Holy Cow I Just Finished a 40K
I remember that as I was nearing the finish line my name was being announced along with some information about me. A lady was standing at the finish line ready to hand me what appeared to be a charm, my sister had the video camera, my brother in law had the camera taking pictures and some other man was knelt down taking pictures. After I crossed over the finish line, Melissa and Doug were there immediately hugging me, asking what I needed and telling me that they were proud of me. It was a great feeling to be done, but I was so tired that I really didn't care that much at that moment. Doug had my ski poles, which I had to grab back to get the heck out of my skis. I really wanted out of my boots too. I had skied the whole race with one boot unlaced. That boot had been giving me problems for weeks. To ensure that my ankle didn't flare up during the race, I hadn't laced it up at all and I had downed several advil. I wouldn't recommend doing that to others, but it did work for me!
After I got out of my skis, I started asking about my teammates; who had finished, when they finished, were they gone or in the warming hut. It was then that I heard that many people had fallen on that last little ant hill to the finish line. What many people wouldn't understand is that the smallest hill will look like a mountain after having been participating in an endurance sport like we had just done. Apparently many people, and not just my teammates but others in the race had done this too, slipped on that final hill. And apparently one of my teammates had fallen on his way into the warming hut after the race. I later found out that he spent the night in the ER getting stitches on his nose. We were all so tired at the end of the race that the ones that did fall didn't care that they were falling and couldn't stop the fall. Several people later told me that they had fallen at the end of the race or right after.
We stood around for a short while and then I said I wanted to get the heck out of dodge. It was time to get out of my ski clothes, shower and relax! My final time was 6 hours and 19 minutes. I had been above pace the whole race! I definitely finished faster than I thought I might, however I think I could have definitely finished faster had I not messed with my head. My thinking that I was an hour behind schedule and that final hill at the 3K marker really slowed me up. I think I had great potential to finish in the 5 hour range, but slowed up at the end. Am I happy with my time? Yes! Will I do this again? Yes. Next year I am definitely coming back and I will be skiing in the 40k again, but this time I want to learn skate skiing instead of striding it!
What is really funny is that when people in Alaska found out that we were the ones from California in town for the race, they asked which distance we were in. When we responded with, "The 40K." They would respond with, "Oh, you skated the 40k?" And when we would respond with, "No we strided." The typical response was, "Why would you do that!?" The ones of us from my team that strided the 40 and 50K were the ONLY ones (there was one other guy from Norway that strided the 50K and had weeks prior strided in a race completing a 90K. Can you imagine?) in the race that strided that distance. Most people will only stride 25K in a race, but several of my teammates and myself decided that since we could, we would stride a 40 or 50K. With that said I definitely want to learn to skate ski b/c it will make the race a tad bit easier...but only a tad.
After we got back to the hotel, I showered while Sis and Doug sat in the bar waiting for me to come down. I showered and got ready pretty fast and got down to wait for our bus to take us to the awards dinner. While we waited we ordered a beer and an appetizer to celebrate the completion of the race. Our bus showed up about 45 minutes later and we were bussed off to the high school, ironically where my race had taken off hours earlier. On the way, I heard a muffled "Moose!" then it got louder and louder and then the whole bus was yelling "Moose!" If you couldn't figure it out, there was a moose walking along the side of the road. How very cool! When we got there we chowed down on some lasagna and salad. After we had time to eat they awarded medals to people that won them and the door prizes where given out. To be honest, the only reason that I decided to go to the awards dinner was b/c of the door prizes! My sister is a huge lover of FREE things...and when I noticed there were door prizes I knew that we had to for sure go there! We didn't win anything, but it was worth going and trying to win.
After we arrived back at the hotel, Doug and Melissa decided to go back to their hotel to go to sleep and some of my teammates and I decided to go to a brewpub to celebrate being done with the race! We walked about 2 blocks and found a great place to grab a beer! There were 12 or so of us and we all ordered a beer. And let me tell you that beer tasted so good! I hadn't had a drink in months and after a few sips we were all a bit loopy! We didn't stay out long b/c we had a victory breakfast in the morning. After another round, we wrapped it up and walked back to the hotel to get some shut eye. The next day was going to be a long day for some of us. A lot of us were taking the redeye out on Monday night. So it was time to get some shut eye!
After I got out of my skis, I started asking about my teammates; who had finished, when they finished, were they gone or in the warming hut. It was then that I heard that many people had fallen on that last little ant hill to the finish line. What many people wouldn't understand is that the smallest hill will look like a mountain after having been participating in an endurance sport like we had just done. Apparently many people, and not just my teammates but others in the race had done this too, slipped on that final hill. And apparently one of my teammates had fallen on his way into the warming hut after the race. I later found out that he spent the night in the ER getting stitches on his nose. We were all so tired at the end of the race that the ones that did fall didn't care that they were falling and couldn't stop the fall. Several people later told me that they had fallen at the end of the race or right after.
We stood around for a short while and then I said I wanted to get the heck out of dodge. It was time to get out of my ski clothes, shower and relax! My final time was 6 hours and 19 minutes. I had been above pace the whole race! I definitely finished faster than I thought I might, however I think I could have definitely finished faster had I not messed with my head. My thinking that I was an hour behind schedule and that final hill at the 3K marker really slowed me up. I think I had great potential to finish in the 5 hour range, but slowed up at the end. Am I happy with my time? Yes! Will I do this again? Yes. Next year I am definitely coming back and I will be skiing in the 40k again, but this time I want to learn skate skiing instead of striding it!
What is really funny is that when people in Alaska found out that we were the ones from California in town for the race, they asked which distance we were in. When we responded with, "The 40K." They would respond with, "Oh, you skated the 40k?" And when we would respond with, "No we strided." The typical response was, "Why would you do that!?" The ones of us from my team that strided the 40 and 50K were the ONLY ones (there was one other guy from Norway that strided the 50K and had weeks prior strided in a race completing a 90K. Can you imagine?) in the race that strided that distance. Most people will only stride 25K in a race, but several of my teammates and myself decided that since we could, we would stride a 40 or 50K. With that said I definitely want to learn to skate ski b/c it will make the race a tad bit easier...but only a tad.
After we got back to the hotel, I showered while Sis and Doug sat in the bar waiting for me to come down. I showered and got ready pretty fast and got down to wait for our bus to take us to the awards dinner. While we waited we ordered a beer and an appetizer to celebrate the completion of the race. Our bus showed up about 45 minutes later and we were bussed off to the high school, ironically where my race had taken off hours earlier. On the way, I heard a muffled "Moose!" then it got louder and louder and then the whole bus was yelling "Moose!" If you couldn't figure it out, there was a moose walking along the side of the road. How very cool! When we got there we chowed down on some lasagna and salad. After we had time to eat they awarded medals to people that won them and the door prizes where given out. To be honest, the only reason that I decided to go to the awards dinner was b/c of the door prizes! My sister is a huge lover of FREE things...and when I noticed there were door prizes I knew that we had to for sure go there! We didn't win anything, but it was worth going and trying to win.
After we arrived back at the hotel, Doug and Melissa decided to go back to their hotel to go to sleep and some of my teammates and I decided to go to a brewpub to celebrate being done with the race! We walked about 2 blocks and found a great place to grab a beer! There were 12 or so of us and we all ordered a beer. And let me tell you that beer tasted so good! I hadn't had a drink in months and after a few sips we were all a bit loopy! We didn't stay out long b/c we had a victory breakfast in the morning. After another round, we wrapped it up and walked back to the hotel to get some shut eye. The next day was going to be a long day for some of us. A lot of us were taking the redeye out on Monday night. So it was time to get some shut eye!
posted by Patty at
11:59 PM
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