By Brie Cohen, staff writer

Standing at the starting line, surrounded by 9,000 skiers and 15,000 spectators, Albert Lea resident John Schultz calms his nerves before the start of a 52-kilometer race and hears his song.

The song is called &8220;Let the Birkie Grab Your Soul&8221; and Schultz wrote it about five or six years ago for the American Birkebeiner cross-country ski race.

Saturday will be Schultz&8217;s 10th time participating in the race. The Birkebeiner, held in Cable, Wis. is the largest cross-country ski race in North America.

&8220;It&8217;s like the New York marathon, only in the woods of Wisconsin,&8221; Schultz said, &8220;It&8217;s an amazing event to be a part of.&8221;

Schultz&8217;s song about the race reflects on the emotions he had when he competed in his first Birkebeiner. He was nervous and serious at the starting line and then began to find his place and talk to the skiers.

With the help of Birkebeiner public relations coordinator Leslie Hamp, Schultz received a $1,000 grant from the Chequamegon Bay Arts Council in northern Wisconsin to record his song.

He was able to write the song in one evening and then recorded it with a few other musicians. On the song, Schultz plays the guitar and sings the vocals.

The rock song is one of three songs about the Birkebeiner played throughout the event.

Schultz first got into skiing in 1992 as a way to get aerobic activity into his life. He said he started to doing the Birkebeiner to encourage him to ski, because of the training he has to do before the race.

Schultz has been training this year at the Green Lea Golf Course in Albert Lea. Neighbor and fellow Birkebeiner skier Scott Ellertson groomed a 3.2-kilometer cross-country ski path to ski on.

Now that Schultz will be in the Birkebeiner for the 10th time, he has moved up in the ranks. The skiers are set out in waves, the starting waves being the elite skiers. Schultz started out in the back, but now he will be in the fourth wave.

Schultz has many supportors, including his coworkers at the Albert Lea Medical Center. Schultz is an anesthesiologist at ALMC and works with Ellertson&8217;s wife. When Ellertson heard the song, he shared it with his wife, and now many people at ALMC listen to Schultz&8217;s tune.

&8220;I did have some local popularity; it was kind of fun,&8221; Schultz said.

If you are interesting in learning more about the American Birkebeiner, log on to www.birkie.com.

To hear Schultz&8217;s song, click on the Birkie Fever link on the Web site and scroll down to &8220;Let the Birkie Grab Your Soul.&8221;