Birkie Weekend!

During the weekend of Feb. 23rd J-man and I went up north to Hayward, WI to spend the weekend at the Porath's cabin and have a weekend of cross country ski watching, running and relaxing.  It was a full house at their place, which made it fun.  Nichole and Nathan had some other friends who were also skiing that weekend stay at the cabin as well.

Saturday was the Birkie.  The skiing folks all got up super early to get to the start, and the rest of us took our time getting up and found a spot along the ski route to watch (it was about half way through the race).  We saw Nathan come by, Nichole handed off a gel to him and we made our way into to town to watch the finish.

A terribly far away picture I know....but you get the idea - this was at the half way point



this was at the finish - Nathan is in that pack of blue :)

 Here's the thing, Nathan is a super talented skier.  This year he placed 40th! (out of 3955 total for skate ski), and 6th out of 333 in his age group.  So it was really awesome to watch him and all the other elite/pros ski.  They just make it look so easy, and glide along.  I had never seen a race like it.  Jake is totally hooked now, when it comes to outdoor events he's not a very good spectator, he would rather be out doing it.  So don't be surprised if he's racing next year!

After we saw Nathan finish, myself, Nichole and Jake headed out for our run.  I had 12 miles on the schedule, Nichole had 20 and Jake was just going to do whatever he wanted :)



the scenery for our run - SO pretty!

 This was mile 12 when I was left like roadkill on the side of the road ended my run.  Jake and Nichole continued on.  No I didn't have to hitch hike back to the cabin, Nathan and his sister picked me up, but I still stuck my thumb out :)

Once everyone got back to the cabin we warmed up with tasty lasagna and all took naps :)  That night we were invited to go to a friend of Jakes cabin.  It was only like 10 min. away from where we were staying so it worked out nice.  We hung out there for a bit and headed back.

The next day I had an easy 6 miler planned so Jake and I took off for our last run up north.  Again, the scenery was great, but my trashed legs made for a tough run. Woof.


nerd alert, just ignore me and look at the pretty trees

  On our way back we met Nichole who was heading out for her respective run.  Once we all got back we had a quick lunch and packed up.  This was my kind of weekend.  Good food, good friends, good running/skiing.  Can I do this every weekend please?!

Thanks Nichole and Nathan for the invite up, it was a blast!