Big Talker

I got to be part of a panel discussion on skiing, and especially skiing in years with low snow, at Fit to be Tri'd.  It was myself, Nate Porath, and Ken Drivdal that were the panelists, but really it was more just a chance to get together and chat about skiing.  Snow conditions have continued to be not great, so I am putting my advice to work, cross training as much as possible and skiing when I can get to good snow.

Racing from the couch

The past few years I've entered a fantasy nordic ski contest that the magazine Ski Trax puts on.  I've steadily gotten better at picking teams that compete well under their strange scoring system, and after finishing 12th last year (prizes go to the top 10) this year I seem to have picked a winning team.  With over 1/2 of the season done I'm sitting in 1st place, but not by much.  The greatest part is that there are 2 North American skiers on my team.  Kikkan Randall has been on top of the sprint standings all years, and Alex Harvey's flashes of brilliance have brought him close to the podium several times this year.  My wildcard pick Vibeke Skofterud has picked up a great collection of 2nds and 3rds so far this season, possibly even a better wild card pick than Johaug was last year.  Hattestad was my mens wildcard again because he can always put up some good results and earn a lot of points, but as a pure sprinter he lacks the consistency to put him in the top 15 overall.  There was a seperate competition for the Tour de Ski, and I led that the whole way through except for at two points, the break where the leader gets a prize, and the finish where the top 10 get a prize and I slipped back to 16th, so despite leading almost the whole time I wound up empty handed.  A bit disappointing, but the excitement is worth almost as much as a prize anyway.

Making my mark on the New Year

This not skiing season has put me in a kind of bad funk.  When it is 40 and raining I'm in no mood to ski, especially when the ground is ugly brown here in Northfield.  Even a little bit of snow would help with the attitude adjustment I think.  Anyway, this is what greeted me on New Years Eve.  I skipped going up to ski with friends because it just didn't seem like skiing weather.  Then I decided since I wasn't going skiing there was really no reason to leave my house for any reason.  This is an affliction that has been hitting me more and more often on weekends, a bit of  a problem really.  About 11:00 that evening I finally decided enough was enough.  I got my gear together and decided to run in the new year.  Running has been spotty with the cold and ice, but I decided to just get out and go, and it was worth it.  I was running in a kind of snow/slush that at least left everything looking whitish, and when I got out in the arb with the howling wind and darkness I remembered how great nature is.  I saw the fireworks that St. Olaf was setting off in protest of the ball dropping tradition (which was established when fireworks were banned), and when I went out running the next day my footsteps had been frozen in ice.  So for a few days I would have a reminder that I had gotten out and put my mark on the new year.