blame me. I love mass starts, so no way was I sitting this out, but two hours of warmup was a little on the long side.<br />
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I had a good start spot, in the third row, but as we went off I realized just how much of a hole I was in. It felt like the girls were all going so fast, and I was having to work so hard to keep up even on the flats and downhills. When we finally got to the first little hill, it was a relief to do some V1, and I realized I was at the back of a pack of around 20, already with a gap behind me. I stayed relaxed up the first real climb, just taking my time and keeping the tempo low, and that was enough to keep me in contact.
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEbRiawnHchXJfXJn8DTJMzJ8O6SNB6-b99QddlECNoVjZAdm7kbT803yVUALGz04_-BLxQsCv0_S9uRrVgsOL6zi_NbgABX0n_T1MaxT3yBm2VEDNni6cHk_CQ8ciDOgAoEjMl2djql0/s1600/40053607432_8f45288669_o+%25281%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1072" data-original-width="1600" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEbRiawnHchXJfXJn8DTJMzJ8O6SNB6-b99QddlECNoVjZAdm7kbT803yVUALGz04_-BLxQsCv0_S9uRrVgsOL6zi_NbgABX0n_T1MaxT3yBm2VEDNni6cHk_CQ8ciDOgAoEjMl2djql0/s320/40053607432_8f45288669_o+%25281%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Down the long hill the first time I was behind Lillian from SMS. She skied it well, and I wasn't closing any distance. Damn. Things started to splinter a little heading up the A climb, and I was with Laura and Lillian and a couple girls peeling back from the main pack. I knew this was the decisive moment, and if I wanted a reasonable result, I'd have to pick up the pace and go with them. But I just couldn't do it, calves were exploding and quads were heavy and arms weren't working too well either, just feeling sore and heavy. Well, ok. I guess it really is the sort of day where even staying in a tuck feels like too much effort.
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I stayed behind Lillian and Laura up Screamin' Mimi, did the slight push over the top, and then drafted them across the stadium. Chilled out up Chip Hill, even though there were some girls in sight. Up the first B climb I finally started to feel a little better, and noticed that the long strides were working for me. There were some GMVS girls straggling ahead of me, and I decided I wanted to catch them. I was with Lillian again down the hill, but then along the bottom of the course I started doing more V2, and that was both more efficient and faster than the GMVS kids.
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I passed Lillian finally on the steepest point of the A climb, and started to hunt for real. There was a Ford Sayre girl closing on me, too, but I was mostly concerned with what was in front. I think what was happening was that my skis actually felt fastest on the uphills, which is why I was feeling good there, because the snow was chopped up into more of the granular stuff. Anyway, I reached the corner of Screamin' Mimi at the same time as the Ford Sayre girl, and didn't fight her for the position; I have no skin in this game. But we'd just closed on the GMVS girls, and I wanted to get by them, and now there wasn't space. Grr.
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Into the next uphill I tried to get by, but the FS girl was flailing all over and totally blocked me out again. Now I was getting frustrated. Don't make me get aggressive, you won't like me when I'm aggressive. Tried for another pass just after the downhill, but she blocked again, I don't think intentionally, and one of the GMVS girls started a kick, and I was stuck behind the other two. Finally the FS girl completed her pass, and I took the long line around the corner to get past GMVS, but geezum that was annoying. I suppose this is why most people don't like mass starts. Anyway, cruised into the finish a few seconds back of the GMVS girl, for a reasonable race.
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Could have done with a little more oomph and possibly a few more give-a-damns, but it was worth doing and I enjoyed myself.
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<b>Silver Fox Trot</b><br />
The final weekend of Eastern Cups is always the Silver Fox Trot and the Cheri Walsh Memorial. The Silver Fox Trot coincided with the Dartmouth Carnival, which made for a really deep field, pretty awesome. It was another of those two-hour warmup sort of days, and I will admit I wasn't feeling super fresh on the start line. My calves were an issue today, really tight and started to explode on the final few km.<br />
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The race itself was pretty unremarkable. The snow conditions were glazing and icing, really difficult balance conditions that aggravated my strained calf, and I felt like I wasn't skiing particularly smoothly. I caught up to the UNH girl who'd started 30s before me by about the midway point, but struggled to generate much speed on the gradual stuff that comes in the final hills, lower legs in a lot of pain and not cooperating. I skied the S-turns well, but it was too little too late. Overall it was a fine points race, if I cared about those anymore, but the result was nothing to write home about.<br />
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I didn't race the Cheri Walsh; I love that course and I love classic skiing on that course, but with the predicted shitstorm of weather, I felt better working to get the right wax for our skiers. I'd say we nailed it, so that was effort well spent.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhB_AmORX8aOmZena6xBND-99uaGX_7ycy2SuMAPQTugz0VRkDeN7f68YLjT6s3tCurl6ThDYuuBRE52QjooQ10Rk86gJCyeZ39iOrtTT0VveIQpQIJHSID3k5gAQ9CgWUZekRp0nJwRkU/s1600/boyz.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="960" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhB_AmORX8aOmZena6xBND-99uaGX_7ycy2SuMAPQTugz0VRkDeN7f68YLjT6s3tCurl6ThDYuuBRE52QjooQ10Rk86gJCyeZ39iOrtTT0VveIQpQIJHSID3k5gAQ9CgWUZekRp0nJwRkU/s320/boyz.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Pretty PRO way to watch your teammates race. This is from the Massachusetts State Qualifier race, where the snow was rapidly disappearing. We put nearly every CSU kid onto either the U16 championships team or the Eastern Highschool Team. </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgV-TO4E8Kjr4BwYGJdLZgjIqEu3Qf5HAgdp3_RRFnzZYGFP3IVDOM3ti_hXhenYtBNG8ECk60Aob5_-Qe69UhO9C5djEKQ3d3_hpRPf0Zay8UNeMiZqo71ji4oTUoB76mb60wo4Q4Uaaw/s1600/race_descriptions.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="720" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgV-TO4E8Kjr4BwYGJdLZgjIqEu3Qf5HAgdp3_RRFnzZYGFP3IVDOM3ti_hXhenYtBNG8ECk60Aob5_-Qe69UhO9C5djEKQ3d3_hpRPf0Zay8UNeMiZqo71ji4oTUoB76mb60wo4Q4Uaaw/s320/race_descriptions.jpg" width="240" /></a> </div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">So, the trick to winning the race, is that you have to get to the finish line before anybody else does it.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVpRZthIpTKF4rJ1QFRBs4uXL-DZp4dtaVP970_VFMhDpd4_uXCaCeBDzsQLAb_H_pP33vwW1EHauf7xsN-GuR_5yZHVBtWSVS1_LrKdD8Iuwelrjb7Qnr2q7ew6DPQ-CWlaiIFIt4v3o/s1600/Rikert2.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1060" data-original-width="1600" height="211" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVpRZthIpTKF4rJ1QFRBs4uXL-DZp4dtaVP970_VFMhDpd4_uXCaCeBDzsQLAb_H_pP33vwW1EHauf7xsN-GuR_5yZHVBtWSVS1_LrKdD8Iuwelrjb7Qnr2q7ew6DPQ-CWlaiIFIt4v3o/s320/Rikert2.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Coach mode.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgu_9zehWKzxfp4zGx_1NJDzh4Bz-CLpkMQL05YmxEc6AZJJSTh_GXnAGYFo3XXv3NNV-aZx4O3WPvDGjCdzhpaQyypE3eQkFICBod-zZ1EPlUVWnZP0bXqoEtGTBDhWZOkG8E4vGojQ9Y/s1600/rob.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="960" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgu_9zehWKzxfp4zGx_1NJDzh4Bz-CLpkMQL05YmxEc6AZJJSTh_GXnAGYFo3XXv3NNV-aZx4O3WPvDGjCdzhpaQyypE3eQkFICBod-zZ1EPlUVWnZP0bXqoEtGTBDhWZOkG8E4vGojQ9Y/s320/rob.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">This trail pass checker is asleep on the job. Also, ski race coaching days are hard.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhO_0s0OHdm_3Co5uo2s9-VXej-kj1lFvPC-8Hp2WElTCvaiRGf9m-ql7TXndUJ9yFQGqMefNh9pf-7Pht_L4N_SqwMhMR6C6y6vM-UNZJYsoMAZIAvk87Sy0_GC0o2Q3c_Cstvq9261pY/s1600/thexthy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="720" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhO_0s0OHdm_3Co5uo2s9-VXej-kj1lFvPC-8Hp2WElTCvaiRGf9m-ql7TXndUJ9yFQGqMefNh9pf-7Pht_L4N_SqwMhMR6C6y6vM-UNZJYsoMAZIAvk87Sy0_GC0o2Q3c_Cstvq9261pY/s320/thexthy.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">When it's cold enough to double puff, you also need a puffy skirt. But boy is it nice to have an indoor waxing space!</span></div>
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Now we're into Championship season - U16 Champs, Junior Nationals, and Eastern HS Champs. First up, I'm the course setter for the Ski Orienteering World Masters Champs, at Craftsbury, so need to make sure that goes off smoothly. Woo!</div>
Alexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03241445781480320172noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4968085316200546890.post-78679005019454270292018-01-23T21:44:00.006-05:002018-01-23T21:44:55.440-05:00Masters World CupLast summer, Kathy mentioned to Rob and me that the World Masters were going to be in Minneapolis, and thus we should go race there. Hey, why not? It's an easy trip, no time changes, and lots of support available from all the various people we know in this skiing world. Important to go on a skiing adventure every once in a while, even if it's a tame one.<br />
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Rob's connections with the Toko <strike>Tech </strike>Talk Team led us to Jerry Slater's house, in a comfortable suburb of Minneapolis with a garage dedicated to waxing. Perfect! Those Toko guys just like to hang out and tell stories about waxing, leading Kathy renaming them to the Toko Talk Team. To be fair, the classic waxing wasn't super straightforward, and conditions were likely to change on race day anyway, so there was much speculation to be done.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAgB-FYFbbBAwIxfI5oFdry6wzo9ZVncQnHmr12jbUhCR1iSZvcj7h_RMSabeGV2qbsLXcE3OGPke7z2LmXUSHlcoUTd9A9HX3CbBYKNfqDK6LsddH-N_-yRPtQk5mjjmSvUKu8HxO8lM/s1600/candles.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="720" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAgB-FYFbbBAwIxfI5oFdry6wzo9ZVncQnHmr12jbUhCR1iSZvcj7h_RMSabeGV2qbsLXcE3OGPke7z2LmXUSHlcoUTd9A9HX3CbBYKNfqDK6LsddH-N_-yRPtQk5mjjmSvUKu8HxO8lM/s320/candles.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Candlelit dinner at Jerry and Kathlyn's house, courtesy of the Toko Talk Team's blowtorch.</span></div>
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The night before the first race, I wasn't remotely nervous, because I had no idea how I would fare. The younger classes at World Masters are generally sparsely attended, but I didn't know any of the names on the start list. It actually made things easy; I went into the race with the vague idea that I'd like to podium, and a slew of process goals mostly centered around getting my skis right.<br />
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<b>Day 1: 15k classic</b><br />
They combined the M1/M2 wave for women, to make a larger starting field (and, I imagine, to compress the start window). Some guys were lapping as we started, but it mostly wasn't too much of an issue. We started off at a reasonable pace, and soon an M2 (Josie Nelson) was moving at a slightly higher tempo, starting to pull ahead. The first 2.5k loop was pretty flat, some rollers but a lot of transitions and no long hills, so I decided to go with her and see what would happen. I quickly discovered that my skis were killer on the downhills, just flying past people. I closed the gap to Josie as we dropped back into the stadium, staying in a tuck for a looooong time. That always feels so good!<br />
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The second part of the course was hillier - basically one hill with a couple fingers that went down and back up. Josie's skis were kicking much better, and I think she's fitter, so she would drop me up the hills and I'd close it on the downhills. I thought maybe she'd got away for good on the final climb, which was also the most psychologically difficult, but I closed the gap back down and passed her on the downhill to the lap. I love courses that finish with a downhill.<br />
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The second lap we were passing many more M9 men, and then we started to run into the back of some of the older women. I led most of the first 2.5k, and thought Josie would come back around me, but she stayed behind, getting close on the uphills and then dropping back a bit on the flats. It started to warm up significantly at this point, and my skis weren't kicking as well, but they were also a little slower, probably picking up some of the gunk in the tracks. Uh oh.<br />
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Up the hill into the second part of the lap and Josie caught up and passed me. She was super friendly and talkative, and very encouraging, which actually ends up being discouraging, because when you're tired and out of breath the last thing you want is a friendly person vocally cheering. You want them to be hurting, too. I suppose we weren't technically racing each other, but I've never been an extroverted racer (unless it's to yell at people in my way. Then I get loud). I came back around on the first-finger downhill, and then she opened much more of a gap on the steeper climb back to the middle hill, striding to my herringbone. I was questioning whether I'd catch back up at that point - these hills just kept coming!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYpOyVFzmGgf_xmYGfqffhl0wnQrWyHzG0SrW-1Gk1TAhgyKhhEOb5uLJg5d6yp6inR5u6sVOAa4RE-Tjj9JWhlVH47YSfId7x2y5KkM2emFqhmuhtvlUtTtnrrq2LHLGPLWb0-7Gv5rU/s1600/masters_classic2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="960" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYpOyVFzmGgf_xmYGfqffhl0wnQrWyHzG0SrW-1Gk1TAhgyKhhEOb5uLJg5d6yp6inR5u6sVOAa4RE-Tjj9JWhlVH47YSfId7x2y5KkM2emFqhmuhtvlUtTtnrrq2LHLGPLWb0-7Gv5rU/s320/masters_classic2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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I forced myself to stay in the tracks and make it work up the final hills. Yes, it takes more oomph, but the speed pay-off is worthwhile, and I knew that if I could keep Josie in sight up the final long hill, I could take the race. I managed to close the gap on the downhill, skiing the corner efficiently and then double poling past a bunch of ladies herringboning up the next little hill. I could only hope that Josie was caught a little behind them, but I also didn't want to risk slipping anymore, so just double poled like hell up the gradual roller before the final down. I had confidence in my double pole, and it was well-placed. I crushed the downhill, nearly took out an M9, and double poled hard to the finish to keep my advantage. Not that it mattered, because different classes, but I like to beat people. I ended up winning my class by 4 minutes! That was cool.<br />
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<b>Day 2: 15k skate</b>
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That course skis better as a skate race, with really fun transitions, and exhilaratingly fast downhills. They combined the M1/2/3 categories again, and this time, I knew that I wanted to win. No struggles with wax, and I knew I'd have good skis, since both Brad Bates and Rob had told us during their races how good their skis were. This was going to be fun.<br />
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Short double pole start, and then I sort of looked around like "where'd everyone go?" because my skis were actually that fast. Guess I'll lead for a bit and see what happens! I figured I may as well take advantage of the HelX while it lasted (the stuff both wears off and gums up with dirt, so I expected the second lap to be a little slower), stringing out the field a bit and keeping out of trouble. I had maybe a 15s lead after the first flatter loop, and figured, if I'm already winning, why go too hard? So, I sort of chilled up the hills, whipped down them, and the pack slowly closed on me on the long finger hills by the wax test hill. But this was fine; I was only going fast out front because it was easy for me thanks to the fast skis.<br />
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The pack had just about closed at the lap, "pack" being a loose term for Sarah Peters (M3) and an M1 behind her. I stretched it out on the flat bit heading into the second lap, and Sarah made the jump without pulling the M1 with her. She came around to lead, and I was ready to cover the move, still feeling pretty fresh. I didn't want that other M1 to catch up, so Sarah and I were trading leads for a bit, me in front on some of the downhills and she'd lead the uphills. She was gapping me a bit on the uphills, which wasn't good, because my skis had slowed back down to human speeds at this point so we were well matched, and I had to do a little work over the crests.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQoGqtp1VqpDTYuOxUNPBMs3FIdqDqzRs8sdFPkm3P0zKtvLvciKawRdLvwZztTcRQAYd8SjiuVzHLik1XcJpDNMmFrrixGnJlLeTjFbfTlLnD1QIlR-RoR5GzwISPTRgAIU7AcHUxEzA/s1600/masters13.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="427" data-original-width="640" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQoGqtp1VqpDTYuOxUNPBMs3FIdqDqzRs8sdFPkm3P0zKtvLvciKawRdLvwZztTcRQAYd8SjiuVzHLik1XcJpDNMmFrrixGnJlLeTjFbfTlLnD1QIlR-RoR5GzwISPTRgAIU7AcHUxEzA/s320/masters13.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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The downhills by the wax test hill were just criminally fast, and I whipped by Sarah on the corner. I started to dig pretty deep on the final long climb, managing to just about stay with Sarah over the crest. Even though she worked the downhill harder, I made contact again across the flats before the final descent. At this point I was envisioning a sprint finish scenario, but definitely keeping all options open. Into the final descent, there's a gentle left-hander, with some icier stuff in the middle. Sarah went down in the icy part, and then skidded a bit, and I saw my opening. Stepped the corner in the lowest tuck I could muster, wove very efficiently through some M9s, and took the lead with some hard V2 over the final rise. I managed to stay on my feet around the final corner into the finish, and then didn't let up. I ended up with a good 2-second lead over Sarah, and 30 seconds over the second place M1. Woo! That was a fun one. I ended up with the third-fastest time of the day for the women, but it doesn't seem fair to compare the M1 times to the older skiers, since the whole point of the thing is to race people your own age.<br />
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<br />
<b>Day 3: 7.5k skate</b><br />
At this point, I was starting to feel a little tired. I was also a little apprehensive of the incoming weather - 6-8 inches of fresh warm snow falling between 10am and 5pm, with my race starting at 3pm. It was going to be a heavy snow slog out there, not the perfect thing for tired legs. But, I was looking forward to the bad weather. I get excited about stuff like that, and they were calling for 30mph wind gusts. I know how to pack ski, thanks to Tuesday Night Worlds, and I intended to use all my mad master-blasting skillz.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyJVUTSxo3ccPVq9LOMsRpqrbuKCjcwtuCgR1RbHimR1h5B1CuR6M9J9OZgkmdk2_RIzlOedXrVWiO09mu_WxBR7OdXPLd8MzCPh4S7CCHJs2S6yKbP-0zkjJHqAD0SheCk6fZuAUKmm0/s1600/019f07fba96c208448be71d112dfeada87e33ec4bc.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyJVUTSxo3ccPVq9LOMsRpqrbuKCjcwtuCgR1RbHimR1h5B1CuR6M9J9OZgkmdk2_RIzlOedXrVWiO09mu_WxBR7OdXPLd8MzCPh4S7CCHJs2S6yKbP-0zkjJHqAD0SheCk6fZuAUKmm0/s320/019f07fba96c208448be71d112dfeada87e33ec4bc.jpg" width="320" /></a><br />
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I decided that given the wind and driving snow, I didn't want to lead too much. But, it would be hard to pass, since there was basically one trampled-down lane, and the rest was pretty deep fresh powder. I made a crucial adjustment before the race of moving my bindings forward one click, which made the skis feel much freer in the deep snow. Toko red all the way up the line again, on the soft Madshus Redlines.<br />
<br />
The start was all M1/2/3s, and there was an enthusiastic M2 who took the lead. She was pretty flail-y, not doing well with putting her skis in the ruts, and I was using half the tempo to stay behind, so eventually I gave up on that and moved around to stretch things out. Nobody caught up immediately, I think because it was just hard to pass, but I did my trademark "I'm winning, so why should I go hard?" thing on the hills in km 2, and the pack caught up. Another few minutes of pulling them, but it was windy, so after slowing down more and more and more and still nobody making any moves to pass, I outright double poled for a bit and then slotted into second behind Dalvia, yesterday's silver medalist.
<br />
<br />
I followed her lead up the hill out of the stadium, and it didn't feel all that hard. We weren't outright gapping the rest of the pack, but there was daylight between us now. I recovered well on the first finger from the top of the hill, and scooted around her on the downhill corner. Stretched out my stride just a bit, keeping the tempo low and skis in existing ruts, and while I could still hear her behind me, the rubberband was stretching.
<br />
<br />
I couldn't see a damn thing down the wax test hill. My glasses had gotten too icy (and I hadn't brought my dork shield), and the snow was really sharp and hurt my eyeballs. I managed to make it around the corner and stay on the trail, but because I'd stood up a little to try and shield my face, Dalvia and one other were right behind me up the next hill. Pushed the glasses back down for the next descent, which helped, and I got a small gap, maybe a second. Stretching the rubberband.<br />
<br />
I V2ed into the final hill as far as I could, and kept the effort higher. Snap went the rubberband. Woo! Then I skied off the trail, because I couldn't actually see where I was going because of all the blowing snow. D'oh. I extricated my ski from the soft powder and backed up back onto the course, and they hadn't quite made contact yet. Ok, let's try this again. I'm fit enough to make it happen. I put some real oomph into the crest of the hill and worked the downhill, managing to stay on the trail this time. Really I couldn't see a damn thing down the final hill, just the fact that I've skied it enough in the last few days kept me going the right way, with a little bit of a hope and a prayer, too, feeling the skis plowing through the snow. I punched the final ascent as much as was possible in this much soft snow, and then tried to find the right ruts for the finish. I held off second place (who was an M2 anyway; what was I worried about?) by 4 seconds, which feels like a nice long gap, actually.<br />
<br />
So, not the fastest race, because of all the cat and mouse shenanigans, really felt like a TNW situation, but a lot of fun, and that pace kept me feeling pretty fresh.<br />
<br />
I'm totally pumped to be a 3x gold medalist. Way above any expectations, but a big thanks to Toko and Madshus for speedy skis, because I certainly didn't do that on fitness alone. It was also cool to have Kathy and Rob performing well, because when everyone rocks the vibe is great. Kathy took a bronze and a gold, and Rob took a 10th and a bronze. I coach with some speedy skiers!<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Sharing medals with Kathy and Trina Hosmer, a many-time Olympian in her day. Pretty proud to be standing with those two! </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7LigjyaWzkAJTuQUZnM6gf0tjInd49hQf6Hu67bOdqMGac6PgJRgVBeKsvr_y_kWfHfnwEUeFSUvUfQkzfRw7LVGROMmv5E27z3QQz_ctFtrd1wbqnXwHzvdDxuljCDKPTsydOHk1LYM/s1600/01761765518d85b1e4f985f739c3dd3e50cf28f82d.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7LigjyaWzkAJTuQUZnM6gf0tjInd49hQf6Hu67bOdqMGac6PgJRgVBeKsvr_y_kWfHfnwEUeFSUvUfQkzfRw7LVGROMmv5E27z3QQz_ctFtrd1wbqnXwHzvdDxuljCDKPTsydOHk1LYM/s320/01761765518d85b1e4f985f739c3dd3e50cf28f82d.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">CSU coaches looking pretty pumped with three podiums!</span></div>
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<br />Alexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03241445781480320172noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4968085316200546890.post-60384406999689351342018-01-11T13:17:00.002-05:002018-01-11T13:17:57.521-05:002017 Racing ReviewAfter my races at the 2016 North American Championships, where I landed on the podium three times, I retired from international orienteering. I expected to be racing less often, and took on a position on the Board of Directors for Orienteering USA. But after a break, I found myself yearning for the thrill of a start line and the suffering of a finish line. I needed some new challenges.<br />
<br />
The first was an obvious one - having never run a 50-miler, it was time to give that a try. The Stonecat 50 was close enough to be local, and the course was 4 loops, perfect for your first “real” ultra. My training for this thing was a bit on the light side, having just completed my orienteering season, and tapering doesn’t yield many long runs, but I managed to squeak a second-place finish off a month of distance training. Of course the competitor in me was disappointed to have not won the race, and plans for 2017 were hatched…<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5MnhFptohZY8JDhfvVeVGjdNhLAhrayLZs1Vbz0JJ9jv1LFTvHw74D7ssaWH838fh7Gtiiv_t7SRmvwfFvH68xwjwIzLDfQzHsNyLhdL6zAq8_HTujJALzSI7pom5RTvqb0RlbQVE4UI/s1600/Cbury3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="864" data-original-width="1296" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5MnhFptohZY8JDhfvVeVGjdNhLAhrayLZs1Vbz0JJ9jv1LFTvHw74D7ssaWH838fh7Gtiiv_t7SRmvwfFvH68xwjwIzLDfQzHsNyLhdL6zAq8_HTujJALzSI7pom5RTvqb0RlbQVE4UI/s320/Cbury3.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
The ski season was sort of unremarkable. I have finally managed to get my elbow tendinitis to a place where I can ski, but didn't do much by way of upper body strength, worried about re-triggering the injury. I raced three of the four Eastern Cups, with fairly mediocre results, until the final set of races at Craftsbury and Holderness, where I notched my first and only EC point (top 15). My goal for the season was to race well at the Craftsbury marathon, and I set up well for that winning the Jackson 30k the week before. Craftsbury went pretty well, and despite not getting the wax perfect, I skied strongly to a second-place finish. No cramps and no bonks, which isn't a given over that distance, so I was pleased. March was consumed with coaching, and a slow build-up to the running season.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_D8U7tk1n1fWJuqGcSCZAcN8eMkuz4BQjcMWyjvXW91HkjnK0yL31JCzMxJHpBPl9t-hzg_viKB4lZes3vw5aqlIUcU4KhBYfMvdOl4iFvLFFEcTR6bW04E4M-alddu0-SxDBPmHztbg/s1600/sisters.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="720" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_D8U7tk1n1fWJuqGcSCZAcN8eMkuz4BQjcMWyjvXW91HkjnK0yL31JCzMxJHpBPl9t-hzg_viKB4lZes3vw5aqlIUcU4KhBYfMvdOl4iFvLFFEcTR6bW04E4M-alddu0-SxDBPmHztbg/s320/sisters.jpg" width="240" /></a><span lang="EN">First up, 7 Sisters Trail Race. I love this
race, but it unfortunately often conflicts with orienteering races. This year,
it was the day before the fabled Billygoat, a long orienteering race in western
Connecticut. How bad can it be to do two long hard races back to back? Well,
when you’ve had to take some time away from running over the winter to let
injuries heal, it’s harder than after a good winter of training. My fitness
wasn’t where I wanted it to be, and I also made some stupid mistakes in 7
Sisters, tying my shoes too tight and causing severe bruising on my heels. You
can read about it <a href="http://alexjospe.blogspot.com/2017/05/the-sisters-billygoat-double.html"><span style="color: #1155cc;">here</span></a>, but suffice to say, for a race I’d been
targeting, it was a disappointment. I still ended up in 4th place, but I was
pretty upset with my time out there. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN">I couldn’t actually put weight on my heels the
morning of the Billygoat, but no way was I going to miss this race. Thank
goodness for ibuprofen and a little adrenalin, and I managed to hobble up to
the start line. I won’t say that running felt good, but in a test of mind over
matter, I managed to make up a lot of places, and win the women’s race. That
was a hard fight! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN">The next goal was to win the Grand Tree
series. To do this, I needed at least 6 trail races in the series, and I needed
to be faster than everyone else. Sort of the definition of winning, I suppose.
With 7 Sisters as my first race in the series, my points weren’t great, but you
can’t change the past (or your shoe choice - should have stuck with the X-Talons!).
The next race was Soapstone Mountain, a beautiful course in Connecticut that
I’d never run before. I ended up running past a junction, and then rolling my
ankle, before starting to suffer heat cramps. Not a great race, 4th again, but
not terrible points. You’d think that as an orienteer, I’d manage not to get
lost at a trail race!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN">Report: <span style="color: #1155cc;"><a href="http://alexjospe.blogspot.com/2017/05/soapstone-mountain-trail-race.html">http://alexjospe.blogspot.com/2017/05/soapstone-mountain-trail-race.html</a></span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN">As the summer wore on, my mileage increased,
preparing for the Quebec City Marathon. I’d watched the Boston Marathon in
April, living just two miles away from the course, and gotten all inspired to
run it. That means a qualifying race. 3:35 sounds pretty cushy, how hard can
that be? Training was going well, and I was feeling pretty fit. I hit two more
Grand Tree races, the Greylock half marathon (over a mountain), where I took fourth,
AGAIN, and the Skyline trail race where I finally redeemed myself with a win,
on a very hot day. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN">Then of course, it all came crashing down. Or
rather, I came crashing down, tripping over a cobblestone while jogging to
work, and slamming my kneecap into the pavement. The resulting minor fracture
had me resting for the following six weeks, at which point I was supposed to
race a marathon. Because the kneecap injury prevented pretty much any activity
that bent my knee, most cross training was out. I was woefully out of shape. My
partner and I decided to go up to Quebec anyway, as a mini vacation, and I’d
start the race, dropping out when I couldn’t hold the pace anymore. Of course,
my race brain is a complete idiot, so even though I should have dropped out
around 14 miles in to the race, I kept going, for an embarrassingly slow
not-BQ. Well, I guess I have to try that again, this time preferably WITHOUT
breaking my kneecap six weeks prior. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN">Report: <span style="color: #1155cc;"><a href="http://alexjospe.blogspot.com/2017/09/quebec-city-marathon.html">http://alexjospe.blogspot.com/2017/09/quebec-city-marathon.html</a></span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN">A few more weeks to let the kneecap fully
heal, and it was time to try and rebuild my fitness and find two more Grand
Tree races. I was also eyeing the US Classic Distance Orienteering
Championships - I may be retired, but it would be nice to win there, wouldn’t
it? It took about a month to get back to the point where I felt I could
reasonably don a race bib, which was just enough to eke out a third place
finish at the Groton Trail Race and a second place at Mt. Toby Trail race,
which, considering it went up and down a mountain, I was pretty proud of. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN">Report: <span style="color: #1155cc;"><a href="http://alexjospe.blogspot.com/2017/10/mt-toby-trail-race.html">http://alexjospe.blogspot.com/2017/10/mt-toby-trail-race.html</a></span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN">These two final races were just enough to put
me into the lead for the 2017 Grand Tree series! Finally, a goal realized,
despite the summer’s setback. Results: <a href="http://runwmac.com/gt2017/gt17-best.html"><span style="color: #1155cc;">http://runwmac.com/gt2017/gt17-best.html</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN">On the orienteering front, I had a good fall
of racing. My first race back after the knee injury was at Letchworth State
Park, where I had a hard re-awakening to what racing feels like. I had found my
edge again by the Boulder Dash, a two-day event in NH. It was highly technical
terrain, which served me well with my lack of fitness at the time, and I ended
up with two very clean runs and the overall win! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN">As the final test of whether my fitness had
truly returned, I raced the Hudson Highlander, a 26.2km race in the Hudson
Highlands of Harriman State Park. This is another of those storied orienteering
races, that sends you through waist-deep blueberry, up and over mountains, and
faces you with some serious route choices. I ran strong and steady, but I
wasn’t fast enough to take the overall win - a friend of my visiting from the
Spanish National Team won both the Queen of the Mountain stages and the overall
race. I was still pleased to discover that my body was holding up, and had a
great day out there! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN">Report: <span style="color: #1155cc;"><a href="http://alexjospe.blogspot.com/2017/10/hudson-highlander.html">http://alexjospe.blogspot.com/2017/10/hudson-highlander.html</a></span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN">The final orienteering challenge was the 2017
Classic Championships, down in Virginia at the Quantico Marine Corps Base. I
was finally feeling fit, and ready to attack the race instead of just survive
it. The terrain was gorgeous, and with just a hint of winter in the air the
weather was perfect. I had two good hard clean races, but just wasn’t fast
enough to overtake Violeta, my Spanish Team friend. It was fast enough for top
American, though, which won me a shiny medal! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN">Since then, I’ve been back in training mode,
coaching my skiers and prepping for the Skiing World Masters races. Looking
ahead to next year, I’ll be aiming for Boston again, this time with the
Sugarloaf marathon as a qualifier and a slightly longer training plan, then
going for a repeat win in the Grand Tree series, and trying to sweep the Triple
Crown of orienteering - the Billygoat, Hudson Highlander, and Blue Hills
Traverse. I’d also like to put a fall ultra on my calendar, but haven’t quite
narrowed it down yet which I’d like to do. Here’s to a happy and healthy 2018! <o:p></o:p></span><br />
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Alexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03241445781480320172noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4968085316200546890.post-91881360475714116582018-01-02T12:19:00.001-05:002018-01-02T12:19:51.631-05:00Mont Sainte Anne training camp<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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The usual whirlwind around the holidays took us to Rochester, where we spent some days with my family, and then off to Canada. Only not quite so fast, because I'd left my passport in Boston. Luckily that fell into the category of problems that can be solved with money, and I managed to spend Christmas day with my family and still make it back to Boston in time to be rescued by Carina, who had broken in to my house to get the passport and then picked me up from the airport. Ok, NOW we can go to Canada!</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiw82-6F2wnONCXt1alVoiaqXm4XYWWMhbv1cyBjdKWB-CL8_cFRo_5Aoub0l7_St5Ph7w3YeZNZv3R2kqJ2MgyU9fq3nZiv3pH-FD6qXgbE-Ny_NDY3OomVdbt6Sc7e4lY1ILE1W2rTp8/s1600/01462bc05a68234aec874eed592ea3ded9212aa4a1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiw82-6F2wnONCXt1alVoiaqXm4XYWWMhbv1cyBjdKWB-CL8_cFRo_5Aoub0l7_St5Ph7w3YeZNZv3R2kqJ2MgyU9fq3nZiv3pH-FD6qXgbE-Ny_NDY3OomVdbt6Sc7e4lY1ILE1W2rTp8/s320/01462bc05a68234aec874eed592ea3ded9212aa4a1.jpg" width="320" /></a>But first, got a chance to meet Sylvia, Ali and Tom's new human, and we took many snowy walks. So great to have such good snow before Christmas in Rochester! I got to ski at both Harriet Hollister and Mendon Ponds, places I haven't been in years. I had forgotten how large the hills are at Mendon - not your homologated race course! </div>
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Family walk at Lucian Morin Park. Gorgeous little glacial park at the south side of Irondequoit Bay, with snow-covered trees and lots of gallumphing to be done on the trails.</div>
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So after the passport thing, Carina drove me up into Canada, and we stopped for a nice little jaunt around the trails at Mt. Orford. I've never been there before, so that was fun to explore a new area. We got to the team condos at Mont Sainte Anne just in time to oversee some dinner, and as the temperatures plummeted, the training camp began. The first day was the warmest of the week, hitting a balmy +3F for the afternoon ski, before the mercury dropped into the negatives and didn't reappear until I'd driven 400 miles south. <br />
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Despite the sub-zero temperatures, we had a great camp. Cold weather is part of the sport, and all the kids learned how to dress warmly and keep moving, and as far as I know there was no frostbite. That's a win! Mont Sainte Anne also has these convenient warming cabins along the trails, which are fantastic except for the fact that eventually, you have to leave them and keep skiing. Better to just never succumb to the temptation.<br />
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I also got the chance to test out a new pair of skis from Madshus, klister skis but you can kind of fake it with enough wax. These skis felt so good during the week, I really love how Madshus is making their classic skis. We did a 30/30 workout, which is basically just sprinting forever, and I loved being able to just kick and glide and outrun everyone in my group. To be fair, I was beating up on the U16 girls, but they're fast U16s!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiClacBXN2JQzmWd1F1wdR45tEX9IPfuzMkXZ8xi8TATPdvy5y-6slO25nclPy-Z3AjPHd0eS6JE6Ov24PfYiIyEYRetfN_G_PTHn26c3TKFVkzxf3mGLysaARZSirOwBDhARkcCW9iMCw/s1600/011ac398474535c53aa6ff9b44fda50268cf1fab9c.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1600" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiClacBXN2JQzmWd1F1wdR45tEX9IPfuzMkXZ8xi8TATPdvy5y-6slO25nclPy-Z3AjPHd0eS6JE6Ov24PfYiIyEYRetfN_G_PTHn26c3TKFVkzxf3mGLysaARZSirOwBDhARkcCW9iMCw/s320/011ac398474535c53aa6ff9b44fda50268cf1fab9c.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Very serious crew. I have no idea what is going on here.</span></div>
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Frosty selfies and a tour of Trail 38, this little trail that winds through the lowland spruce marshes and some of the upper maple forests. It's gorgeous and friendly, and the single-track aspect just makes it even better. Funny how now everybody loves that old-school feeling when you're surrounded by endless kilometers of wide perfect trails, but at home, it's all grumbling when we take people to old trails like this. Can't win. </div>
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By the end of the week, I'm feeling relatively good. I got in some good volume, without pushing the pace too much, and two good quality sessions with the kids. Hopefully, this positive feeling can carry me through the next round of Eastern Cups, and into World Masters with good fitness and a happy head. Yay for a good start to the ski season!</div>
<br />Alexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03241445781480320172noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4968085316200546890.post-3068030498447777682017-12-18T11:38:00.000-05:002017-12-21T09:15:22.765-05:00Fort Kent Eastern CupsThe last time I was in Fort Kent, it was for the U16 Championships in 2015, and the Massachusetts Team was on a coach bus that couldn't quite handle the snowstorm that hit Sunday afternoon. It took us 16 hours with a brief (4-hour) stint in the Aroostook County Mall in Presque Isle, but we eventually made it back to Massaschusetts around 5:30am, just in time for me to head to work on Monday. Maddy, Kathy, Peter and I were the coaches on that bus, and I don't think we've ever fully recovered from the trauma, but the kids who were U16s at the time developed a bond that has carried them through highschool in a very tight-knit group.<br />
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In good weather, Fort Kent is only 6.5h of driving time (a mere 430 miles) north. It's on the northern border of Maine, across the St. John River from New Brunswick. I annotated a map of northern Maine for my readers:<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">I think most people sort of forget that Maine exists north of Katahdin. There's lots more of it, and it's beautiful! It's also remote, rugged, and quite often frigid, but the people are friendly and the potatoes are top notch. </span></div>
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Us soft southerners may complain about the drive, but it does make sense to occasionally have a race up there, considering that for every other race, the northern Maine skiers have to make the drive down to the southern venues. There is also reliable snow in the early and late season, an important quality for race venues! </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhupM7Y5Ugjx2E7J1Ztma_m-6wYMpJwySLV9_fNZWLqhTGkwIF7KUxHW2V6PtizHnC9Qk_14fPZV513B2-E4uZN-FgvAu52BMXEqqJX8QUwJOZI-scDR13ct8QRzlfSUQkJQrgeR1tST9U/s1600/0110912f121c2c83fc8511f21131ec02cae19449ef.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1136" data-original-width="640" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhupM7Y5Ugjx2E7J1Ztma_m-6wYMpJwySLV9_fNZWLqhTGkwIF7KUxHW2V6PtizHnC9Qk_14fPZV513B2-E4uZN-FgvAu52BMXEqqJX8QUwJOZI-scDR13ct8QRzlfSUQkJQrgeR1tST9U/s320/0110912f121c2c83fc8511f21131ec02cae19449ef.jpg" width="180" /></a>I drove up with Rob and Kathy, and we got there in time to test some skis on Friday. I'd forgotten what it was like to be in truly cold weather. It just about broke me, in the little one-hour ski we did. With the sun going down and the wind picking up, zero degrees has never felt so terrible. I didn't actually break down and cry (because frozen tears really hurt), but it was close. Somehow, the cold really just knocked me back on my heels. Time to toughen up! My goal for Saturday's race was now two-fold: 1) qualify for the open sprint heats, and 2) don't let the cold get to me; stay positive and focused.</div>
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<b>Saturday Skate Sprint</b></div>
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My early-season preparation has been better than some recent years, but definitely not particularly ski-specific. The main thing that's been missing are high-intensity efforts, so I knew I'd probably struggle with trying to find any extra gears and using them. It was a fun sprint course, though, playing out with some work in the beginning and some fun rollers in the end. If I could stay focused in the moment, maybe I'd produce some speed. </div>
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I started out 15s behind Meg, one of my ex-CSU skiers who is now at Colby. I picked up good speed out of the stadium, and then there is this winding flat stuff leading up to the wax-cabin hill. I probably did a little too much V2-alternate there, not accelerating the whole time, lulled into complacency by the fact that I could tell I was gaining on Meg. Into the hill I was hop skating, but not at full sprint speed, and that was a mistake. I was winded at the top, but definitely hadn't emptied the tank as much as I knew I should have, which led to a bit of a sinking sensation. You screwed that up. Oh well, fight for those seconds in the fun part! Over the rollers, whooshing down the whoop-de-doo, and again I probably shouldn't have been tucking around the corner into the stadium, but that felt like the right thing at the time. </div>
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I ended up qualifying in 16th, and still feeling pretty fresh, leaving what I felt was a good 5-7 seconds out there through sheer lack of oomph. With the lucky loser positions going through to the semifinals based on bib number, I had probably ruined my chances of luckily losing by not qualifying better. Can't change that! Now it's top two or bust. </div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Photo credit Brian Burt. So many layers I couldn't actually velcro my boots shut under the boot covers...</span></div>
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I was in the third heat, with bib numbers 5, 6, 15, 25, and 26. Bib 5, Silje from UNH, has some crazy sprint points, and is built like a sprinter. As I expected, she started out fast, and I slotted in behind after a sort of slow start. Coming up through the gradual rollers, we were moving a lot faster than I had in my qualifier. Oh. It didn't feel like too much work yet, but I could definitely tell that I was starting to near that point of no return, and as we started to climb I backed off a smidge. The Canadian with bib #6 squeezed by, and as I was jump-skating behind her up the hill, I knew that this was it - this is the point where I have to make a move, pull up even with her, and punch it over the first camels hump. I had more gears available, I could physically do it, all it would take was a little mental toughness to tolerate the pain. But the race voice couldn't seem to override the voice in my head telling me this was fast enough, third place is fine, maybe you'll catch her later in the course. Do you <i>really </i>want to do another two heats after this? And I didn't make a move. </div>
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We crested the first camels hump, Silje solidly in the lead and me on the tails of #6, but not close enough to really catch the draft and slingshot on the little dip. The next camels hump was the only other option to make a move, take the right-hand lane and try to carry more speed through the corner, and I didn't do it. I could hear the cheering for the SMS girl in 4th, and I'd shifted into defensive mode. Tucked around the corner again, and wasn't even close to fighting for 2nd. </div>
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Mostly what was missing there was the confidence that I can totally put myself under and come back up for air while still racing, that confidence built on the back of hard intervals, race starts, and a burning desire for results. I wasn't surprised to end up 3rd; after all I had qualified eight seconds behind the Canadian gal, so on paper that was an unlikely scalp. I also wasn't all that upset by it; what upset me was the lack of will to make those moves. It's possible that it'll come back - the first races of the season are always a little tentative. By the end of last season I was totally capable of pushing myself into the pain cave, so I'd say there's hope before World Masters at the end of January. </div>
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<a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2HKueS5m9vUc2RaVjFlcTB6R2wtS1hEdjhwa3p1SWVHTXhr/view" target="_blank">Results</a></div>
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My final placement was 15th, which earns me one NENSA point. I'll take it! Also of note: My qualifier time beat Rob's qualifier time. I only ever beat Rob when he waxes my skis... </div>
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It was fun to watch all my skiers race the heats, once I was out. With Fort Kent being so far away, the fields were a little thinner than usual, which meant most of my skiers qualified for either the open or the junior heats. Three of my big boys got into the open heats, and I think everyone got to learn from racing with people in tight quarters. Good stuff. </div>
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<b>Sunday classic mass start</b></div>
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This was probably one of the easiest races I've ever had to wax for. The combination of frigid temperatures on perfect snow and an indoor waxing facility meant that picking a kick wax was a quick and easy process, and the fact that the temperatures weren't changing meant we had every ski waxed for all the classes before the U16 boys had started. So simple!</div>
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The 5k course was a fun one. The first kilometer was uphill, cresting at 45m above the stadium, before bouncing around the high point for another 2km and then it was pretty much downhill with a couple kickers for the final 2km. With a mass start 5k, I knew it would start pretty hot, and the main goal was for everyone to avoid getting tangled in any trouble, and hang on through that first hill. </div>
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I was seeded (USSA fixed the coaching license non-seeding issues, yay!) 25th, and had a clean start, narrowly avoiding the inevitable crash on the first gentle downhill out of the start. After cresting the first little steep pitch, I left myself look around, and realized I was hanging out at the back of the lead pack, with a separation behind me. My first thought was "Ooh! Kathy is back there, so hold her off as long as possible!" My second thought was "Dang, that sucks for everyone who was in or behind that crash." Mass start 5k races are chaos, and there's no avoiding that. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxaEIlOyAGAjKDGoEILVVCjimr4UuPzMEXuwmmKPE0xTtKgWCsApMBlFGTEsWLPKrEdfneIVtYHGIEAyr9bq2N5_GFQCaHeYPKFFNuqDlvMKP4xUEuD_VbNzNXCvpjNllLyixNTHdPvDg/s1600/FK10.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1061" data-original-width="1600" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxaEIlOyAGAjKDGoEILVVCjimr4UuPzMEXuwmmKPE0xTtKgWCsApMBlFGTEsWLPKrEdfneIVtYHGIEAyr9bq2N5_GFQCaHeYPKFFNuqDlvMKP4xUEuD_VbNzNXCvpjNllLyixNTHdPvDg/s320/FK10.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Photo credit Brian Burt. Still got that forward lean.</span></div>
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I slowly worked my way to the top of the first hill, not losing too much ground to the rear guard of the pack but we were all losing ground to the leaders. Classic skiing up hills is hard, yo. I could see one of my U18s ahead of me, and she had clearly started too hard, and was fading backwards a bit. </div>
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I felt like I was recovering nicely on the gradual downhill after the first hill, but as we started climbing again towards 2k the you-started-too-hard feeling hit me. I was starting to pack slide myself, and right around the 2k mark Kathy stormed by. I didn't have the energy to keep contact, and was at the back of a loose pack heading into the downhills. Definitely struggled a bit to relax my feet as we negotiated the corners, and I was too tired to make up places down the hill. One more climb approaching the top of the alpine mountain again, and Laura came striding by, looking nice and composed. I tried to increase the pace, while maintaining actual technique and not just running, and hit the downhill with palpable relief.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinSw4NqqtcBlI4l-uFemWHgTNCYVwooyzu8VSwpggrgHbVviyLZm1nQtNtlLtZQ19zPsk7u_7vjz5Rw90y2_Z-nh5vESMHOsAtj2Yx5Ty7ECSAlRzIQ9xxz9nJsbnZ6OrNsc49h_1ZrHo/s1600/FK14.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1061" data-original-width="1600" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinSw4NqqtcBlI4l-uFemWHgTNCYVwooyzu8VSwpggrgHbVviyLZm1nQtNtlLtZQ19zPsk7u_7vjz5Rw90y2_Z-nh5vESMHOsAtj2Yx5Ty7ECSAlRzIQ9xxz9nJsbnZ6OrNsc49h_1ZrHo/s320/FK14.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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From there, there are mostly flats with one gradual striding/kick-double pole hill. Up that gradual track I was starting to hit the second wind, and was closing down to Madeline. I had just about made contact as we hit the final kickers into the stadium, and closed the gap to Madeline and a UNH girl over the camels humps. A half-hearted double pole sprint, and I was done, in 23rd place. Improved my seed! </div>
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<a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2HKueS5m9vUMUVWMkc4eEUxdXYzNEMtOHJ2V0RJOHBpT3Br/view" target="_blank">Results</a></div>
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I was pretty pleased with the race. For an early-season classic race, that was one of my better ones. I could use better top-end fitness, and a lot more intensity work to give some oomph where it matters, but I felt like I was skiing well for the whole race, with pretty good strength. I ended up about 7% behind Leah, the day's winner, which is quite reasonable. </div>
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More great results from my team in the classic race, which always leaves a warm fuzzy, especially when it's kids who've worked really hard all year and are surprising themselves. Super work by the wax team and the food table chefs, too. </div>
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Now it's time to pack up my life for the annual two-week odyssey to Rochester and then Mont Sainte Anne. Wheeee ski season!</div>
Alexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03241445781480320172noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4968085316200546890.post-86579417170447546692017-12-14T17:59:00.002-05:002017-12-14T18:00:46.564-05:00Ice Weasels<div class="separator" style="clear: both;">
A few weeks ago, we were hanging out with Jess and Graham, and I'd clearly had one beer too many, because somehow the topic of Ice Weasels came up, and I agreed to do the race if Graham got into the Killer B field when registration opened that night. There was a text message from Graham in the morning with a confirmation number, so time to sign up for a bike race.</div>
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I last pedaled my bike with any oomph in 2015. And before that, 2010. But, I still ride bikes to get to work, and sometimes I even ride my mountain bike, so how bad could this be? </div>
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Ice Weasels is a race that started ten years ago, brainchild of friends and former teammates Colin and Thom. I raced it the first two years, I think, and then life happened and I stopped racing bikes to focus on grad school and orienteering and here we are, ten years later, standing on a start line wearing an embarassingly yellow jacket and Frozen's Olaf tights in a snowstorm. Funny how when you're years removed from a sport you lose some of the obsession with looking like you know what you're doing. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmEVY7UyXj3FN9kb0Lvsz6h2YU7dMxivl5iTX9X3IkbgT5iG9xU4J7DdQ__yQqG5gmgoqcD2mkxioeH58EPr_f4pAOrDkRT3iizl8RVLKupQbMNZeHRX7Xmizf40zPOJcSfnM61udS9gE/s1600/74818458-DSC_8521.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1068" data-original-width="1600" height="426" id="id_2d7a_fc93_c866_514a" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmEVY7UyXj3FN9kb0Lvsz6h2YU7dMxivl5iTX9X3IkbgT5iG9xU4J7DdQ__yQqG5gmgoqcD2mkxioeH58EPr_f4pAOrDkRT3iizl8RVLKupQbMNZeHRX7Xmizf40zPOJcSfnM61udS9gE/s640/74818458-DSC_8521.jpg" style="height: auto; width: 640px;" width="640" /></a></div>
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From what I remember of Colin and his 'cross preferences, the more like a mountain bike course we can get, the more fun we'll have. So, the Ice Weasels course was pretty wicked. A couple good descents towards a river, on loose sand with some large rocks, one sandy run-up, one "ride"-up which was totally a run-up for me, some stairs (also a run-up for me), and a log jump, which was in the "danger zone," code for slightly drunken spectators and a firepit and lots of heckling. Like most sports, I do well in this one when skill and finesse outweigh power, but there's still suffering involved. The more it snowed, the sloppier things were going to get, and I was stoked.</div>
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I had a poor start, seeded in the last row, and then unwilling to be too aggressive in the corners. We got to the first drop into the danger zone, and all the girls were kind of track standing waiting in a line to descend this thing one at a time. Screw that. I hopped off, and dove down the hill carrying my bike, passing what felt like the entire pack. Not many places to pass, so take them where you can! </div>
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We hit the run-up and I punched it to gain three places. Whee!
By the end of the first lap, I was in a loose pack of 3-4 girls, and I was clearly pedaling better than most of them except the gal on the mountain bike, who had skillz. </div>
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Second lap, I got around one girl in some corners before the pump track, passed another on the first run-up, and then got the third when she bobbled the corner before the log. MTB girl biffed it trying to ride the log, so I pulled ahead again, looking for new rabbits. Entering the third lap I was closing on what looked like a bigger group, but they had a good 20-30 seconds on me already. I caught a straggler on the first run-up, and then one more on the stairs run-up, and was left dangling behind a girl who was maybe 14. I couldn't quite close the gap, and knowing I just had two laps left I was shifting into defensive mode. </div>
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The ground was getting increasingly muddy and greasy, thanks to the snow, and that made the bike handling super fun, but unfortunately also gummed up your cleats pretty badly. Every remount also involved trying to kick off mud before trying to clip in. Anyway, I thought I might be closing on the teenager, but then at the ride-up, I got fancy and did a step-through on my dismount and my left foot never unclipped. So I fumbled, fell down, turtled, and slid backwards down the hill under my bike. D'oh! Took me what felt like forever to get that foot unclipped, but eventually it did and I got myself and my bike up the lip at the top, not having lost any places, but having lost a good 30 seconds. </div>
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Fourth lap was basically a game of trying not to get caught by MTB girl. She was riding technically well, but suffered a bit on the power sections. I stayed upright, nailed all the technical parts, and really, really, really freakin' enjoyed myself! </div>
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I was pleasantly surprised with the result - 14th of 30 starters in the Jedi field (I believe that correlates to something like cat 1-3? maybe? it doesn't really matter). It was a good hard effort, and a ton of fun to ride my bike in that slop. </div>
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Graham enjoyed his ride, too, stopping for a couple drink breaks in the danger zone. Can't complain about a party disguised as a race! </div>
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Will I do more cross races? Doubtful, but if it looks like snow during Ice Weasels next year, I won't rule it out. That was pretty awesomely fun. </div>
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We spent a large part of the weekend hanging out at the Saegers' house, meeting various babies and playing games.<br />
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And the skiing! It was fabulous. I found some Smiths</div>
<br />Alexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03241445781480320172noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4968085316200546890.post-42386603886735594472017-11-27T18:49:00.001-05:002017-11-27T18:49:14.951-05:00US Classic Champs<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
As the Orienteering USA VP of Competition, one of the things I've done is to work with a group to streamline our extensive list of orienteering championship competitions, starting next year. So, the US Classic Championships will cease to exist in the future, and I felt a little like I had single-handedly stabbed it in the heart as I competed in the last running of the classic champs last weekend. Some people are upset, but overall, it will be good for competition. </div>
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<a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-Yck7kPY8bEg/WhxYKLjqdBI/AAAAAAAAQLU/Ke_jeQ82isMW9lakFWytTiWu-mAwBs1vACHMYCw/s1600/%255BUNSET%255D" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" id="id_5959_bec6_d3a6_77e3" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-Yck7kPY8bEg/WhxYKLjqdBI/AAAAAAAAQLU/Ke_jeQ82isMW9lakFWytTiWu-mAwBs1vACHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" style="height: auto; width: 298px;" title="" tooltip="" /></a>The final running of the Classic Champs was a very nice event, hosted by the Quantico Orienteering Club, with some interesting courses and super fast terrain on the Quantico Marine Base. Ed and I headed down on Thursday night, to attend and present at the 2017 Orienteering USA Convention on Friday. Good convention, lots of interesting stuff going on and ideas being shared. We were staying with Boris and Alli and their almost-toddler and beagle, and six other itinerant guests, which made for some fun evenings. The whole point of these orienteering weekends is just to hang out with friends, ultimately. </div>
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Saturday rolled around and it was chilly, almost like winter had followed us down from Boston. My goal for the race was to be aggressive in my navigation, always knowing what was happening next, and moving decisively and with confidence. The forest was super open, fast and runnable with really good footing. I had some trouble with running too fast for my brain, but overall it was a really clean run. I caught up to an M45 near my control #2, and I couldn't shake him until control 12. It was good, kept me focused on pushing and running aggressively. Unfortunately, I wasn't fast enough to beat our Spanish visitor, Violeta, trailing about two minutes behind her, but I finished well clear of any American competitors. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNmag3ClYGBNGVf9Fu8LhXB-EUzgDYiQEbxtA-FAP7gX0w4Ja7TuGwo9-voPW7fqgL1sLXo16vDhDW2GMT0qS-iYX1_UmC4F8gjDegu8pT_rVN5jjL6uCYliLm1s0KPo3mzDGYwxtRGvE/s1600/vio1_1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1354" data-original-width="1600" height="337" id="id_9f35_912e_edeb_f6db" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNmag3ClYGBNGVf9Fu8LhXB-EUzgDYiQEbxtA-FAP7gX0w4Ja7TuGwo9-voPW7fqgL1sLXo16vDhDW2GMT0qS-iYX1_UmC4F8gjDegu8pT_rVN5jjL6uCYliLm1s0KPo3mzDGYwxtRGvE/s400/vio1_1.png" style="height: auto; width: 400px;" width="400" /></a></div>
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We had a board meeting on Saturday night, which wasn't the ideal recovery activity, especially considering that I've trained Ed to bring me a beer whenever I'm on OUSA board calls, so he brought beer for the whole board. Oh well, I'll be relaxed if not perfectly recovered!<br />
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Sunday's course was a little hillier and a little more physical in terms of the vegetation thickness. I expected a slightly more devious course than Saturday, knowing the course setter and his tendencies, so I needed to be tighter in my navigation today. No pointing it in the right direction and blasting away with lazy navigation.<br />
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<a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-zVRQ0AxgdFY/WhxYKb9hFKI/AAAAAAAAQLY/A0E6E0_25CAoVTOeOm2RnUlUSwyXo2JqACHMYCw/s1600/%255BUNSET%255D" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" id="id_6e2_3e09_559_61ba" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-zVRQ0AxgdFY/WhxYKb9hFKI/AAAAAAAAQLY/A0E6E0_25CAoVTOeOm2RnUlUSwyXo2JqACHMYCw/s5000/%255BUNSET%255D" style="height: auto; width: 298px;" title="" tooltip="" /></a>This worked pretty well, but I just wasn't fast enough, and Violeta put some more time on me, cementing her win in the overall. Luckily, I had well outpaced the rest of the Americans, which put me solidly into the championship gold medal spot. It felt good to win!<br />
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No more orienteering planned for a long while, so it's on to ski season. Mini high-altitude camp in California that conveniently aligns with a wedding, and then the race season begins.Alexhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03241445781480320172noreply@blogger.com0