well, the season is over, somewhat unofficially because I still have one more endurance race, the God's Country marathon at Ski Denton, up in Potter County, Pennsylvania. I got into the endurance stuff late in the game so I am not really taking it that seriously. I have not been training to ride 50 miles at race pace, so I just keep the pace steady and enjoy the beauty of my surroundings, something you never get to do when you are hammering along in a cross-country race. At Michaux the other week, I got lucky because one of the 3 pros that showed up DNFed so I ended up with a podium spot. Harlan wrote an article about the race in which he succinctly pointed out that although I was third I was "not a threat" to Michelle and Cheryl Sornson. (Because I came in 1 hour 39 minutes behind them, yes I had two flats but still . . . remember I said I was enjoying the scenery?) Anyway, Sunday was the XC finale at Bear Creek, a very rocky technical course that I really like. This was the first time I raced it. I nailed all of the technical stuff for the most part, but my legs felt really crappy the whole race. Burning the whole time, I mean I just had nothing in me. There was one steep hill at the end of the lap and I did not even try to ride it--not even on the first lap. That is so not like me. But I knew my legs were so close to blowing up and I just needed to finish this race. I felt completely broken at the end, like I never wanted to do another race again. I came in 6th, and it was a bitter pill to swallow to have my season crash and burn like it did after July. There were probably many reasons for that, and I am still in the analysis stage, but for now I am just kinda sad about the whole thing. And glad it's over.
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