Tour of Anchorage 2019

Brian, Ray and I just before the start of the race

This past weekend I visited with my friends Ray and Julie and their family and raced in the Tour of Anchorage ski race.  The race was on Sunday and I spent the first part of the weekend in a heightened sense of nervousness about the race.  Then the last few hours after the race it was all euphoria that it was done and I survived.  But for a couple hours there - 2:43:07 to be exact - it was pretty painful.

It was a painful race because while I was in great shape, I did not have a lot of time on snow.  Basically I skied about as fast of a race as I usually do but my muscles were not ready for it!  I also did not get to draft behind anyone at all until just before Westchester Lagoon when I hooked up with the guy in yellow seen in the photo below.  We skied the rest of the race together alternating who lead.  Unfortunately he beat me at the end - he is also 34.

 I checked my old times and I was only 11 minutes slower than my first race in 1998 - and I was 6 minutes FASTER than my 1999 race.  But 1999 is the race where I bonked and almost did not finish.  It remains my slowest time.  So time wise, I had a good race.  And I even got third in my age category.

But my favorite parts of the trip were the beers immediately after the race in the beer garden and hanging out with Ray and Julie.  The first night, when it was just Ray and I, he cooked a gourmet meal with lots of kale in it for just the 2 of us!  Patrick

20K to go and it looks like I am HURTING

In the beer garden shortly after the finish

Smiling through the pain

Brian and I in the beer garden