Birkie Trail Run
The Birkie trail run weekend is one of our favorite events as Team Birkie. One, it is a Birkie event and we are named “Team Birkie” after all, but secondly, it is a chance for us to have a mini weekend training camp up in the Hayward/Cable area. Who wouldn’t want a short get away into the woods with cool mornings, new training routes, and running on the trails around the Birkie start stadium?
Friday: Pre-meet
The long weekend started Friday morning with a nice skate roll starting from our host cabin. X and I as the computer ski workers of the team, stuck to our normal weekday schedule and hit the roads in time for a very pretty sunrise. We skied up through the OO trail head and kept going for bit longer until we turned back for morning meetings. On our way back we saw the rest of the team driving up to OO to start a skate roll of their own. Not sure how it went, but probably not as nice as ours…
Low quality image. High quality training partner.
Post morning meetings and clocking in hours on the computer, we had saved the world enough that we could get out for a pre-meet run on a section of the course. We wanted to get out for half hour, but one thing led to the next, and the loop was a half hour longer than anticipated. All good though, we still had a great group photo at the start line. The fun part of the run, we got to continue a very productive conversation from the house on potentially new Team Birkie gear!? It will make you want to wash it and wear it everyday!
Saturday: Race Day
We woke up in the morning feeling like P Diddy. Ready to take on the day. Tik Tok. Looking outside, we knew it was going to be a wet one. Like going to the Edina Pool as a youngling. A slippery slope. I can’t speak for the folks that did the half marathon (I assume they had a good time, but there is a saying about assuming), but the marathon relay group had a fun time! We split the marathon up into three legs and handed off every other aid station. Two Hands Tone led us off, Power Lines into a long single track section. He then handed off to me back by the start line for the next two legs. After Mt. Telemark and into the Power Lines section again, Gus bus brought us in doing the long single track again into the final Mt. Telemark climb.
Post race we hung out for a bit and had a brat, potato salad, and a cookie. That prepped us well for when a few of us helped with the kids race which was a whole other workout. Kids are fast these days. Probably all the super shoes. It was all good though, after the kids race the marathon relay teams hung around to collect their awards. Both the men’s and women’s team won the relay and got to cash in at the awards. Not a large crowd by this time, but we build each other up. Definitely worth hanging around with the team!
A couple of hours later, Jonathan, X, and I went and got in a little ski. It was a grind to get out there. We chatted secret training and fever dreams. We saw the Coaches doing one of the many CXC clinics that weekend. Here is a picture from that. I’m sure they were getting great instruction, it was similar to any other practice you’d see in Minneapolis.
Post hour skate session with JPWill and X, we had a dinner with the CXC group and were formally introduced. We chatted with them the entire evening. Good group.
Sunday: OD
8am start time. Classic Roll. Raining! We had a four hour OD on the docket and the CXC group and a couple other locals joined us for the early parts of the roll. Big group starting us off in the rain. Boy we were excited to get going! Rebounded well from the day before and everybody’s spirits were up! Probably from all the podiums we had the day before.
The weather did eventually break and we had a beautiful rest of the ski.
Gus munching on an incredible Untapped Lemon Waffle he grabbed out of his Toko drink belt!
Nice temps, good group, good banter. A fine way to cap off a pretty decent weekend. All in all, another great time up in the Wisconsin North woods. One week at home now, until we are off to the mountains to check those out. From out in the secluded woods, to running off to the mountains, we are seeing it all.
