Finally, City of Lakes

I was pretty nervous leading up to the start of the race. I had no idea what to expect, nor did I know what I was doing. The race didn't start until 10:30 am. I am so used to running races or triathlons that start at 7 am that I didn't know what to do with myself. I went for a run the night before and that helped calm my nerves down.  I was starting out of wave 5 and I knew that I was going to have to do a fair bit of weaving in and out of other people. It also meant coming to a standstill at times on the uphills or nearly getting stabbed by someone on the downhills.

 The cannon went off for my wave at 10:50. I started next to Kip and he told me to stick with him. Alas I lost him after the first kilometer haha! The race started at the Par 3 at Wirth. I know the course out there pretty well and there are some good hills. Sven waxed my skis and they were pretty fast. I felt fast going uphill, screamed past people on the downhills and on the flats I was able to really cruise. It was great. The course goes from hills, to flat, to hills, to a flat finish. The first part of Wirth is hilly. Ok, Wirth is all hilly. It is a ton of fun though. The back 9 has a couple steep buggers. I do like going up the hill by the tubing area. Its long, gradual, and early on into the race. Then you come around the stadium, go down another hill, and up a smaller hill. Then you make a left turn that leads to a nice downhill that I almost crashed on. Everybody in front of me started to fall, but somehow I made it out! Then you cross over the parkway via the bridge and ski around the other side of the course. Eventually you head into the bog area where there is a lot of good hills. If you have never gone skiing back her I suggest you do. It's very nice. This is where things got congested again. Blah. I just took my time and made sure to get around people as quickly as I was able. Once you get through this area we headed out toward the lakes. This is where the course gets flat and fast. Going over the lakes was a blast. It wasn't as scenic as in the woods, but it was fun to be out in the open and see everything. You ski on all the lakes until Calhoun. You're on the Calhoun for less than a kilometer before you cut up the boat launch onto Lake Street. Then its 1,000m to the finish! It was great seeing the crowd of people cheering. I crossed the finish like in 1:55.41. I was very happy with that time. In my mind I had the idea that if I did it in 2 hours I would have been happy. I beat my goal and ended in 209th place. I will take it!

I am already looking forward to next year. I would love to place top 50! That's my goal and I plan on obtaining it. It will take lots of training and some good coaching.

Over and out... For now.