FLOAT ON

surprised that I posted so soon? this guy sure is surprised!

I wasn’t going to post until I was back training and racing, but I entered a race today and there’s a good story behind it… no it wasn’t a running race (I’m still a few months from that)…

The Ontario University track champs were this weekend at the University of York indoor facility (aka Fort Knox).  Friday night races and Saturday afternoon races.  Since York is halfway to Barrie for me I might as well make my first trip to a real XC resort and ski at Hardwood Hills.   Seeing as there is no more snow in Hamilton (except a small pile in my backyard) it was a good time to break up the pool, bike and elliptical training a bit.  Just so happens that there was a 20km XC skate race on Saturday morning at Hardwood, so I faxed in my entry on Friday a couple of hours before the deadline…

“I didn’t even know you cross country skied?” was a typical reaction from friends yesterday when I mentioned that I did a 20km ski race that morning.  It’s not like they should have known I XC ski as I’ve skied less than 20 times in my whole life.

I got to Hardwood Hills about an hour before the race and it seemed just like a local road race as there were skiers of all ages milling about.  You had your guys all decked out in the newest gear, a bunch of kids with the same club uniform, the old guy with the long beard, a bunch of weekend warriors, and some slapper wearing a bunch of running gear…oh, that was me. 

There was a 40km race that went off 15 minute before the 20km so I went and watched how they started.  For the first 50 meters you can’t skate you have to double pole plant… got it.  Other than that rule it seemed pretty straight forward. 

I had to figure out where I should start in the pack of about 80.  I decided to take the second row as I didn’t want to get in any one’s way and I figured I’d beat most of these people, right???  The gun, errr the guy says “GO” and we’re off.  After 100m we’re into the two person wide trail and I’m in about 20th.  After a few minutes I decide I’m not working too hard and I should forge my way up to the lead pack of about 7.  A couple of minutes later I’m at the back of that pack and passing one guy… then whoom, I fall down.  Get back up and catch the pack again. 

When we finished the first of two unequal loops I grabbed a gatorade and my thumb went into the styrofoam cup. I ended up with one sip of gatorade and a really wet thumb… did I mention that it’s -12C out? A little later I planted my pole in front of my ski and went down again (fall #2).  I managed to stay with this lead pack that kept losing a guy every few kilometers.

I could tell the guy doing most of the leading looked really comfortable and could of gone much quicker if he had too.  The “Canada” on the back of his suit also offered a little clue that he might be on the national team.  I fall again (fall #3) another pole plant in front of my ski, rookie.  Shortly later, the guy with the Canada suit drops off and there is just two of us left?  I could feel the pace slowing down without the fearless leader so I decided to take the lead and push it a bit since it still hasn’t felt like I’ve been pushing hard.  A minute later I’ve gapped the second place guy and the gap keeps widening.  I keep pushing and it’s finally feeling like race effort and my legs and arms are beginning to tire.  I also start laughing and getting a little excited at the thought of winning my first XC ski race.

I looked back every once in a while and there continued to be no one around.  All of a sudden Captain Canada is back a couple hundred meters and he is gaining, FAST.  This guy went past me like a I was standing still, and showed me that I truly am a beginner. It turns out there were only a few minutes left and it was mostly downhill so I just cruised it in for second place in 1:05:21, 35 seconds arrear of first (I’m sure if he wanted to that 35 second margin could have been more than 10 minutes).  It turns out the guy who won, Lenny Valjas, is a really good skier on the national team, check out his blog http://lennyvaljas.blogspot.com/

Cross Country Ski Nationals are next weekend in Duntroon, Ontario and I humoured the idea of taking part.  I don’t mind getting my ass kicked and it would be a fun change to line up at a national championships without any expectations.  The problem is that the way they run XC ski races I could get in the way of other skiers and I really don’t want to get in the way of guys taking this serious when I’m out there for one of my daily workouts.

As for my running.  After the ski race and then after watching OUA’s on Saturday afternoon I took to the York outdoor track for 8km.  Longest run back so far, foot felt good and I pushed the pace a little.

A couple observations from the weekend:

I was getting hammered on the downhills, my skis were quite slower than the rest of the guys.  A look around the ski shop later in the day showed me that my whole kit (skis, bindings, boot, poles) cost less than the skis alone that my competitors were on (569.99).  Not to mention that my bulk wax doesn’t hold a torch to the low-fluorocarbon waxes these guys are using.

Each racer received a copy of a XC ski mag in the race packet.  I saw a picture of a guy releasing his pole grip (strap still attached) at the end of the push motion and wondered, is that what you’re supposed to do?  I did in fact notice from other racers that letting your grip go loose at the end of the pole push is what you’re supposed to do.  I learned a lot on Saturday morning.

Once again I find myself laughing out loud at a description of a drug bust in the newspaper.  Today I was reading about Operation Axe in the Globe and Mail where 47 arrests were made in the Montreal area.  When the article mentioned what they seized the journalist described it like this:

Police seized 25 firearms and 41 kilograms of cocaine, as well as steroids, Viagra and five BlackBerrys. Those arrested face charges including gangsterism, weapons possession and drug trafficking.

And it’s not the black market Viagra that I find particularly amusing.  The fact they mention the five Blackberrys kills me.  Drugs, guns and Blackberrys… which one is something that you might carry around?  I mean seriously who cares if they had Blackberrys. 

The first time I saw something like this was in the Guelph Mercury a couple of years ago.  They busted these two guys who had a ton of Ecstasy pills, other drugs, a huge wad of cash and… wait for it… two cell phones!.  Good thing these guys were caught, who knows what they would have done with a cell phone each!  The only possible reason  someone has to carry a cell phone is to make drug deals and set up mob hits, right?

Ever since first reading that article I’ve noticed from time to time the need for journalists to mention cell phones in arrests. To me, in this day and age, mentioning cell phones in a drug and/or weapons bust is not newsworthy.  A cell phone or blackberry is a common item.  I realize that there could possibly be other criminal contacts saved in cell phone but, their is no crime in owning or using such a device.

Two men were arrested today on charges of drug trafficking.  Police seized 20 kilograms of cocaine, a firearm, two cell phones, a set of house keys, a pack of trident gum and a pair of M-frame Oakley sunglasses. 

…OK, you get my point.  And you probably don’t find it as funny as I do.

On a side note, one of the guys arrested in the Globe article competed in the ’96 Olympics as a weightlifter.

LYON, France, 2 February 2009 – INTERPOL, the world’s largest police organization, and the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), are to formally combine their resources to fight the use of performance-enhancing drugs in sport.

Rest of Article Here

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