Our annual Ski to Sea event here in Bellingham usually goes by without much emphasis in our household.  Its an adventure race starting at Mt. Baker.  The legs are X-country ski, downhill ski/snowboard, run downhill, road bike to town, canoe down the river 2 hours, mountian bike a flat trail, sea kayak to Fairhaven.  Prior to this year, I had done the race once; the kayak leg, with a group of teachers from the middle school I was teaching at.  That was my 2nd time in a sea kayak and needless to say I wasn't very competitive.  Nobody was at the starting or finish line to cheer me on; it was a lot of waiting for little payback that year.  Generally, when Memorial Weekend strikes in Bellingham, we get out of town, or lay low.

This year was something different, however.  Alex set up the team way back in the winter and I managed to get the Mountain biking leg.  Miguel was going to do the run; a leg I vowed never to do, as it is downhill all the way on asphalt (2000 feet of descent).  Unfortunately Miguel's knees still aren't recovered from the 50K back in March, so we switched events and ended up back in the run.  Argh.

Total teams for 2008: 345 teams.  Total Racers= 345*8 = 2760 racers 

Our line up for Team Disco Embargo:

• Alex: x-country
• Adam: snowboard
• Heather:run
• Johnny: road bike
• Sam & Matty: Canoe (Matty building his own canoe!)
• Miguel: Mtn. Bike
• Nate: Kayak 

We had a pre-race meeting where we got t-shirts and talked over each other for most of the evening trying to figure out who was going to pick up who and where the bags were going to be, etc. 

This year it felt like more of a real "team" event and I actually knew everyone.  I wasn't too proud of the swag bag, as it included a desk calendar full of plastic and photos; sure to be in the garbage for a lot of folks.  The t-shirt has a photo of an actual guy running on it, which could have easily been some abstract image so I'd actually want to wear it.  And with 70 degree weather, we were given packets of hot chocolate mix.  Alright, who cares about the swag; we just hate seeing all that waste.

Day of race Heather gets up at 4:25 to get to Alex's house by 5 am.  OUCH.  We dropped Johnny off and arrived at the top with plenty of time to spare.  FYI if there is a gigantic line-up of porta-potties and people outside, it IS worth your while to check to see if the inside bathrooms are open.  I must have waited 20 minutes to use a porta potty and apparently the bathrooms were empty.  

Alex started the race with a big BOOM of dynamite and I could see he was very close to the front.  I stayed at the announcer's station for a brief runners meeting, went back to the car to take my coat off, and by the time I made it back to the starting line, #233 was being called!  To my surprise, Alex was already finished with his leg.  Alex's bad ass time: 26:56 (30th overall).  Luckily Adam's leg was next and he was out hiking up to the top with his snowboard in hand; I had about 20 minutes before it was my turn.

The runner's started getting anxious and there was a big confusion as to what we were supposed to do.  Skiers & snowboarders started coming in and nobody was calling numbers ahead of time.  We could see the skiers from far away, and I knew people were calling out numbers somewhere, but none of the runners could see or hear.  What a cluster$%^#!  Finally they let the runners get closer and the number calling started about one skier before Adam.  Our handoff was smooth as could be.  Adam's kick ass time: 26:31 (34th overall)

So I dreaded this run.  I've heard of toenails falling off, knees being mangled, blisters, ankles, etc.  I took all the precautions I could with coushy socks, blister protection, and a speed that was my own; not trying to impress anyone.  I didn't think about the fact that I'd be running on a quiet mountian road with no cars, looking at the mountiain view and cruising by the rushing, cool waterfalls that are scattered throughout.  The air was crisp and sunny, and it was beautiful.  I tried to find a shoulder wherever I could, to get off the asphalt, but for the most part I had to tough it out.  My biggest pain was a sustained side-ache which never went away.  Downhill running almost always gives me a sideache....oh, and the other pain was the tap tap tap clunk clunk clunk smash smash smash of people constantly coming up from behind and passing me.  I was actually getting to a point of pissed offed-ness that they had the nerve to keep passing me.  Only 2 women and 2 blue teams though, so it wasn't enough to make me go faster.  The handoff with Johnny went perfectly and my sideache went away after about a minute of stopping. Heather's supercool time for 8 miles: 54:54 (196th overall).

The most unfortunate part of the race was the fact that the sunny weather was causing the river to rise so fast that they ended up cancelling the canoe leg of the race.  We were all bummed that Sam and Matty didn't get a chance to participate...along with the other 1000 or so racers that had been planning on it.   "I would especially like to commend Sam for his stunningly athletic contribution to the canoe leg. We managed to get a time 30 minutes faster than we planned, even using a beat up old aluminum canoe!" Said Matty. Sam & Matty's unbelievable time: 2 hours, 6 minutes.

Johnny was surprised that #233 was called so soon (thanks to Alex and Adam), as he was surrounded by aerodynamic helmet racers at the starting line when I got to him.  He found out that there is something to the aerodynamic shapes and the training they must do, as he was passed rather quickly by a few of them.   Still, he finished his 38 miles within his goal of 2 hours.  Johnny's killer time: 1:57:08 (291st overall)

Miguel's leg went great as well.  He rode his bike to the starting line for a bit more of a workout and had to go through a big puddle in the middle of the race.  That was about the extent of the technical parts he had to endure, but his time was good enough to put us in position for a solid 2nd place finish. Miguel's bodacious time: 33:57 (42nd overall).

Finally, we tried to be there for Nate's grand finish, but since they shortened the kayak leg due to choppy water and wind, he beat us.  Apparently he did squeeze in front of an older woman to ring the bell though, so for that he deserves a gold star.  Nate's grand time: 52:15 (259th overall).

And we finished up in 2nd place for the recreational open category!  We celebrated with a BBQ at Alex's house and picked up our plaques.  So this year was a nice experience in camaraderie and commitment, and I think we all had a great time.  Team Disco Embargo's Time: 6 hours 25 minutes..something  (30th place overall) 2nd Place in Recreational Open Division (125 teams)!

Thanks Alex, and everyone else for putting this together!  

Well, let me tell you.  The race was do-able.  Ashley was there to see the whole thing, cheering all of us on at every aid station, which I thought was really great.  When you're totally focused on "making it", it is nice to see a familiar face telling you you "can".  Umm, by the time I had 8 miles left of downhill and flat, I was this close to letting tears roll down my face.  Then, at about 5 miles to go, a woman passed me!  She had the &%#@ing nerve to pass me like it was a morning jog.  For the life of me, however, I couldn't keep up with her...but I did speed up, I think.

Made it to the finish line and Ashley was there again.  I threw myself onto her and asked if it was really over.  For the next 30 minutes, I felt like I was being tortured from the inside of my legs out. Sitting, Standing, walking, laying down, nothing made the pain go away.  Miguel finished 30 minutes in front of me, so he beat his goal of 5 hours by 2 minutes.  After he finished he thought he had time to go to the car to change before I came in, but he missed me finishing...I was thinking I'd be about 6 hours, but I finished in 5:28.  Matty and Tyson finished too, at 6hours, 30 min.  They were in much better shape/mood afterwards than Miguel and I

Eventually, after we couldn't eat anything.....oh, I almost forgot to mention that the Monday prior to the race, Miguel had to go to a conference in Portland and managed to get the 24 hour flu, so he was puking all day and nauseous for 3 days, and when he was starting to feel a bit better, he went out for a little jog.  He pulled his hamstring in the 15 minutes of running.  But he ran the race anyway.  He was 37th overall, I was 68th overall and 8th for women.....anyway, after the pain started wearing off, we limped back to our car and went home.  Miguel was still nauseous, but I got a chocolate milkshake at Boomers.  So, we did it!  50k....and we haven't been running since :)  Miguel's knees are still hurt from the run, actually, so hopefully next week he'll be able to run again.