Endurance Coach

Endurance Coach

Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Mother Race; Spirit People


Some of my favorite people on earth
 

Mother Race; Spirit People

Think about the few people in your life that guide you to be a better person with every encounter and each conversation.  I crave time with these role models for life.  They share their rare, beautiful personality with the world, leaving inspired people in their wakes.  I once heard the term “Spirit People,” and I think it applies here.

 

During my life, I’ve belonged to many teams, occupations and organizations.  “Spirit People” can be found within any group.  But rare is the group that is predominantly composed of these wonderful people.  The Birchleggings Club seems all Spirit to me.  Birchleggers are Birkie skiers who have skied 20 or more American Birkebeiners. 

 

The Birkie is hard.  The hills are monsters.  The weather can border on dangerous.  The outfits are not glamorous.  Just getting to the starting line is an immense, uncomfortable challenge.  Getting to the finish line twenty or more times during peak flu season is improbable.  This “Mother Race” filters out the usual fair-weather, show-off-your-muscles-in-a-cute outfit, pace-obsessed endurance-tattooed crowd. 

 

The result is a concentration of all that is good in the sport of cross country skiing, maybe in America – a crowd strong on flavor and spiced with the knowledge that one day we will no longer be able to cross that finish line.  The entire club of Birchleggers is composed of my “Spirit People.” 

 

I’ve attended the annual Birchleggings breakfast eight times now, the first seven as the skiing wife of an official Birchlegger.  This year, I earned my twenty year award and the honor of belonging to this astounding group of people.  I’ve shed tears of joy and appreciation at all of these breakfasts.  The stories of the founders, the trials of the aging skiers, the sadness of the death or decline of many a skiing friend – all are both harsh reminders of our mortality along with joyful inspiration for what remains possible.

 

This year, I experienced the magic of the 20th Birkie.  My knee was painful and swollen-straight for the week of the race.  It made no sense to start the race last Saturday, but the tenacity of the Spirit People and the Mother Race took me all the way to the finish line.  I skied down Main Street with tears of joy and pride.  It was a goal that I had been working toward since one gray, snowy February Saturday in 1989.  I feel filled up with spirit.

 

Saturday, January 5, 2013

Group Ski at the top of the famous VO2Max trail at Minocqua Winter Park


We are back in town. Up north, we had just a few moments for internet, almost no phone, no TV and no structure. Instead, I xc skied with my kids for 2-3 hours every day, then we played board games and gathered with our skier friends - a wonderful crowd of funny, musical, intelligent and like-minded people that we see just once a year up north. It was snowy, cold and beautiful. We saw bald eagles, otter slides and the tracks of a big pack of wolves that inhabit the area. I've attached a picture of a group of us on top of "Squirrel Hill" - a rewarding vista after 2km of climbing and before 3km of crazy descending. The skier with his poles in the air was diagnosed with stage 3/4 lung cancer (a non-smoker) a year ago.  Here, we are all celebrating life and the beauty of the winter woods.
The images of the winter woods and the cherished times with my family have now "filled me up." I am ready to go again - ready to coach, teach, write, train and parent.
Think about what "fills you up." When you are "full" of good things, the craziness of life just bounces right off of you. As we start this new year, make sure that you do what fills you up - family, friends, work, nature, books, music, etc. Don't skip those things for your training - it all must be in balance or your training won't be successful either.
But, at the same time, it is time to think again about your goals for 2013 and begin to pursue them in earnest. Without goals and the feeling of progress, I don't think any of us are happy. The holidays are over. The new year is wide open before us. What can we accomplish this month or this winter? How strong do you want to be when spring arrives? Visualize yourself at your "A" race this year. How do you want to feel on that day? Let this picture "fill you up" with purpose.
Remember that what we do as athletes is a privilege. Getting up in the dark to swim, bike, run or get strong is a privilege not an obligation. We have a choice with every workout: whether we feel lucky to be training for a goal or whether we feel the dread of the workout and the race. It is a choice. No matter what shape you are in (or in my case - how your knees feel), you can make the choice to feel lucky and get out there and train wisely.
Remember, we are the lucky ones.
I am lucky to be a part of your 2013 goals. Let's go grab those goals this year and have no regrets when it is all done!
Chris (who will be privileged to go swim after dinner tonight!)