Snow and Adventure

As the Winter Olympics get off to a start, I was thinking how I wish I was skiing right now (did I mention I should be doing homework instead of daydreaming?) then I got to reminiscing about my own semi- almost-like-the-olympics adventure. [tic] I was on ski holiday with my church group at Angel Fire New Mexico the first weekend of February 1999. (You can see moose on some of the slopes there!!) During a brief rest at the lodge, I saw these videos of people racing down the mountainside on shovels! It looked wild! It looked adventurous! And they would let just about any fool partake of the adventure if the "I promise not to sue if I get killed or injured and will wear a helmet in this dangerous sport" papers were signed. So I signed!

I discovered that I was competing in the 26th Annual World Championship Shovel Races. CNN, ESPN, FOX, Sports Illustrated, and others would be covering the event. Crazy! I also found out that shovel racing began back in 1973 after lift operators, who were looking for a quick way down the mountain at the end of the day, tried going down on their shovels. To their delight, it held elements of adventure, just enough danger, and competition. Thus the sport was born!

Some people had been doing this sport for years. Some men had reached speeds of 65 mph. Need I remind you, this is setting on the scoop of an aluminum shovel with the handle between your legs. Talk about reckless abandon! Women tend to be a tad more conservative and weigh less, so their speeds are a little slower, but some have gone over 50 mph!

As I took my one and only practice run, I reminded myself that I am a mom, so reckless abandon had its limits. Balancing was tricky, but I figured if I could get off the lift running (without skis) and not do a face-plant, I could pilot a shovel down the mountain. Maybe...I had seen plenty of people wipe out. I took it nice and easy, but it was still a rush!

My second and third runs were actual competition. Some of these women were serious competitors with many runs under their belts. I was on a lark for the adventure of it all. Still, a hint of competition ran through my veins and I decided with each run I would go a little faster. Maybe I wouldn't end up in last place if I could even qualify. I just didn't want anything torn or broken. I had dislocated a knee and hip in a ski mishap several years before trying to impress some boy. (Stupid Girl!) So no throwing caution to the wind this time. Still - I was going to be sitting on a grain shovel flying down a mountain! Was I crazy?!

When all was said and done, I placed 6th out of the 15 women to qualify. No medal. Those went to the awesome competitors. But not bad either. It was certainly a fun adventure!