northwoods ski party

another year in hayward, wisconsin for a late february winter race. another awesome weekend in the snow. another great party in the midwest. another long good time on cross country skis.
this year, i skied the shorter distance kortelopet 25k race, and david brought his A game to ski the full 56k birkebeiner race.  the conditions were warm and slushy, and we both did way better than we thought we would.

 the weekend started with a child drop at my parents' house, and the traditional front door wave.


 we prepared for race day with power poses in race bibs in the hotel room. 

in the morning, we packed up our bags, double checked the skis, and drove to the skier parking lot in cable while listening to the most amazing local WPR station. the morning radio broadcast of the race is all local birkie related songs (of which there are MANY), sung by wisconsinites with birkie fever. here is another fellow, with pre-race birkie fever, jamming to local tunes on WOJB.

 
when the song was over, we hopped on the shuttle bus to the start line.


the start line in cable is an absolute scene of chaos. it's such great fun and a place that can do nothing but infuse you with adrenaline and joy and fear.

start line selfie!


and there i am, in the crowd, and moving toward my starting pen.


 my race was fun, david's was no doubt grueling but fun, and i took zero pictures during the race because i was, you know, racing and skiing and sweating.  by the time i got back to hayward at the end of my race, found my friends, and watched a few other friends cross the finish line, i suddenly was in a panic to discover david was about to cross the finish line much sooner than expected. so, of course, no pictures of david cruising down the triumphantly glorious main street finish, but i do have a picture of david crossing the finish line. look under the banner for the guy in the yellow suit. there he is!


and he was interviewed by a local WOJB radio man at the finish.


and at the finish, there was sweet reunion with each other and other finished friend racers.

and then these two fresh birkie first time finishers trotted around downtown flashing their new medals about. it was a ton of fun, despite the photo bombing.


we wrapped the post race celebrations up at the moccasin bar, a wonderful treasure trove of taxidermy that is (gasp!) for sale. i think we should buy it.




and these two had fun, too. it was a most excellent weekend.