Canadian Ski Marathon 2007

I've finally recovered enough to write a quick post about my experience doing the CSM (Canadian Ski Marathon) a couple of weeks ago. PWN beat me to the punch, since he has already posted his adventures here. I've posted some pictures from the event here.

I have a rather complicated relationship with the CSM. Since my first ski marathon in 2001 I've had a mixed bag of success and failure. The two day 160 km tour has provided plenty of challenges but it has also served up an equal share of inspirational spectacle.

Back in the fall of 2000 C convinced me that the CSM would be a good fitness incentive. I had been spending a great deal of time sitting in front of a computer and very little time doing any exercise. What better way to shake off that couch potato lifestyle? May as well jump in with both feet! I signed up and immediately started to panic. What had I gotten myself into? Luckily for me, I was able to convince P to join me in the quest to complete the ski marathon.

P and I each had our own personal challenges to overcome before tackling the ski marathon. In my case it was too much ice-cream and not enough endurance training. I probably should have thought of starting a training program more than 8 weeks in advance of the marathon, but why would I change my natural tendency to procrastinate just for the CSM? For P the challenge was entirely different. Where I had spent many years in my teens X-Country ski racing, P was a relative newcomer to skinny skis. Truth be told, during our joint training sessions, I was enjoying every moment of P's misjudged downhill corners. I still have a crisp mental image of two neat parallel ski tracks cutting a perfectly straight line, past the 90 degree turn in the trail, through deep fresh snow and ending with a confused jumble in a leaf barren shrub.

P and I had signed up for the Coureur des Bois Bronze in 2001. That meant we were aiming to complete all 10 sections (5 per day). That year the first day of the marathon was cancelled because of some incredible freezing rain and plummeting temperatures. It was probably a blessing in an icy and windy disguise since it meant P and I both managed to finish day two and earn our Bronze award.

That (almost) brings us up to the the recently completed 2007 version of the CSM. You may be asking. "Where did all those years in the middle go?" Well lets just say that I had a few misadventures with a painful back, slow skis and poor judgement that conspired to keep me from earning my Coureur des Bois Silver award in either of my attempts in 2002 or 2003. After that I took a few years off to allow my ego to recover, and do a few other things like get married.

This year I decided to do things right. I made up my mind to enter the CSM early. Started dry-land training (OK so maybe jogging once a week doesn't really constitute "training" but it was a start) and I figured I'd have this Silver award conquered. I even convinced my wife, PWN and L to join the fun. Then a funny thing happened: Winter forgot to come. January arrived in Southern Ontario and still none of the ski resorts were open. That panic started to set in again. What had I gotten into? How was I supposed to complete a 160 Km ski tour if I wasn't able to actually ski beforehand? Luckily, the temperature dropped and we were on snow in mid January. Not a heck of a lot of time to get many miles completed before Feb 10th!

It is worth noting that P was back to take a crack at the CSM with me this year and the intervening years since our first event have wiped out any technique advantage I used to enjoy. P now glides along with the fluid ease of a veteran so I was half expecting to get left behind.

Once again fate seemed to intervene, the unusual lack of snow prompted the CSM organizers to rearrange this years route, shortening the course by a few precious kilometers. Perhaps more importantly some significant hills were removed from the course. On the actual event weekend we were greeted with something I had never experienced at any of my previous trips to the CSM: Moderate temperatures and sunshine! I had become convinced that the CSM was always blessed with -20 degree celsius weather and a wind chill much colder than that.

I have to say that this year was the most enjoyable CSM I've ever participated in. The weather played a large role, but I think some of that past experience helped for pace setting and strategy at the rest stops etc. I'm also happy to report that P and I both managed to finish our Silver awards. CH racked up another gold bar, CC collected a bronze award and CM, LP and PWN managed to meet their goals and set personal bests for distances covered in a single day.

With this years fantastic weather, friendly participants and all-around success I may even be back next year to try for my Gold award. Now I just have to figure out how to prevent freezing overnight!