The Energy is BUILDING

I am starting to get all hyper (more so than ususal) and antsy. I'm not nervous. It's more like the feeling you get the night before Christmas. I'm sure some of it has to do with all the extra energy I actually have, now that I am smack-dab in my pre-race taper. No more 3 hour runs with a loaded pack to wear me out. No more mindless laps paddling around and around and around the Boulder Reservoir, followed by a LONG run with the pack. Just a little 40 minute jog with the dogs. And then the run is over before I hardly feel that it has started.

I have warned Jesper about my builiding state of spaztic-ness. He didn't need any warning; he already saw it coming. Methinks this man might know me pretty well.

I feel pretty orgainized for the race. There are only a handful of things I still need to get or do; more sunscreen, body lube, munchies for on the course, couple more carabiners, ... and I need Jesper to help me configure an attachment for the towing system on my bike. I'm sewing a system on my pfd so I can attach a hydration bladder to the back and a food pouch to the front. I'm pretty pleased with my little project so far. For the most part, everything is beggining to accummulate in little piles in our guest bedroom.


The weather report for Prince Ruprt, BC is not quite what I have been hoping for. I'm not sure what I was expecting; the area is a rain forest afterall. Its going to rain from now until the race starts and then, thankfully, it looks like a clearing period will come on. After almost 2 weeks of solid rain (plus what's already been coming down), I think it'll be a wet and muddy course. Mostly, I'm bummed that the temps are lower than the average for this time of the year. I'm not worried at all about my fitness for this race; just about being frickin' cold.

At least I won't be freezing my arse off up in the cold snowy mountains. Loads of new snow in May and June, plus some warm days to melt it, have created a snowpack that is not so stable. The race orgainizers have (wisely) rerouted the course to keep racers off the snowpack. Since my team mates (and probably 90% of the racers) probably don't know jack about how to use an avalanche beacon, walk in coils with crampons, etc., I'm OK with reroute. Heck, I don't even know how to self arrest a fall with an ice axe (watching Touching the Void does not count as knowing a skill). We'll probably miss some awesome views, but it'll be a safer race and I think one that is to our advantage, the non-mountaineers that Team
SMAC/HART/Alpine Aire-Inferno are.