Monday, March 22, 2010

White Mountains 100


We have neighbors who are pretty insane about exercise. They ride their bicycles up to Estes Park, CO from our neighborhood N. of Ft. Collins just to have lunch, roughly 50 miles one way.

If I were you, I wouldn't get between me and a Ritz cracker... but I'd never work THAT hard to find me a Ritz cracker. Bicycling to Estes - snort. Furry Husband and I call them "squirrels on meth". We watch them pedal past our house and we lift our beers up to cheer them on.
Exercise is one thing, staying active... everything in moderation and all that. But *ahem*... those sort of distance/extreme anything? Makes me curl right up into the fetal position sucking my thumb.


I have this crazy ass friend who lives in Fairbanks, AK. She's doing this race in Fairbanks... Alaska... think cold and snow and ice and overflow and ... uck. 100 miles via bicycle. They started 8am Sunday morning, slept outside in below 0 weather in some sort of sleeping bag space sack contraption, got up and kept pedaling. She and her husband are doing the race together.


I have absolutely NO desire to ever accomplish anything like this. I would rather sit in a dentist chair for the afternoon, spend a couple days in a mammogram machine... heck, I'd even let someone have at it with a colonoscopy scope and rubber glove for two days before I'd compete in something like the White Mountains 100.


A co-worker asked me to run a 5K with her once ... my boss at the time almost dialed 911 because I was laughing so hard I passed out.


So whatever you may be doing today, give pause, lift a glass of whatever you are drinking to my buddy, S. Oderkirk in Alaska pedaling her little tush right off ( cuz I think when you sit on a bike seat for that long in those conditions it wears down exactly like a pencil eraser... rubs right off ).


The site for the White Mountains 100 is here. You can see the racers being posted to the site as they cross the finish line. She hasn't finished the race yet but I'm sure she'll be comin' across any time now...


Heck, I'm gonna have me a COUPLE o' beers tonight to cheer her accomplishment....


WAY TO GO S. ODERKIRK!!!

7 comments:

Heather said...

You should rent Running In the Sun, it is a documentary about an ultra marathon run in the desert in the summer. The people who do that are crazy. Fun to watch while sitting on the couch, thats for sure!

Heather said...

Though, I guess I shouldn't call them crazy since I am married to one... He really wants to do the Man Against Horse endurance ride in Prescott, AZ. It is 50 miles and there are actually a few instances where the humans beat the horses!

DebH said...

I will raise my glass at the same synchronized time!! I always get such a hoot when someone posts their excercise accomplishments of amazing feats on Facebook and I always think of them while I carry buckets of water, shoveling manure and pitching hay. Seems then a person is at least taking care of something important rather than running in circles like a hamster on a wheel. I think our animal husbandry and home life deserves an extra beer actually!! Let me know the appointed time and I am all IN!! p.s. Give er ALL Oderkirk!!

Cheryl said...

Wow, I don't mind pushing my limits here and there, but that's just crazy. Your friends must be in Olympic athlete-like shape. Am lifting my hot chocolate...gulp... to them as I write.

Yousef said...

I would get on my bike, ride to the nearest Motorcycle dealership, and then drive the rest of the way waving at all the bicyclists. :)

Kelley said...

Ha!ha!ha!ha!ha! I'm with you. I had a friend run a 100 mile race through the mountains of Utah (Wasatch 100). Took her 36 hours... straight... no sleeping.. eating on the run... peeing by the trail..... crazy!! I don't want to do ANYTHING for 36 hours straight... sleep, eat, sex.. and the big one... I don't even want to RIDE for 36 hours straight. I'll support your right to do it... I'll toast you and encourage you... but I'm with you and the furry husband, I'll send them good thoughts from the porch with a beer!

Shanster said...

Heather - I couldn't rent that movie! I know, your husband is "one of those" but he is loveable and many don't know why we do what we do with horses... so all the best to "those" extreme sports people!! I just don't wanna BE one! I'll cheer them on tho!

DebH - I think you work MUCH harder than me on my little 5 acre place with a few animals. I'm raisin' my glass to YOU!

Cheryl - yeah, I'm with you - I will push myself in some ways but never THAT hard. Yeah, she's pretty damn tough and buff. I wouldn't wanna take her on.

Yousef - HA!

Kelley - YOU said it. Exactly how I feel... moderation! Nothing for 36 hours is any fun.