And the Winner is....ME!

Last Sunday I had my final snowshoe race of the series (3 total). I had gotten third in my first two races and thought I was set for #3 overall (which is fine...but I wanted 2nd!). Saturday night before the race, Justin noticed that the paper said the series winners were based on total time (which I did not know), thus meaning I still had a chance to get 2nd!!!

I was nervous all night and the whole next morning during church. I got to the race read to roll. Since I was busy with Mack and getting ready for church, I never had a chance to see how far behind I was in the overall time, but I thought it was like a minute or so. I just knew that I for sure had to get 2nd and I had to beat the girl by a lot in order to get 2nd in the series. I just went out there and gave it my best!

Going into the first powederfield (single track snowshoeing where you blaze your own tracks) at about a mile into the 5k, I noticed that she was falling off a bit. As soon as we got back on a trail, I made the pass and she never caught back up! It was a combo of me being on and her having an off day. So, when I crossed the finish line I was pumped to not see her yet. She ended up 33 seconds behind. I was proud of myself but was convinced that it wasn't enough to get the win.

I anxiously awaited the awards ceremony (2.5 hours later) for the announcement. The other girl was convinced that she was 2nd. So, you can imagine her surprise when they said, "3rd place...Vickie (insert last name here)." She told them they were wrong and they said they would talk later. She protested and had them recount. But when I got home, I realized that they were right. I had lost by 13 seconds in the first race and 14 seconds in the second race...27 total second. My win on Sunday by 33 seconds put me over the top! I got second by 6 seconds over three races! It was pretty awesome! The major part, in case you didn't know, is that I won $1000 (instead of the 3rd place of $500)!!!!!! I am still excited.

What will I do with that money you may ask? Buy a new battery and power cord for my MacBook and a new pair of mittens! We are also going to get tickets to come to STL for John's wedding in May. Then....hopefuly save the rest (even though Justin said I already spent it on Mack's upcoming party :)

With my friend Rachel that wins the 10ks.

With my runner girls on the way down the lift.

Woohoo!