Congrats Megan!

On Saturday, Megan participated in the American Berkeibeiner in Hayward, WI. I know most of you know what this is, but for those who don't, it's the biggest cross country ski race in the country (haven't fact checked that, but it has to be). Over 8,000 skiers participed. We had a good time. Unfortunately, the battery to our camera was dead, so we weren't able to take any pictures of the eventful weekend (husband should have realized that the charger was in the bag the whole time, but that's another story). Luckily, we got a new computer about a month ago, and it came with two important functions; (1) a touch screen monitor and (2) paint program. I have drawn a few pictures with my left pointer finger in order to help transport the readers into our weekend. Enjoy!

We drove up Friday night and stayed in a town just outside of Turtle Lake, WI. As I'm sure all of you know, there is a casino in Turtle Lake, and we decided that we would check it out (both of us hadn't been to one in years, and also wanted to eat there as we didn't trust our other options in the area). Megan played Blackjack for the first time at the casino and was a natural - she walked away with $1.50 more than she started with. I happened to be a little more lucky, and won enough for us to pay for our dinner. We plan on going back to a casino when we feel the urge (approximately 10 years).

We got up early on Saturday as we were an hour away from the race. It was a relaxing drive through the woods of Wisconsin, and we got to see the sun rise. Once we got close to the race, the cars really started to back up (see illustration above). Getting 8,000 racers and their supporters to one location in the middle of nowhere Wisconsin is a large undertaking. We were directed to a plowed out field approximatley 5 miles from the actual start of the race where we were bussed the remainder of the way.

It was a brisk morning - our car showed negative five degrees when we dropped it off at the lot. We waited in a warming tent for a while near the start. Megan was mostly just wearing layers, as she knew she would get too hot later if she had heavy winter clothing on. As you can see from the picture of her at the starting line, she was a little cold! There were multiple races that day, and Megan participated in the Korteloppet, which is a 25k race. She estimated 2.5 - 3 hours to complete. Since she was skiing off into the wilderness, I was banished back to the chalet to hang out and patiently await her return.

Megan's trusty husband headed down to the race finish a little over two hours later, and started scoping out the skiers coming to the finish. I nice light snow had developed since Megan had left, which made for a pretty scene. He decided to move closer to the finish to see if he could get a better view from up there, and there was Megan on the sidelines!! She had zipped through the course in two hours and eleven minutes - a disappointed but proud husband greeted his triumphant wife with congratulations.

Make sure you congratulate Megan when you see her!