There was a ski race. It was Great

Today was the annual Great Ski Race--30 km from Lake Tahoe to Truckee. 12 km of up, up, up, up; 10 km of down, down, down; 7.9 km of rolling flat; 100 m of terrifying downhill. This is always a fun ski--it's kind of a ski equivalent of Bay to Breakers. This year there was a bevy of skiing leprechauns, the skiing Playboy bunnies, the leisure-suit guy, and other colorful characters (I've met a guy who did it with a friend on tandem skis). I'm afraid I wasn't much for costume this year:

(I guess that guy behind me was dressed as the devil.)

Anyway, conditions were better than I had feared--the forecast was for rain, but fortunately all the precipitation was in the form of snow. My technique was pretty good, thanks to the trip to Canada. However, I am just not in great shape this year--the guys in the first wave (shown here at the start) finished in an hour and a half; I rolled in an hour later.
Out of about 800 skiers, I was again smack in the middle of the pack. My time was ten minutes slower than the last time, but the wet snow slowed everybody down--the winning time was also ten minutes slower than in previous years. Anyway, I finished, I didn't bonk, I didn't biff on the final hill, and I had a fine day of skiing. I'll count it as a win.