birkie bust

we kinda knew it, watching the forecast, watching the sunshine, watching all the bikes and birds and people with the frisbees.....we just kinda knew that the unseasonably warm winter was going to ruin everything.

and in a way it did, but in a way it really didn't. sure, the birkebeiner race was cancelled for a lack of snow on the course, and all the training didn't deliver me to a 35 mile finish line. but all that training did deliver winter fun and fitness and fresh air and sunshine during the hibernation season. and we went to hayward anyway, and still had a wonderful time participating in the birkie community. we had time with friends, we went for a run, we skiied a bit, and we had so so so much fun. if you just ignore the disappointment of the cancelled race, we had a topnotch weekend.

we stayed at our same dumpy little motel, room number 8!

we visited the pre-race expo, picked up our race packets (felt the sting of disappointment...), and got david involved in a candy-wrapper catching game. he was docked points for cheating (scooping!), but still managed to score a hat and two cow bells for our future tiny spectators and number 1 fans.   

the next morning, we donned our race clothes, smiled our undaunted happy smiles, and went for run. we zigged and zagged around hayward, jogged down the snow-less main street (the usual finish line), visited the giant muskie statue at the fishing museum, and found the "home of birkebeiner" sign. it was a good morning. 

in the mid-day, we packed up our skis and things, and hopped on the bus from parking to the starting line, where there was a super party. getting on the bus with skis and a change of clothes in hand gave me race-related nostalgic jitters, which lasting just until i remembered that...there wasn't a race. 

at the starting line, we shot some biathalon laser rifles (that's probably the best sport ever?),

and headed out on the short 5k loop to ski and ski and ski. it was no birkie race, but it was absolute joy on the snow. 

we found the new start line!

and we skied with the masses for 10k.

we also found some brandy shotskis furnished by the birchleggers (birchleggers = awesome folks who have skied more than 35 birkies).

we also found our favorite local radio station characters eric and caroline from the local WOJB (where they have all the records of all the birkie related songs).

later, we had a brat at anglers, a beer at the moccasin (where we also enjoyed the amazing taxidermy),

and then we saw  "the last king/birkebeinerne" movie, in norwegian with subtitles, all about the original birkebeiners.   you guys, it's pretty good. it's violent. it's historical. it's gritty. and it's full of sweet ski scenes, both downhill and cross country. it has EVERYTHING.

after the movie, we took one last look at the beautifully lit main street, grabbed a pizza, and headed back to room #8.

it might have been cancelled once before in 2000, 

and it might have been cancelled in 2017, but we had a blast, and we are already ready for birkie 2018!