I really forgot that this was a bad idea. Why are bad ideas so much fun?
I'm not sure exactly why Ski to Sea is fun. I have to get up at 4 in the morning, (surprisingly there are birds up at this hour, who knew? Ugh, who wants to know?) The cross country skier starts the race at 7:45 at the top of Mt. Baker, then hands off to the downhill skier. Lots of runners do the downhill skiing leg I learned this year because the leg consists of running up hill in the snow in ski boots and then downhill skiing back down. If I had skied since 8th grade that might have been a better option. I get to race third. They called out my number- 79 very early this year. I take off down the mountain with a pack of super fast guys behind me and no one slow to catch. My ankle injury took a lot out of me and I have to work really hard to run fast and it's not quite as fast as last year. I expect it to be fast this year so I don't get to be pleasantly surprised like the year before. I run as fast as I can to get the chip to my teammate bike racer. It hurts more than last year too, especially the last half mile which is the only part of the 8 mile race that is not downhill. The first 7.5 miles are so downhill that it hurts. It is flat but after all that downhill it feels like running uphill.
My legs are not that sore yet. That will come tomorrow so I am able to walk around and stand and wait in the rain (it is always raining on ski to sea day) for one hour until the cars are released from the top of the mountain, and then one more hour for them to drive down the mountain, (it takes longer to drive than to run.)
I am cold and wet and tired but still having fun for some reason.
We drive to the finish and this is the first year I get to watch the finish. After I passed off to the road bike, he passes off to the canoe leg, they pass off to the mountain biker who passes off to the kayaker. The kayaker finishes the race at Fairhaven park by jumping out of the kayak and running up the grass to the finish line, ringing the bell. The entire race is about 93 miles. My team finished in 6:55 for 26th place overall, out of about 500 teams, and 2nd in our division.
When I go to bed I can still move, my legs don't feel too bad. When I wake up the next morning I can hardly move. I don't think my quads are supposed to be this big. I have to crawl down the stairs. That still hurts. I have to pick up my legs with my hands if I want to move them. That still hurts. It doesn't feel better the next day either. That is delayed muscle soreness- it is delayed coming and it is delayed going. I feel a bit better on Wednesday. I have post Ski to Sea blues though, that feels worse than my quads.
I know why this is fun. It is fun because for one day a year I get to have teammates and I want to be on a team and have teammates even more than I want to be fast. But as soon as I get some they are gone.
I'm not sure exactly why Ski to Sea is fun. I have to get up at 4 in the morning, (surprisingly there are birds up at this hour, who knew? Ugh, who wants to know?) The cross country skier starts the race at 7:45 at the top of Mt. Baker, then hands off to the downhill skier. Lots of runners do the downhill skiing leg I learned this year because the leg consists of running up hill in the snow in ski boots and then downhill skiing back down. If I had skied since 8th grade that might have been a better option. I get to race third. They called out my number- 79 very early this year. I take off down the mountain with a pack of super fast guys behind me and no one slow to catch. My ankle injury took a lot out of me and I have to work really hard to run fast and it's not quite as fast as last year. I expect it to be fast this year so I don't get to be pleasantly surprised like the year before. I run as fast as I can to get the chip to my teammate bike racer. It hurts more than last year too, especially the last half mile which is the only part of the 8 mile race that is not downhill. The first 7.5 miles are so downhill that it hurts. It is flat but after all that downhill it feels like running uphill.
My legs are not that sore yet. That will come tomorrow so I am able to walk around and stand and wait in the rain (it is always raining on ski to sea day) for one hour until the cars are released from the top of the mountain, and then one more hour for them to drive down the mountain, (it takes longer to drive than to run.)
I am cold and wet and tired but still having fun for some reason.
We drive to the finish and this is the first year I get to watch the finish. After I passed off to the road bike, he passes off to the canoe leg, they pass off to the mountain biker who passes off to the kayaker. The kayaker finishes the race at Fairhaven park by jumping out of the kayak and running up the grass to the finish line, ringing the bell. The entire race is about 93 miles. My team finished in 6:55 for 26th place overall, out of about 500 teams, and 2nd in our division.
When I go to bed I can still move, my legs don't feel too bad. When I wake up the next morning I can hardly move. I don't think my quads are supposed to be this big. I have to crawl down the stairs. That still hurts. I have to pick up my legs with my hands if I want to move them. That still hurts. It doesn't feel better the next day either. That is delayed muscle soreness- it is delayed coming and it is delayed going. I feel a bit better on Wednesday. I have post Ski to Sea blues though, that feels worse than my quads.
I know why this is fun. It is fun because for one day a year I get to have teammates and I want to be on a team and have teammates even more than I want to be fast. But as soon as I get some they are gone.
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