Ski to Sea, for those that don’t know, is a seven-leg race from the Mt. Baker Ski Area to Marine Park in Bellingham. I did the Cross Country Ski leg last year. It was my rookie year, and I did pretty well for not having cross country skied in 25 years.

So I’m doing the running leg this year. It is eight miles down hill from the Ski Area to the Shuksan Department of Transportation station. It’ll be the fastest eight miles I ever run.

I’ve dreaded doing this leg of the race because running eight miles downhill is pretty hard on the body. Knees, shins, toe nails, etc. Also, there is an added factor this year. I won’t be able to devote as much time to training as previous years, because I’ve got a new baby boy that is interesting me a bit more than running 20-25 miles a week in the rain in preparation.

Adding to the time issue is the fact that the run starts at more than 3,500 feet above sea level, and the oxygen content is some 20% lower than at my house. So I’ll need to make a few trips up to the mountain to train and acclimate myself to dealing with less oxygen. There is a 2,000-foot drop in elevation over the length of the run, so I will get more and more oxygen, I just want to make sure I don’t wipe myself out in the first mile.

The good point: it is a good way to kick off my summer training and fitness. If I don’t do it, I will run way less, and not be in shape at all for swimsuit season.

Anyway, I’m doing it. Memorial day weekend, I’m going to wake up at 5 a.m., ride up to the Mountain with Ryan and Jonathan, stand around a ski lodge for a couple of hours in running shorts and a t-shirt, and then run with abandon down the mountain.

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Since I don’t know the ski area all that well, there was absolutely no one else around, and I don’t want to get stuck in a tree well or under an avalanche, I was a little uncomfortable. So I did a half hour of hill training in view of my car and headed back home.

But Saturday. Now Saturday was perfect. Sunshine. It was almost 40 degrees when I arrived at the ski area at 9 a.m. There were about a dozen cars, and a few people heading out for snow hikes or some late season snow boarding.

I geared up and headed into the ski area. I’m not sure of the race route, but there were several cat tracks looping around. I stuck to those and had a great time.

I had two epiphanies.

1. I was out of breath. Way faster than I should have been. And then it occurred to me. This is frickin’ mountain air! I normally go running at 68 feet above sea level in Bellingham. But Mt. Baker is more than 3500 feet above sea level. If I lose 5 percent of my oxygen for every 1000 feet in elevation, than I’m up here dealing with 15-20 percent less oxygen. No wonder. The solution: the more I head up and train, the better I’ll feel.
2. Downhill on XC skis is not like downhill with downhill skis. Turning is not the same. Stopping is not the same. The key is how I shift my weight. Something clicked in my head, and I started shifting my weight. It was almost like… I knew Kung Fu.

I think I have three more trips to the mountain. And Bart is going to lend me some XC skates, so I can check out the difference. I’m rolling with touring skis right now.

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This trip was great. Again a crisp, crystal clear day. I only fell twice, and those were really intentional (I don’t have stopping skills, yet. But really that’s rather unimportant in a race atmosphere, right?). I’ve been working on technique, and just getting comfortable managing my XC skis and boots. This trip was huge for that.

The White Salmon trail is essentially an out and back route, with a drop into a valley and a climb back out. So the first half on the way out, I was working on my downhill acceleration, tucks and turning. The second half was climbing at varying degrees. Steep upgrade to slight rises. It was pretty tough at times. And some of the toughness can be attributed to the fact that I got roped into participating in my teammates’ Cross Fit workout the day before. Not a great idea.

The trail ends on a plateau where I snapped this picture with my phone. I really have to remind myself that these trails generally actually take you somewhere to see something. They aren’t just meandering routes for the sake of meandering.

On the trip back, I got going a little too fast for my taste, with a hairpin turn quickly approaching, I bailed out and let myself fall. Sharp turns are pretty awkward still, and if I missed the turn there is nothing to stop me from tumbling down the mountain at the edge of the trail. And the fall on snow hurts way less than the fall on ice. Nice.

Here’s the tentative schedule up to race day:

• May 7: To celebrate my Sister, Beth’s birthday, White Salmon Trail after work
• May 9: White Salmon Trail
• May 14: Mt Baker Ski Area after work (maybe)
• May 17: Mt Baker Ski Area
• May 21: Mt. Baker Ski Area (maybe)
• May 24: Race Day!

So if you’re up at the mountain on any of these days and see a guy stripping down to his underwear in the parking lot, there’s a good chance it is me.

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The Ski to Sea race is going to be at the Mt. Baker ski area, but I can’t go there while they’re still operating the lifts. According to the Nooksack Nordic Ski Club (bad, bad website, btw), there is a set of XC trails just after mile marker 46 on the Mt. Baker Highway. So I headed out at 7:30 Saturday morning.

Let me preface this. I’m in good shape. I run five miles a couple of times a week, with another long run of 8 to 10 miles. I go to the gym 3-4 times a week for an hour+. So I was curious how my fitness would translate to this endeavor.

It’s questionable.

I bought a one-day Sno-Park pass at a store near Silver Lake, and found a mile marker 46 parking lot. There were no other cars, but there was a fresh pile of broken glass from an assumed recent car prowling. Sweet! But I could hear the streams flowing around me. The air was crisp. The sun was peeking out. It was a beautiful morning.

If these were the official XC trails, it looked like a one-lane road covered with snow turned ice. Lots of uneven, chunky ice. Once I got past the wobbly walking feeling, I started falling down. I tried some different strokes, but felt like I should be wearing ice skates. More falling down.

It was awkward, and unsteady, and I was glad no one was watching. I kept trudging and adjusting. My shins started burning, and I quickly realized I was wearing too many clothes. I crossed my skis a few times (whoops) and lost my balance a lot (ouch).

But through it all, there were glimmers of hope. Moments where I felt the full-stride, I was pushing off and had full pole extension; it felt like it should. So now I just need to reduce the falling and awkward slipping.

I put in about a 90-minute workout. And I must have been working hard, because when I took my boots off, they were steaming.

And no one broke into my car. So overall, it was a success!

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The legs of the event are Cross-Country Skiing, Alpine Skiing, Running, Road Cycling, Canoeing, Mountain Biking and Kayaking. Of all of those legs, I am in great shape to perform well in the Downhill skiing, Running or Road Cycling legs. My finishing times could be respectable, and fall in line with my current workout regimen.

So what leg did I volunteer for? Cross Country Skiing, the first leg, and bellwether event for the race. I will set the tone for the rest of my ridiculously fit team of Alpha Technologies personnel.

The last time I put on a pair of cross-country skis, I was about 15. I was most concerned with scoffing at how silly cross-country skis were, compared to the downhill skis I know and love. So now, 20+ years later, I’m going to be in a cross-country skiing race, where more than my ego is on the line. Seven other dudes are relying on my finishing, and though we say it’s all about the fun, I feel pressure to perform well.

I have about six weeks before the race and will be heading up to Baker just about every week to train, and try to not make a fool of myself.

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1000 miles since April 2007. A thousand miles running on trails, sidewalks and roads in Bellingham, Orlando, Las Vegas, Seattle and more, baby.

This last weekend I hit that pretty cool milestone. Using my Nike+ system with my Nano, I have kept pretty meticulous track of my mileage. I was about the 8,614th 1000-miler on nikeplus.com.

But this coming weekend, daylight savings is going into effect, and just like last year, it is about time I scale back my mileage. I need to heal a couple of muscles and get a couple of massages.

It’s good timing, because I have a pretty busy month ahead of me: Michigan and Orlando, Thanksgiving and a bunch of happenings at work.

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It was the first time I’d done a sprint triathlon and I wasn’t as prepared as I should have been. I might have been a little cocky having done Alcatraz in June, because I didn’t really go for a bike ride OR a swim until two weeks before this race. But I thought: This is a sprint. 800-meter swim, 15-mile bike ride and a 5K run. Taking such a long break from cycling and swimming would mean I was just well rested…

Not so much. I did the swim in 20 minutes. That’s pretty slow. I went without the wet suit for this event, well, because the water was so warm and my transition to the bike would be less cumbersome. I killed it cycling 15 miles in 46 minutes. I felt very strong on the bike. But then I was beat coming off the bike. The juice just wasn’t there. I ran nine-minute miles for the 5K. That’s at least a minute off my race pace. End time: 1:36:39.9

The event was a fundraiser for the Lake Samish fire department, and extremely well organized, especially since this was the first year for the event. I’m glad we have good local events in which to participate. Hopefully we’ll have two or three more next year!

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It’s a seven-mile run on Bellingham’s Interurban trail from Fairhaven to Larrabee State Park. Usually, I procrastinate long enough that I miss the registration deadline or they’ve reached capacity. Well, this year, I waited until four hours before the deadline and still successfully registered. I had no excuses and had to do the run.

It was a beautiful morning. There was a 9 am start time, and nearly 1000 people showed up to run or walk the event. There were a bunch of guys from work (Don, John, Bil, Brandon), and I saw a few other people I know (Keefer, Maureen). I did the run in an hour. I’m still not sure why I’ve been reluctant to run this event. I need events to keep up my motivation to keep running, cycling or swimming. I get bored otherwise. This is a great race.

It was put on by Fairhaven Runners and they did a great job. And the Interurban trail is by far the most scenic run in the county. It runs up on the hill alongside Chuckanut Drive. So, if you’ve ever driven Chuckanut and couldn’t look at the incredible waterscapes and scenery for fear of driving off the cliff, the running trail is for you.

We are having a pretty nice summer shaping up, and Saturday was a perfect example. Sunny, clear and by the time I was crossing the finish line, it was getting hot. My only complaint is the clog dancer at the finish party. Clog dancing for some reason makes me angry. So I had to avoid eye contact with the stage, and then hurry to catch the bus back to Fairhaven.

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