Boulder 2010

Last Saturday was a beautiful day for the 35th annual Boulder Mountain Tour, a 32k skate ski race from Galena Lodge to the Sawtooth National Recreation Area Headquarters about 20 miles away.  This was my third time participating in the race and it always brings nerves and jitters despite my non-serious status.  Being in Wave 5 you would think I could relax a little and enjoy the scenery but there is something in this valley that breeds competition and everyone seemed to have their "A" game on.  Broken poles, crash piles, and stepping on skis is not an uncommon site near the race start.  All from seemingly harmless cross country skiers in tight spandex!  Rolling along the course through trees and meadows, the 800 skiers spreed out a bit and then the pace sets in.  It was a beautiful sunny day and the gradual warmer temperatures seemed to slow down the pace as the race went on.  This hardly slowed down the winner who finished in a time of 1 hour and 13 minutes! 

My number one cheerleader, Zach, was there taking pictures and cheering me on to the finish line.  He got around on his mother's 80's style "Revolution" skate skis that are a good 2 feet too short for him and matching neon yellow "fruit boots".  I can't convince him to participate in the race with me anymore even though his equipment would hardly slow him down.

Nearing the finish I had a rush of excitement and felt good about my race.  I was giving it my all when about 10 feet from the line I manage to step on my pole and do a face plant to the audiences delight.  Scrambling up I pulled my enormous hat out of my eyes to get my barrings and then crawl/skied past the finish line.  I think Zach was in the background covering his eyes at that moment because luckily we don't have any pictures of my graceful finale.  My fall was a good reminder that this was just for fun and I'm not going to win anything accept pleasure from completing a good course. 

Overall, it was a great day and I'm lucky to have the best cheerleader anyone could ask for :)