This past weekend, I attempted to participate in the 25^th annual Keskinada Loppet by registering for both 29km races. The craziness began on Friday evening when the scheduled sprint races were postponed due to cold temperatures and high winds (not to mention icy conditions from a beautiful ice storm the Ottawa area experienced Thursday night) and the Saturday races were shortened and delayed by an hour. Read On...

The next morning’s condition, however, did not look much better with a start time temperature of –21^oC and wind chills of –35^oC. Despite being very bundled up, I found conditions to be quite unappealing. However, I did end starting and finishing the race. I can’t say that enjoyed it very much, what with the weather, icy conditions, and massive amount of double-poling. I had trouble breathing due to the cold and am not the best double-poler at the best of times, so I did not feel like I had a good race. The silver lining of the whole race was that my placing was pretty much the same as last year meaning that at least I’m not regressing (despite feeling that way)!!! The black lining, however, was that due to the cold, my lungs didn’t quite feel up to a second race and I ended up skipping the Sunday skating race. The lesson learned from this weekend was that racing in supremely cold weather (despite the go-ahead of organizers) may not be the best idea. I think next year, I’ll wait until I find out what the weather forecast is before I sign up!