Kortie

Saturday was the big Birkie weekend. This is the long anticipated race weekend of the nordic ski season.

I am still doing the "mini" race which is the Kortelopet. Still this is 23k of hilly ski racing so it is no small undertaking.

Temps on Saturday were in the single digits which isn't really a big deal except for when you are waiting in line to get on the bus or standing around in the porta-potty line. That is when you start to second guess what you've decided to wear. However, the reality is that this course has lots of climbing right from the start.

I was in Wave 5 this year. Unfortunately that was wickedly inconvenient for everyone else in my group. There were 4 people in Waves 1, 2 and 3. Then there were 3 people in Waves 7, 8 and 10. I was smack in the middle making the carpooling a challenge. Luckily the 3 later Wave people agreed to get up a little early so I didn't have to go with the seriously early crowd.

However, I didn't want to make them get up too early so in the end I cut it fairly close. If you haven't been to the Birkie you cannot appreciate what a zoo it is race morning. 6000+ people all trying to get to the same small place. We left 2 hours before my start which was the minimum required. I arrived at the start area and Wave 3 was just leaving. I got in the line for the porta-potty and by the time I got in to use it Wave 4 had left. That meant I had less than 10 minutes to strip off my layers, drop off my bag, get my skis and poles on and get in line.

Luckily I wanted to line up in the back because almost all 500 people in my wave were already in the start area when I arrived. Nice part is that I didn't have to stand around more than a couple of minutes before the start gun goes off and the fireworks are shot and we are starting.

Lots of double poling to start the race although there are always a few people who think it is a good idea to start skating way too early. That always bugs me. People need to double pole until the crowd at least spreads out a little.

Finally I start skating but politely with small skate strokes and not full poling. No need to cause an accident. During this part of the race you have to be very alert to not ski on to someones poles or skis. It's a bit chaotic.

The first 9k of the race are very hilly and all the Birkie and Kortie skiers are together. I knew that part would be tough so I was prepared to not feel great. And I didn't feel super on that part but I was happy to be succesfully keeping up with the back of Wave 5. I even passed people although not a ton. The crazy thing about this part of the race is that there are a lot of long hills with steep sections but you're in a bunch of 500 people. At each hill you just pick a line of people and start up the hill. Your pace is dictated by what row you choose. Sometimes you get a line that is going along well and you can V1. Sometimes you end up in a row behind people just walking up the hill on their skis. You might want to go faster but you can't get out of the row as the rows on either side of you are just as stacked up with people. It's a pretty amazing thing to see.

As I got closer to the 9k Birkie/Kortie split I was really looking forward to the thinning out of the people and the slightly less hilly section to come. I wasn't feeling very strong but I thought I could get in a rhythm in the next section. Finally I reached the 9k aid station and I stopped and took in energy drink, had a whole Gu and a cup of water. I had originally planned to sail through the aid stations pretty fast but I was feeling much worse than I had hoped so I took my time. At this point I had already abandoned any hope of beating my goal time of 2:11. I felt like there was no way I could make it.

After skiing out of the aid station you see the sign pointing you to the Kortie trail and I was off to the next part of the race. Then I hit the slow snow of the Kortie trail. It seemed that although the Birkie trail had been regroomed after the Friday snow that the Kortie trail hadn't. The snow was several inches deep, powdery and clearly with sharp snow crystals as it was sucking the speed out of my skis. Still I maintained hope that this section would revitalize my skiing and I would start enjoying the race more.

I kept skiing and skiing and skiing. I started thinking about how I hated this race, how it would never end and that I would never ski the Birkie. Heck, I thought I should never ski the Kortie again. I swore this would be my last race of the season, my last ski maybe. I kept skiing. I told myself I needed to think more positively. I told myself surely this suffering would have positive benefits to cyclocross.

Finally I reached the 10k to go mark. I just get chanting over and over to myself that I could ski 10k if I just kept going. I wondered where I could find someone to give me a ride back to the finish if I stopped skiing. At 9k to go I began telling myself that wasn't very far and that I could do that.

At 16k there was another aid station. I took on more energy drink, more gu and more water. I wanted to stop forever but made myself keep going. I knew that many more hills were between me and the finish. At every downhill I got into a good tuck and chanted over and over in my head to run a flat ski and milk as much momentum out every downhill as possible. Long gone was the girl who snowplowed the hills. There was no way I was going to snow plow and lose free forward progress. I couldn't believe that my main fear of this race was the downhills. That was the only part I was enjoying.

At 5k to go I reminded myself that was only 3.1 miles. I could do that. I chanted 5k to go, 5k to go, 5k to go over and over in my head. At 3k to go I wondered if I would be able to make it. My right quad was tired from my incessant right sided V1 as I had never gotten comfortable enough to V1 on the left side. Now I realized why that was a mistake.

I told myself that if I just didn't stop I would make it. I desperately wanted to rest at the top of the hill like some of the people around me but I kept myself moving. Finally the 2k to go mark. Then you finally get to the descent down into the final finish climb. I made sure I was in control so I didn't fall in front of everyone at the finish line. I didn't care if I got passed or passed anyone as I was so relieved to finally be done.

I looked at the clock and it said 2:49:50. I did a mental calculation and deducted 30 minutes since I was in Wave 5. I was bummed . . . not even close to my goal of 2:11. I couldn't believe I'd felt that crappy the whole race and was 8 minutes short.

At the finish line I saw my friend Samantha who was showered and changed after her race. She asked my finish time and I told her the clock said 2:49 so I guess 2:19. She concurred. I went and changed and pondered how I could have had such a bad race. Felt bad and finished slow. Oh well, not my day. I decided that I probably should do another race this season so I could end on a more positive note.

After that Samantha and I headed into Hayward to cheer on Birkie finishers and do the required hanging out at Anglers. Right before heading back to our cabin Samantha ran into check the official results. When she came out she told me she'd check the results and they didn't have me listed at 2:19. She said she thought maybe my chip malfunctioned but then check the results at 2:29 thinking I might have misread the clock (she admited to me that she wasn't going to tell me if that had been my finish time as she knew I'd be even more bummed). I wasn't listed at 2:29 either so she decided to check 2:09 and there I was. Thanks to bad math I had been upset at my slow skiing for nothing. I needed to deduct 40 minutes for a 5th Wave start not 30 minutes.

I actually had beat my goal time which did make me feel better. At least if I was going to suffer like I did I wanted to accomplish my goal. Where did the 2:11 goal come from you ask? Well, that was Dave's fastest Kortie finish time before he joined Ski School and started skiing the Birkie. Now obviously you can't really compare time in a ski race as the snow conditions are such a factor but that didn't change the fact that I wanted to beat his time.

It's a small thing to ask for since he can now ski the Birkie in 3:16 and he could kick my butt in the Kortie if he ever did it again. I revel in tiny little victories . . . . of course, now you might say I'm good enough to shoot for the whole Birkie. We'll see. I'm thinking about it but if I had to suffer for another 30k like I did at this year's Kortie it would be ugly.

Oh yeah and I'm headed to the Great Bear Chase where I hope to enjoy myself. Funny thing is that two years ago I enjoyed the Kortie so I signed up for the Great Bear Chase. At the Bear Chase I suffered and felt like I was dieing the whole way. Hopefully this year my suffering at the Kortie means good times at the Bear Chase.