Wholistic Fitness

 

 

This past Saturday,  feeble ilg raced what i felt was my strongest 10 kilometer nordic skate race since i was in my thirties,   i mean,  i friggin’ threw DOWN… yet,  i finished a few seconds off the podium and i know why;  here is why….

 

***

Dear Journal,

 

re: race #2 of my winter season…a 10k skate race at Durango Nordic Center.

 

felt sooooo wholistically strong goin’ into this race one week before my Tier A race weekend at Chama…

 

gotta say i got my hiney politely handed to me this morning.

 

which is a darn sight better than it usually being kicked, obliterated, and otherwise delivered to me at these ‘local training races’ here in Durango…just like bicycle training rides,  ilg knows that if i can finish within a few MINUTES of the winners here?   i could podium anywhere else in the nation, that is how high the Standard is, has been, and hopefully shall ever remain in my h(om)town of Durango, Colorado.

 

Although Official Results are not yet in  (hey,  it’s Durango, not  Boulder),

i finished 4th by a few seconds from 3rd,

and’

1 second slower than my goal of slipping under 30 minutes…

 

i know where i lost the podium and it’s ironic in its’ Teaching…

like,

what else is new, right?

whoever wrote our Divine Script?

certainly had a quaint sense of humor…

 

***

So,  here is where ilg lost the podium……

it came in passing another racer.

how funny, how Divinely ironic is THAT?!?!

i lost the podium by passing another racer!!!

 

Fruit Loop: 

a series of four hills:  the first three super steep,

super technical

which last only a few seconds

yet sends your heart rate onto a few planets Higher…

trust me…

 

ilg has raced upon my local ski hills since i was 9

yeah, 9…..

and i have raced at many of Turtle Islands’ most prestigious nordic venues….

NONE OF THEM

 

harder,

few Higher,

then at

yeah,

my little local place….my heaven-sent hamlet beneath DibéNitsaa…

feeble ilg wants to travel never any further than the Four Sacred Posts of the Dineh Bizaad..

Paris?  take it…please!!!

Cyprus?   uh,  no thanks…

Vegas, NYC, LA?

Been there, done dat…

for ilg?
and for the Daughter that sOMehow chose to cOMe through Joy and i!?!??!

right HERE…

right NOW…

diving ever DEEPER,

not wider….

 

***

i knew i had to make the pass on the slower racer in front of me (interval start)  but where?

i had a much more accomplished racer behind me … i could hear the skillful placement of his skis right behind me as well as his

shadow upon certain places….he tracked, he shadowed me like a wolf for a very hard 2k…

 

then, i had to pass a slower racer,

i mis-timed the pass

 

totally…

 

a short, 24% knee-cracking uphill of only a few seconds….as i approached the slower racer, i shouted out:

“TRACK LEFT!!!”

he moved left.

i passed right

had to.

sadly,   and i knew it like Coyote knows a full moon,

i was forced into ankle deep, sugary snow…i slowed to a near stop for several seconds as i clambered up the steep step like some sort of an intoxicated Bighorn..

 

then,  at that m(om)ent?

 

ilg learned something

 

passing tactics

 

i came into this race feeling and knowing i was more fit than 99% of most Americans’ aged 50+

yet?

i messed up…

i shoulda passed my pass at a more timely place and i lost the podium…

 

so, let this Teaching be what it is….

 

sometimes?

 

no matter how fit we are?

 

when we enter the Bardo?

 

if we do NOT REMAIN FULLY CONSCIOUS?

 

we’re gonna repeat the same habitual patterns that restrict us from Enlightenment next time around.

 

for feeble ilg?

 

this means:  Timing is Everything!!!

 

feeling chi coming on in time;  i soooooo want to regain ny King of the Mountain title at Chama Ski Classic this weekend!

 

NEED YOUR HELP!!

 

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