Pearl Earrings

Pro mountain biker Katerina Nash wore pear earrings in the short track race at Mt. Snow. (I know because I stood 4 feet away from her at the start line!) She was also sporting cherry red sunglasses and banana yellow cycling shoes, but my eyes scarcely strayed from the studs that peeked out from under her helmet straps.


At Bruce Dickman’s countdown, the women pushed off the start line. And twenty minutes and a few laps later, Nash crossed the finish line first. Now that’s style!

The following weekend I packed for the MASS French Creek endurance race—bike, shoes, gloves, helmet, jersey, shorts, and variety of endurance food, pills and powders.

But this time I secured a pair of pearl earrings for good luck.

I pre-rode a bit of the course with Justin a day before the race until Steiner showed up to celebrate his first day of vacation with us. We threw around some Frisbees at the park’s disc golf course and then promptly headed to Slyfox for some food and local brew.

Seven o’clock Sunday morning came quick after a hot and horrible night’s sleep in the back of the truck. I lined up next to six other women at the start—once again, with less than a minute to spare. (Justin actually missed the start of his race as he was setting up our cooler under the tent!)

On my third lap (about 25 or so very rocky miles in), I was in pain. I made the decision that this lap would be my last. That kept me going. Seeing Justin over my shoulder (yep, he lapped me) helped too. But a quick good luck kiss—he was in 2nd place!—and he was gone. The pain stayed.


At 31.5 miles, I crossed the start/finish line and glanced at the time clock, hoping I’d surpassed the 6-hour mark. I hadn't. And 15 minutes was, unfortunately, plenty of time to start another lap. Shouts from the EWR tent boosted my confidence long enough for me to roll past my team and a few friends who had gathered under our EZ-Up. I began another 10.5-mile lap, uttering a few choice words once in the woods.


My fourth lap was desolate, sweltering and long. Rocks seemed pointier, obstacles more plentiful, hills insurmountable. Somehow I made it to the finish; most people had already headed to the registration building for the awards ceremony. And what a ceremony it was! Justin kept his lead (with a broken cleat in the last lap, no less) and took 2nd place in the men’s endurance category.

Maybe the pearl earrings were lucky after all!