Apostle Islands Inline Marathon - recap!

Lining up at Apostle

Wow, what a great weekend!!! I flew into Minneapolis on Thursday night; spent the night with my friend Susan, and started the journey to Bayfield, WI on Friday morning. We drove up through WI and it was a very enjoyable drive! We stopped in Ashland to pick up my packet and arrived in Bayfield around 4:30. We met up with some of my skater friends for dinner then headed down to the dock for some sunset photos. Got to bed around 10:30.

I didn't sleep very well but when the alarm went off I was up and at it! Got to the ferry dock by 6:30 and headed over to Madeline Island. The day could not have dawned any better - it was clear, and comfortable and sunny! I would get to skate the course on the Mayhems!

I didn't do anything I told myself I would do when I got there... I didn't put my headphones on. I didn't focus. I didn't take a jog - I dinked around and chatted with other skaters, stretched a little, put on my skates and got a quick little warm up. But since I had absolutely NO goals for this race, I felt completely relaxed. I had the pre-race butterflies but none of the anxiety I had in Texas. My plan was to take it easy, especially on the first lap around the course. Get warmed up, get a feel for it, and see how my feet/legs were going to hold out.

They lined the open fitness/rec women up separate from the men; I ended up next to a gal named Connie (she's on the left in the photo at the very top.) She was super friendly. She asked me what my average is, I told her around 16 so she said to try to stick with her. When we started off, I quickly fell in behind her and eventually a pace line formed. I think my first mistake was letting people in front of me so suddenly I was at the back of the pack. The guy in front of me had his feet all over the place so I gave him some extra space.

We were cruising along at a comfortable pace, I felt good and was enjoying myself. This course has a few hard right hand turns; two particularly nasty ones. When we came up on the first one, the entire line fell apart. It was like every man/woman for themselves ALL OVER THE PLACE and they all started braking! I PANICKED. I thought the line was supposed to go through the turn as a LINE - get low and ride it through. I somehow managed to round the corner without taking anyone out, and the line re-formed. I was pretty shaken up! Then we came up to the SECOND hard right - SAME DAMN THING, only this time I almost crashed into the guy in front of me. I was thinking WTF are you people doing??? I was really shaken up after that, had an adrenaline rush so strong my legs were trembling!! I dropped back and out of that line and pretty soon another one came along so I tagged up with them.

I rounded the first lap and glanced at the time: 35 minutes. Continued w/ the paceline I was in. They were chatty and casual, and I just hung in the back (I need to stop doing that...) Anyway, we started coming up to that first turn again and I felt myself clench up and drop back. They went through it more uniformly and I relaxed. Same with the second turn. I finished out the second lap still tagging at the back of the line. Clock read an hour and nine minutes. Hmmm.

About halfway around the third and final lap, I decided the pack was too slow. I had plenty of juice and wanted to finish strong. So I kicked out and took off on my own. I was having NO foot pain, or joint/ligament/tendon pain; my muscles felt good so I figured I could at least finish strong. I rounded the corner and crossed the finish line. I have a couple of blurry photos of myself but I'm very happy to see that I'm down pretty low - so I'm finally starting to get that down at least!

Coming around on my first lap.



 Sprinting towards the finish line.

My official time was 1:37:25.0, I placed 2/8 in my age division, 5/59 overall women and 153/317 overall skaters. I was actually very surprised and very pleased with my placement; especially considering that I didn't feel as if I pushed myself as hard as I could have! I had a wonderful time meeting new skaters and spending time w/ my friends.

I made a lot of mistakes in Texas, and that race actually made me re-evaluate a lot of things in the weeks that followed. I know that skating Texas at the pro master's level made me put a lot of pressure and expectation upon myself. I did not like how I felt prior to that race, nor how I felt when it was over. I started too hard too fast and ended up straining my MCL, which in turn made my form go to crap - which caused me to tear up my ankles and feel frustration. I don't care about how I placed at that race, I didn't FEEL like I skated a good race. I didn't have as much fun as I usually do. I forgot that skating is supposed to be fun. I had fun at Apostle. I had no pressure, no expectations and no disappointment. The main mistake I made at Apostle was how I skated in the pace lines. Of course, I wasn't the only one making mistakes there otherwise our line would've taken those right hand turns as a fluid line instead of a free for all of flailing arms and legs and brakes!! I do need to work on being comfortable skating with other skaters, it's just so hard to do as skater who trains solo....

I did get a chance to meet a few of the skaters from the Speed Weasles in Ft. Collins - what a friendly bunch of skaters. Maybe I'll make the trek up north so I can skate with them!!!

All and all, Apostle was a fantastic experience. I had a blast! Next up - Napa Valley on July 8th!!!

The dock in Bayfield 6/14/12. Stunning.