A Challenge Of A Lifetime!

Saturday, February 25, 2006

Looking Good, Relaxed and Ready for Alaska!

Today was our last practice. I was looking forward to it b/c it signified that we were almost done with getting up at the crack to drive 3 hours, to go beat the crap out of our bodies for several hours. Was I a bit sad? Yes, very much so. I have had such a great season and I can't believe that it is almost over!

Today was also my bday and what better way to spend it then to be skiing? Last night I had gone to bed pretty early to be prepared for my last practice. I got woke up by my first bday call at 2:30am....thanks to my younger sister. After I got off the phone I fell back asleep and woke up a few hours later to get ready to start my day. I had several text messages coming in at this point...all from my friends that had set their alarms to text message me a happy bday message. They all know that I start my Saturday's really early...and they all sent off their birthday wishes early so I would get them before getting to the snow. The ride up to Tahoe was spent in good company with some teammates and phone calls were starting to come in at this point as well. It was going to be a good day...I just knew it!

We got to Royal Gorge and got all signed in...we had a quick pep talk from our coach to stay away from impact sports (volleyball, softball, soccer, etc) and to especially stay away from hills on our last practice. None of us could risk getting injured one week before the race.

My teammates and I decided to go skiing on the flatter part of Royal Gorge, to get there we could either ski or drive. We were told that to ski it entailed skiing a black diamond icy downhill that ended into the road (we would need to stop very suddenly before he hit the road to get our skis off to walk across the road to the rest of the trail) and he wanted us to remember that we had to climb back up it at the end....or we could drive down to the trails. The majority of us drove down the trails!

Once we got there the mission for the day was ski no more than a 20K. The majority of what we did was flat. There were minor up and downhills, very minor. We did decide to go up a trail called Harrowing Bone....Can I say MISTAKE? It was a pretty steep climb up and a very steep decline that I fell on a few times. And it was all ice that I fell on so my falls were a bit painful! That was the last major up and downhill we did that day. The rest of the day was spent on the Sleeping Beauty, Prince Charming and Master loop trails to get in our mileage.

At one point I passed one of our coaches and he got behind me to offer suggestions for my form, he was always good for that. And for once he didn't have one suggestion to offer me! I was so stunned and to be honest was speechless that I had perfect form! He yelled out to me, "Looking good Patricia! You look relaxed and ready for Alaska!" I gave him the thumbs up sign as I skied away! That was most definitely the best compliment that I had received all season!

My two teammates and I were going pretty hard that morning and decided that it was time to turn back to the lodge so we could get a ride back to where our team was going to be meeting to go over last minute items for our upcoming travel to Alaska. I stopped clocking us at where we had entered and we did exactly a 20K that day....we were feeling pretty confident at this point!

After getting to the lodge we were given our travel itinerary for this coming weekend and last minute information on how to pack our skis, what to pack for us to wear, what to do while in Alaska, what to do race day, and information on our meals etc. Before we started to get into the nitty gritty of our trip it was announced to everyone that it was my birthday....so everyone on my team sang me happy birthday. I was so embarrassed! Not just my team sang, but the people that were in the lodge sang too! I am sure I had a deer in headlight look on my face!

After they were done embarrassing me, we went over all the important information and then we all went to sign the banner of names of people that we know that have or are battling leukemia and lymphoma. I unfortunately had 3 names to add to that list. But the whole reason we are doing this is to make that list shorter....

That banner will be hanging up at the finish line for us to see as we cross over. It gives me goosebumps to think about all the money that my team has raced for this cause. We really did it! Now all we have to do is get through race day!

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