A Bluebird day gives way to #18 Ultra Marathon!

Yes!  What a day it was yesterday!  On Martin Luther King day of 1/19/15 I decided it was time to start the new year off right and do another "ski" Ultra Marathon.  I found out that the day was going to be totally sunny and clear, and only going to be around 30 degrees up on the mountain.  That's perfect for me!  The night before I pulled out all of my ultra running gear I had packed away and got out my essentials and hydration bottles.  I realized my racing skis I planned to use weren't really waxed the way I usually like, so I just slapped on some glide wax and called it good.

I got up around 7 am and got a good breakfast under my belt, filled all my bottles, took my succeed race tablets, filled up the 4-Runner and I took off.  I will be skiing our homegrown groomed trails at Pole Creek.  I got up to the trail around 9:10 and was off "classic" skiing around 9:20.  The skis felt great and light.  I usually train with very heavy backcountry skis so I got off skiing fast.  I realized real quick that the trails were going to be really fast because I was getting great glide.  The trails were just groomed the day before so it was just perfect!  I felt pretty darned good!  One part of the trail was so fast I lost my balance going down a fast downhill around a curve.  I ended up headfirst in a snow drift!

I was planning to do like 3, 10 mile loops and fill up my hydration and food when I would come back to the car.  That planned turned out to be only 2 laps of 13 miles, then 18 miles only.  I did a bunch of loops on the back side of our trails and when I came back to the car after 13 miles.  I had some great soup, bananas, peanut butter and a complete hydration bottle.  I filled up my pack with all the essentials I would need and was off!  The day couldn't have been better, actually.  There was a little wind but it was great because it gave me a chance to use my shades the entire 31 miles.  I usually have to take these off after 2 miles or so because of fogging issues.

I met several couples with dogs along the way and Jim, my friend, who has also skied the Berkie a long time ago.  He's a great skier.  We both ski "classic" style. I started to finally get tired near the mid-20 mile mark.  I was in great spirits the entire way.  I felt really lucky to have this perfect day too.  I almost felt guilty for having great glide and great groomed trails!  Well, in all, the day turned out to be just fantastic and I got a great workout!

The GPS said I did 31.02 miles at around 5 hours 36 minutes.  Not bad.  I'll take it for sure!  At the car I filled up on hydration, food, and took my recoverite.  It was around 3:00 pm and the sun was shinning bright still, warming my face.  I felt just great!  What a feeling!

#18 Ultra Marathon finished and another $100.00 donated to Alzheimer's!  Here are some pictures.