Living in Minnesota to train for a spring marathon or Ironman triathlon endurance sport has been considered a disadvantage to many and those who do not live in the snow/ice north country, so as for training the RAAM held in June. I found it not exactly a disadvantage, as long as you find alternative endurance sports, such as xc skiing, to train and stay in shape. With that mentality and training plan, one can not only come through some of the toughest winters, but also enjoy winter cross training/xc skiing.
So, on Sunday (2/14/2010), I joined hundreds of local xc skiers and skied my favorate Mora Vasaloppet to also memorize the late King Vasa of USA (the symbol of Mora Vasaloppet) who passed away the very same day last year. Little did I know, GOD had a plan for me to get through this race -- within 500 feet from the start of the 58Km race, someone stepped on my left pole and broke the pole. All that was going through my mind was: I still got two legs/skis and my right arm/pole; and this could be great for building legs for RAAM. After soloing about an hour, I started to see skiers ahead of me, and they gave me the loudest cheers after I passed them. And, just before the finish line, I saw a kid of probably 5 or 6 years old who was skiing ahead of me in his 13km race. I wanted to give him a huge hug -- He made my day -- I was not soloing at all.
Also, congratulations to a few local club cyclists who also raced Mora Vasaloppet: Diane Hemstad, Andrea Potyondy-Smith, RJ Ochman. Great race!!!
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