Canadian Birkebeiner XC Skiing Race 2015 @ Blackfoot (Alberta Premier Loppet)

Saturday February 14th, I finished overall 244th place out of 537 Results and in my (30-39) men's age group 40th place out of 70 Results, It took me 3hrs 47mins. It was classic style and it was a total of 31 Kms long. Average heart rate =166bpm Max =186bpm, Elevation gain 2,959 feet. Check out my Garmin Data. We started @ the Unkranian Culture Heritage Village and the finish was at Blackfoot. The night before the race it had snowed over 20cm in parts of Edmonton and ranging towards the race course. This made it really difficult for the groomers to track set the entire course. It was slower conditions because of all the new snow. For most of the course as there was a lot of fresh snow it was like a skier set track feeling out there. Going up the hills was like going up quick sand because of the thickness of the fresh snow so the trails were not packed down and believe it or not this is were I accelerated past lots of racers. I had a really good consistent pace from the start to the 26km mark, it was this point were my legs started to get sore and feel heavy. I still had a small loop to go around the lake and my pace had slowed down at this point and it was a full on mental game for me and I knew I had enough in the tank to finish, I just had to go slower. The start was delayed by one hour. I was a couple minutes slower this year than last years race. I was happy with my race especially considering in mid January I had the flu and it turned into a bad sinus infection that saw me not able to exercise for over two weeks and then being on call the week before the race were some challenges that I had to over come. The temperature was -14 deg c. Thanks to Canadian Birkie and all the volunteers for putting on the race and the smokies were great at the the end of the race. Thank you Fast Trax Ski Shop for waxing my glide and kick zone along with the entire staff for their support.