Ski Your Age in Ks Day: Not this year!
Lucky loser here, I went in not even planning to attempt to ski 53K on Monday at the annual Ski Your Age event at Birch Hill. I've participated almost every year they've had it but I decided about from the get go that conditions have to be decent enough to ski the distance within about 3.5 to 4 hours. With temps in the -10s in the morning (and slow fresh snow) I decided just to ski what I could within 2.5 or 3 hours.
More power to all those (old timers in particular) who skied their age and then some.
Don't know how/why I just happened to be skiing in the stadium when the Daily NewsMiner photographer was snapping pictures.
Roger Sayre is followed by his son, Tristan, and Mark Ross as they participate in the "Ski Your Age in Kilometers" event Monday, Dec. 26, 2011, at the Birch Hill Recreation Area. The elder Sayre felt it was to cold to complete all of his laps but that Tristan had already surpassed his required amount. Sam Harrel/News-Miner
Might as well of said: Fairbanks loser wimps out on Ski Your Age day.
In a way the ski was goofed up from the before starting as I gave out my last handwarmers, thinking I had another set in my bag. D'oh! Then I brought the wrong orthotics (really old ones with quarter-sized hole dug into what should be the resting spot of my big toes), and skied 16K of classic in skate boots. What was I thinking? Got the boots changed and finished 22K with Tristan before setting out on my own. I took off the mask and sort of hammered (marathon effort) out on White Bear (7K)/Moilainen's before wrapping up with an easy cruise around Warm Up Loop and a fourth circuit around Rollercoasters.
So I did 35K (my age transposed) in about 2:50, including a couple of wax stops. A fair to decent distance workout. Personally, I don't have all day (would have been 4.5 hr worth on Monday, and I would have had to taken a break) to go 53K for Gold, 54K for Platinum or even the extra hour+ to make it 47 and a "Century"). Neverthless, I do think that Ski Your Age in Ks is a great little community event on Boxing day and it's growing in popularity.
Anyway, all seemed well until I got inside and the big toe on each foot felt like it was burning up. Uh oh, I thought maybe frostbite? My toes never felt cold out there. Got home and lo! found half dollar sized blisters on each one. So I had to sit out from Tuesday's workout, and rode the bike trainer instead.
More power to all those (old timers in particular) who skied their age and then some.
Don't know how/why I just happened to be skiing in the stadium when the Daily NewsMiner photographer was snapping pictures.
Might as well of said: Fairbanks loser wimps out on Ski Your Age day.
In a way the ski was goofed up from the before starting as I gave out my last handwarmers, thinking I had another set in my bag. D'oh! Then I brought the wrong orthotics (really old ones with quarter-sized hole dug into what should be the resting spot of my big toes), and skied 16K of classic in skate boots. What was I thinking? Got the boots changed and finished 22K with Tristan before setting out on my own. I took off the mask and sort of hammered (marathon effort) out on White Bear (7K)/Moilainen's before wrapping up with an easy cruise around Warm Up Loop and a fourth circuit around Rollercoasters.
So I did 35K (my age transposed) in about 2:50, including a couple of wax stops. A fair to decent distance workout. Personally, I don't have all day (would have been 4.5 hr worth on Monday, and I would have had to taken a break) to go 53K for Gold, 54K for Platinum or even the extra hour+ to make it 47 and a "Century"). Neverthless, I do think that Ski Your Age in Ks is a great little community event on Boxing day and it's growing in popularity.
Anyway, all seemed well until I got inside and the big toe on each foot felt like it was burning up. Uh oh, I thought maybe frostbite? My toes never felt cold out there. Got home and lo! found half dollar sized blisters on each one. So I had to sit out from Tuesday's workout, and rode the bike trainer instead.
posted by Roger at
11:25 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home