Birkie Weekend- everything but the race
Any new experience can be a stressful one. I felt so fortunate to ride the coattails of a Wisconsin native with 6 Birkies under her belt for last week's race experience. Laura’s understanding of threatening midwestern weather, her strong direction and ever smiling self were all contributors to the fun weekend and to a race performance I am proud of. Thank you thank you thank you, friend!
As the midwest braced for record snowfall and blizzard like conditions, our Birkie crew found ourselves racing to Minneapolis to beat the storm. With a flurry of texts and last minute change to our travel plans, we chose the 5am flight out of Boise. Even though the change cut into my sleep and offered one less day to get my errands done, this single decision made the whole week thoroughly more enjoyable. After arriving in Hayward, Wisconsin on Wednesday afternoon we were able to get a ski in near Hatchery Creek. The hour ski allowed us to experience Bitch Hill and mentally prep ourselves for the most difficult climb on the course. Personally, the shakeout ski was so important for me to get an understanding of the course, how wide the trail is, how steep the rolling hills can be. I really needed this glimpse of the course to calm my anxiety of The Unknown.
Friday was a frigid but beautiful morning. We waited for the temps to make it into positive territory before heading out to the OO highway trails. This is also the start of the Korteloppet race that had taken off that morning. By accident, we found ourselves skiing on key parts of the Birkie trail; again building confidence, helping set expectations and giving me familiarity to draw on on race day. After a short ski we just went back to the cabin for more puzzles and ski races. The mood was still light and fun, but people were getting their gear together for race day. The distraction of preparations felt like a slight stress that settled over the house.
As much as I chose skate skiing races for the chance to compete without pressure, I have a hard time calming the side of my brain that sees a bib number, knows there is a starting gun and a finish line: all indications of The Race ahead. This weekend was no exception. I had a hard time quelling those pre-race nerves.
After two long days working for Gear West, Nick came back to the house and waxed our skis in the makeshift table we assembled in the garage. Careful to capture all of the wax drips and scraped wax filings, we watched on as he worked his magic. I enjoyed the lesson and opportunity to ask questions as waxing is as much a past of the experience as the skiing is. I probably could have use a few more layers of wax (which I have since learned is why others brought race skis and practice skis... Honey, can I get another pair of skis?), but the chosen wax and expert application was spot on. Thank you Nick!
At this point, there was nothing left to do but try and get come sleep. Read on to the next post for my race day report...
