twenty-three

Well folks, tomorrow's the big Ski to Sea race here in Whatcom County. The buzz is building around town. Today, I'm sure we'll see cars all over the place with kayaks and canoes on roof-racks. This is a big weekend for Bellingham.

The Ski to Sea race takes competitors through 7 event legs, starting with cross-country skiing up at Mt. Baker, followed by downhill skiing, road running, road biking, canoing, mountain biking, and ended with sea kayaking on the Bellingham bay. It covers quite a broad scope of outdoor activities, as well as a substantial chunk of county land.

I will be participating this year for the 3rd time since I came up to Bellingham in 2001. In May 2002, my freshman year of school, I did the downhill skiing leg. Junior year of college I did the sea kayaking leg (after only barely learning how to kayak). This year, I'm back to the downhill skiing. It's kind of fun to be "repeating" a leg, because I've done it, know the terrain a bit more, and have a time to shoot for (and hopefully beat). My first time (in '02) was 0:32:02. It's not a long leg, but it's plenty difficult, as it includes a rough climb up to the top of one of Mt. Baker's ridges and then a leisurely ski down a cat track to the base area. The toughest part is the climb. I feel like I'm in about the same (or hopefully better) shape, so I'm really hoping to match or beat that time.

I'll be up at the crack of dawn tomorrow, shuttling up to the mountain. I will hopefully have a wonderful update for everyone, explaining how my team, "LightINNing" (made up of INN staff and students) miraculously won the race. Wish us luck!

***UPDATE***
The skis are waxed. They haven't been treated that nicely in a long time. I think they can tell tomorrow's a big day.

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