Dogtooth Dash, Vert180, end of season

Our ski season started back in October with the Canmore Nordic Centre’s "Frozen Thunder", it continued with various races-for our family xc, skimo, biathlon. Now it’s late April and we’re seemingly going strong still. Lots of backcountry adventures to be had. Currently, April 16^th, it’s really puking snow out my back door. My good friend Ian Murray and myself hammered some runs at Norquay this Morning and I plan to do some backyard backcountry tonight (with sunlight past 8PM there’s no rush getting out there!).

It’s been a great year. Anna brought home so much hardware and really has risen to the top spots in Alberta for her age in both xc and biathlon. Kjirsti really learned how to race this year and has become quite the little skier. For me, the skimo race season was satisfying, but still a little unfulfilled, only because we have so few Canadian races and 2 of the 6 in our nat’l series were cancelled due to extreme cold. This being a non world championship year, I’m really glad I elected to race in the USA. The 6 races I did in the 2 trips (Jackson WY and UT), comprised over ½ my race schedule.


Transitioning at the Dogtooth Dash

In the Dogtooth dash, our Nat’l championship, I finished 8^th overall, 5^th Canuck. Considering I was on the podium 2 years ago, you’d think I’d be disappointed, yet I really felt like I upped my game. 2 of Canada’s best trail runners were behind me and several other good skiers. It’s just that the field is finally getting a little deeper. My overall skiing abilities have improved. Downhills actually became a way to pass people instead of just trying to minimize the damage.

My 14 year old daughter, Anna, and I teamed up for a 2 person relay at the season ending Vert 180. We won the relay division. I helped with a clinic the afternoon before the race. I presented the section on gear.

I guess I do have one more race, the Ski 2 Sea race in Bellingham WA. We’re hoping to move up from last year’s 8^th place. We should. One more reason to keep training.

The only possible glitch here might be some of my rehab. I’ve got a couple injuries I want to clear up before I hit the mountain running hard. I’m currently receiving weekly shots to deaden a 7 year old nueroma in my foot. I’m 3 weeks in. This usually has a 80-90% success rate, so I’m hopeful. I also discovered a couple weeks ago that in the early fall I suffered a "sports hernia". Apparently it’s quite common. Fortunately, it didn’t bother me at all skiing, but now that I’m starting to run a bit (how I injured it-on a 4 hour epic mountain run), I can really feel this tear that can only be cured by surgery. So I hope my surgery date is just after Ski 2 Sea.

Where do I go from here? I tell all the Olympic athletes I work with to never make big decisions like these right after the season. You’re usually a little burnt out and tired. Thinking about cranking things up too soon can often be difficult. I love the sport, and for sure will want to keep racing at some level. I kinda still want to do at least one of the Grand Classic races in Europe. Can’t delay though, I’m not getting any younger! I want to do it with my fitness level as high as can be.

Until later......