Rochester Invitational Oct.18-19, 2008

Day one, marked by frustration, wobbly knees, slow times and my usual place in the back of the pack....arrgh.  More in the nature of a Hail Mary pass than anything else, I decided to move my blades back a little on the boots.  Day two.  Two skaters on the line:  my good friend (and better, faster skater) Don Ducharme and I.  The gun sounds.  A much better than usual start and I have the lead!

Passing the apex on turn one, the announcer, Tom Connelly, with some incredulity in his voice, calls my name as the leader!  I've never been in the lead...what to do now!!!  I try to focus on form, getting as low as I get, milking glides for as much as possible......bell lap....still in the lead!  People who have cheered me on for a year are yelling!  Tom's voice on the PA.....Ducharme gaining...who wants it more....last turn.....I can see Don in my peripheral vision....running out of gas....never mind form....break into a run down the last straight.....focus...push....and across the line with six-hundredths of a second to spare!!!!!    What a rush!!!!  Don leaves me in the dust a little later at 1000 meters, but for the first time, in the first meet of my second season, I've won one heat....feeling really good....this sport frustrates, but it also rewards.....