$95 Dollar, 2 Days in Court and Motivation for Next Year
As readers of my previous blog might know I received a ticket for skiing on closed trails while training for the last races of the season. The ticket simply had a court date so I spent a lot of time calling around to figure out why. I have even left multiple messages with the officer who left the ticket. I got no answers and was forced to get a continuance because I was racing in Maine, at the SuperTour finals, on the court date. After returning home I went to court, signed in, waited, talked to someone, waited, and then was told they could not talk to me further because the ticket had been issued to my car, which is still registered in my father’s name. Standard procedure is to only give one continuance but after talking to multiple bureaucrats I was able to secure another date, which my obliging and now equally frustrated father could attend.
Today my father and I went to court and jumped through the various hoops only to learn from the prosecutor that they know very little about the details of park tickets and that we only had two options. We could either pay the fine and various court fees (reduced from $135 to $95) or schedule another court date to argue our case. My Father had already arranged to arrive late to work once and I had missed a day of work so we begrudgingly paid the bill so we could be done with it.
This entire incident has given me a couple of ideas. First, maybe if more people knew the illegal nature of skiing it would become more popular. Illegal activity tends to entice teens so perhaps this could increase participation from a broader demographic and enlarge the talent pool. Second if skiing is illegal I feel officers should have to physically catch skiers. This would encourage faster skiing and racing tactics to elude officers.
On a serious note it is spring and time to enjoy some down time from training and refocus for next year. While it is temping to be angry with the lunacy of going to court for skiing I have learned that training angry fails in the long run. Anger burns too hot and too fast. You end up training too hard too often and are left exhausted. This also applies to those who are frustrated about this past season. Now is NOT the time to hammer in anticipation for next year. Relax, recover, enjoy the spring, and then start to once again build your aerobic system through long slow distance.
