The famous dog sled race from Anchorage to Nome was supposed to start in Anchorage the day before our race but according to this article, the starting location of the Iditarod is moving. Hmmm, I wonder if we'll still be able to see the start of that race on the Saturday before ours or not? I hope so!! I was really looking forward to seeing that, hopefully we still can!
For a chuckle, here's an Iditarod music video...
Thursday, January 17, 2008
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Happy Hour/Raffle Results
I'm THRILLED to announce that the happy hour and raffle party at the HiFi bar in the marina I held last week with 2 of my teammates, Brooke and Casey, was a success!!
THANK YOU to all of my friends who came out all the way to the marina on a dreary, semi-rainy night and paid the $5 cover and bought raffle tickets to support us!! YOU ALL ROCK!!
THANK YOU to all of my friends who donated a raffle prize through their business or organization! It was so fun for me to see so many friends win great prizes donated by you ~ You really helped me make the event successful and fun! So big shouts out to: Sports Basement for donating gift certificates, Sassy Sweet Treats for donating the delicious tin tower filled with 2 dozen cookies and 1 dozen brownies, KFOG, World Class Rock! for donating live from the archive and new music sampler cds, Fruition Women's Health for donating a whole foods/organic cooking class, GQ for donating a year subscription to GQ Magazine, Full Of Joy Yoga for donating an adorable children's yoga book and to Lani, author of that book, for also making a homemade photo album, my friend Julie who makes and sells homemade portobello mushroom lasagna's (which you can order by emailing her at this email address: lllasagna@gmail.com), Koch Entertainment for donating a huge variety of cds and dvds, my friend AJ who donated a wine chiller and 5 bottles of his wine which I don't believe is for purchase so you can always check out his the restaurant he's working at now Cortez Restaurant, Snowden Vineyards for donating a signed magnum of cabernet sauvignon and last but not least to Bean & Leaf who donated a basket filled with 2 types of fresh roasted coffees, a coffee mug and organic chocolates. YOU ALL ROCK AS WELL!!
Aside from knowing some of the friendliest people around, there were a couple of local business I'd like to give a shout out to as well for donating raffle prizes: Baby Jak Blankets donated a baby blanket - these are THEE softest blankets around and they make adult ones as well, Rebecca is a friend of a friend and this is a local SF business, I am a loyal customer and when I asked she happily donated, Black Nose Trading Company donated a dog treat jar, they have a new store on divis and also do dog daycare and bathing, Walt is the owner there, he's really nice and his friendly dog can be found lying around the store, Tru Sake in Hayes Valley for donating a magnum of sake, despite his accountant telling him no more donations, owner Beau din't even hesitate to give me this great prize, Five Star Truffles a small truffle and coffee shop on Divis who donated 3 boxes of handmade truffles - Santos and Julio will take care of you there, don't forget to try the caramel truffle, it's to die for, and finally to The Yoga Tree for donating an 11 class yoga pass, Lance at the Castro location was so friendly to interact with, I've taken several workshops and yoga classes at yoga tree, I recommend checking them out if you haven't.
Please visit and support these businesses!! They were so generous to me.
Together, we all raised over $900 last Thursday for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society! Brooke, Casey and I split that money 3 ways and I am again THRILLED to tell you that I was able to donate all $300 of my portion through a friend's work to get a 100% match ~ so you all helped me raise $600 towards my goal! How amazing is that?! Which means that I now have exactly $1,625 left to raise out of $4,400.
Of course I think this is a great cause and my hope is that someday a cure for cancer WILL be found. Until that day, this is probably not the last event I'll participate in but don't worry, I'll give you a break in between fundraisings. :)
THANK YOU to all of my friends who came out all the way to the marina on a dreary, semi-rainy night and paid the $5 cover and bought raffle tickets to support us!! YOU ALL ROCK!!
THANK YOU to all of my friends who donated a raffle prize through their business or organization! It was so fun for me to see so many friends win great prizes donated by you ~ You really helped me make the event successful and fun! So big shouts out to: Sports Basement for donating gift certificates, Sassy Sweet Treats for donating the delicious tin tower filled with 2 dozen cookies and 1 dozen brownies, KFOG, World Class Rock! for donating live from the archive and new music sampler cds, Fruition Women's Health for donating a whole foods/organic cooking class, GQ for donating a year subscription to GQ Magazine, Full Of Joy Yoga for donating an adorable children's yoga book and to Lani, author of that book, for also making a homemade photo album, my friend Julie who makes and sells homemade portobello mushroom lasagna's (which you can order by emailing her at this email address: lllasagna@gmail.com), Koch Entertainment for donating a huge variety of cds and dvds, my friend AJ who donated a wine chiller and 5 bottles of his wine which I don't believe is for purchase so you can always check out his the restaurant he's working at now Cortez Restaurant, Snowden Vineyards for donating a signed magnum of cabernet sauvignon and last but not least to Bean & Leaf who donated a basket filled with 2 types of fresh roasted coffees, a coffee mug and organic chocolates. YOU ALL ROCK AS WELL!!
Aside from knowing some of the friendliest people around, there were a couple of local business I'd like to give a shout out to as well for donating raffle prizes: Baby Jak Blankets donated a baby blanket - these are THEE softest blankets around and they make adult ones as well, Rebecca is a friend of a friend and this is a local SF business, I am a loyal customer and when I asked she happily donated, Black Nose Trading Company donated a dog treat jar, they have a new store on divis and also do dog daycare and bathing, Walt is the owner there, he's really nice and his friendly dog can be found lying around the store, Tru Sake in Hayes Valley for donating a magnum of sake, despite his accountant telling him no more donations, owner Beau din't even hesitate to give me this great prize, Five Star Truffles a small truffle and coffee shop on Divis who donated 3 boxes of handmade truffles - Santos and Julio will take care of you there, don't forget to try the caramel truffle, it's to die for, and finally to The Yoga Tree for donating an 11 class yoga pass, Lance at the Castro location was so friendly to interact with, I've taken several workshops and yoga classes at yoga tree, I recommend checking them out if you haven't.
Please visit and support these businesses!! They were so generous to me.
Together, we all raised over $900 last Thursday for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society! Brooke, Casey and I split that money 3 ways and I am again THRILLED to tell you that I was able to donate all $300 of my portion through a friend's work to get a 100% match ~ so you all helped me raise $600 towards my goal! How amazing is that?! Which means that I now have exactly $1,625 left to raise out of $4,400.
Of course I think this is a great cause and my hope is that someday a cure for cancer WILL be found. Until that day, this is probably not the last event I'll participate in but don't worry, I'll give you a break in between fundraisings. :)
Monday, January 14, 2008
Breakthrough!
I had a GREAT day skiing on Saturday at Tahoe Donner!!
Headed up after work on Friday with a 2 car caravan and 4 other teammates. Everyone is so nice! Patricia even got me a coffee made to order for me before they picked me up. We didn't hit too much traffic and I think we were at the cabin between 11:30-midnight. Seven am wakeup call, ate a hot and healthy breakfast, dressed and prepped for my day on the mountain and we were out the door by eight. We didn't have to be ready to ski until 9:30 but a couple of my teammates I was riding with wanted to get there early to wax their skis, which was fine by me! It was snowing and it was so pretty so I had no trouble sitting in the ski lodge watching the snow fall and blanket everything with its fluffy whiteness. I rented my skis and boots and patiently/albeit somewhat nervously awaited the day to begin.
We all gathered inside for a quick team meeting/announcements about how the day was going to work, remembering the cause (a past honoree/ski participant had joined us today and he told us his story of getting lymphoma twice (he told us he skied with the team during his treatment the second time, amazing!) and stories were shared of his positive attitude throughout. We also found out that Dana, a team honoree, got a great CT scan result back this week and doesn't have to get another for 9 months!! Go Dana! The smile on her face as she told us the news was priceless.
The day began by splitting up into groups according to ability and style of skiing (i.e., beginner striders (me), beginner skaters, intermediate skaters, etc..) It appears that most people in the team are skaters. They recommend striding for beginners because there is less of a learning curve so I'm just fine being in this group! :) Each group spent the morning (9:30-11:15) with a coach working on technique. Head Coach Larry was heading up my group and as we gathered together, all 6 of us, he tells us all morning we will be working on...HILLS! *gulp* If you remember from my first day out on skis hills were my enemy!!! :) But, if I ever wanted to feel confident on skis, I know I have to learn how to handle the hills...and I felt like I was in good hands with Coach Larry so I thought, bring it on!!
We started on a tiiiiny hill. First we practiced going down with good form. All we would do was go down and concentrate only on staying in athletic stance...knees bent, ankles flexed, slightly leaning forward, arms out like you are carrying a tray or one of those giant athletic balls but down slightly...and looking forward (not down at your skis). Up and down up and down the hill we went practicing this stance because this stance will help you remain (most importantly) standing and in control. Then we practiced how to control our speed by using the wedge (snow plow). We moved to a slightly steeper hill and continued this drill. We'd go up and down the hill gaining speed, using the wedge to slow and stop, parallel our skis back out to continue going downhill, wedging again...as many of those that you could get in on a hill run the better. When you hit the bottom, you ski/stride back up and do it again! Next up was to practice turns. We did the same thing as last time but this time when you're in a wedge, you turn your body the direction you want to go and amazingly, you body just follows along! I thought it was kind of funny because 2 weeks ago I wanted NOTHING to do with hills and here I was everytime I got to the bottom a little voice in my head would scream out like a toddler "AGAIN! AGAIN! AGAIN!"
I cannot tell you how different of a skier I was that morning than I was back in SLC!! First off, I really really believe that my equipment made a huge difference. I am now positive that I had a bum ski that first time out. These skis I rented this time were fabulous, the were so slick and easy to control. Second, I was no longer nervous about it being my first time, I knew what it felt like to have skis on and to be moving along over the snow. But it wasn't those two things alone..I'm not sure what exactly happened to me but I had suddenly become this confident and more surprisingly, fearless skier! :) I was cruising up and down these hills following all of the coach's instructions. The snow had stopped, the sun and blue skies were out...I was wearing a bit too many clothes for the temperature so I was too warm and sweaty but I was actually ENJOYING this!! It was a great feeling. Before I knew it it was 11:15 and it was time for lunch. A quick lunch at that! We had to be ready again by 11:45...so in a 1/2 hour I was able to sit down and eat a hot meal and change out of my big jacket and put on a much thinner workout jacket that I was so thankful I brought! That made for a much more comfortable rest of the day.
At 11:45 the entire team met at the start of a 1.4 km trail loop. We did a "mass start" to start getting us prepared for how the start will be on race day...only with many many more skiers. This is a great thing to practice!! Something I did not get a chance to practice for my sprint-tri and it completely threw off my swim because of it, so I was thankful that they are allowing us to get a feel for a race start on skis. This portion of the day is devoted to pace timing!! We were to do 3 loops (I actually didn't realize this and ended up doing 4) and we got timed for each loop. This is to help give us an idea of how long it might take us to do our decided distances and what kind of pace we can actually sustain for a prolonged period of time. This was a beginner loop, it had small hills both up and down, turns and flat. I clocked in my first loop a little over 17 mins, my second a little over 15 and my final 3 loops totaled 49 mins. I don't think that was too bad for my second day ever on skis! :) I even did that extra 4th loop on the same pace. So here we are, early afternoon and I'd just spent all morning doing hill work, I've just skiied 5.6 k at a decent pace but I'm feeling it. I'm starting to feel tired.
I realize I'm not drinking enough water, thankfully the temps were warm so I didn't have to worry about water freezing in my camelback. I started drinking and had a little cliff bar energy boost snack. The rest of the day was to be spent on our own on the trails of our choosing. I ended up doing 3 trails which I think brought my daily tally to 10k by the end of the day. The trails were gorgeous, tree lined, well groomed (at least compared to the trails I was on in SLC) and fun!! At one point coming back around the loop on my third trail, Lion's Leap, I paused to realize that I was the only one around. I stopped and just took in the silence. It was so heavenly and peaceful...a statement came to mind that Sean Penn (Director of Into the Wild) made at the end of his Iconoclast episode (which if you haven't seen is excellent, I highly recommend watching it if you're a fan at all of the book and/or movie) he did with Jon Krakauer (author of Into the Wild, Into Thin Air and Under the Banner of Heaven) where he's sitting on this front porch of a cabin in Alaska and talking when all of a sudden a pack of wolves start howling in the distance and Sean Penn stops talking and turns his head and listens and when it's over he turns back to the camera and says "Have you ever heard anyone say anything as good as that?" That's how I feel when I'm in nature and you can't hear anything or anyone else except what is going on in the nature surounding you...the only sound was the snow falling from the trees because the sun was melting it and the sound of my own heart and breath.
Eventually I ran into others on trail and I was thankful!! There was one part of returning on the Pony Express trail where I was in the groomed tracks on a hill and I was CRUISING downhill. So, when we had worked on conquering hills earlier, we were not in groomed tracks, so it's much easier to use the wedge to slow/stop yourself. When you're IN the groomed tracks, striding along, it's not easy at all to turn your ski into a wedge. So here I am, cruising and gaining speed on this hill and I remain standing the entire time but in my head I KNOW that I am not in control. One tiny thing could happen and I would go tumbling down and hard, especially at this speed. So I yell out to a teammate next to me that I'm going really really fast and at the bottom of the hill once I was able to stop she gives me some pointers...she tells me you can do a 1/2 wedge where you keep one ski in the groomed track and you can wedge the other to control your speed. The problem was...how on earth do you get your ski out of the track WHILE you're going down hill without falling?! Appearently it's very difficult but I think it's possible with more experience and pracitice. Luckily, Coach Larry magically showed up while all of this was happening so he helps me out. He gives me instruction on the next hill..a hill with 2 turns. He recommmends approaching the hill with one ski in track and one out from the top of the hill and to keep the opposite ski closest to the direction of the turn out and wedged. For example, the first turn on this hill was a left turn so I kept my left ski in the track and my right ski out and wedged and VOILA! I was completely in control of the hill/my speed and the turn!! I was also able to switch out to keep my right ski in track and my left ski out and wedged to make the second right hand turn...woohoo! Coach Larry said to me, and this may have been my proudest moment of the day..."Are you sure this is only your second time on skis?" :)
By the time I got back to the lodge we still had about 1/2 hour before the end of our day so I semi-reluctantly did a few exercises Coach Larry told me to work on. On a flat surface I went down the groomed tracks and back this time using no poles, only my very very very tired legs to move me. Coach Larry also recommended doing as many squats or related exercises as we can on our own training time. I know why...holy cow!! My quads and butt are still sore today, 2 days later.
We skied for 5 1/2 hours with a 1/2 hour lunch...so 5 hours on skis Saturday and I fell only a handful of times...I conquered my fear of hills and I had SO MUCH FUN!! Of course, I was still more than happy to take my skis and boots off, stretch and go with the rest of the team to eat pizza and a have a beer!! I came home early due to a ride issue (the girl I rode up with ~ her car broke down Saturday morning) so I ended up catching a ride home Saturday night..and honestly, I didn't want to go skiing on Sunday after my great day on Saturday...I wanted to ride this high for a little bit longer, at least until next week, because I know not every day on the mountains training will be good ones. We made it home in record time Saturday night and I was thrilled to sleep in my own bed and wake up to a gorgeous SF sunday which I enjoyed with some friends, found out 2 good friends had their healthy and gorgeous baby girl the previous night and 2 other friends got engaged over the weekend as well. Last week was a bit rough on the health news front, it seems my friends and their families have been getting hit pretty hard with diseases, illness and deaths so it was a very welcome relief to receive some HAPPY NEWS...Hooray for the good things in life! :)
Headed up after work on Friday with a 2 car caravan and 4 other teammates. Everyone is so nice! Patricia even got me a coffee made to order for me before they picked me up. We didn't hit too much traffic and I think we were at the cabin between 11:30-midnight. Seven am wakeup call, ate a hot and healthy breakfast, dressed and prepped for my day on the mountain and we were out the door by eight. We didn't have to be ready to ski until 9:30 but a couple of my teammates I was riding with wanted to get there early to wax their skis, which was fine by me! It was snowing and it was so pretty so I had no trouble sitting in the ski lodge watching the snow fall and blanket everything with its fluffy whiteness. I rented my skis and boots and patiently/albeit somewhat nervously awaited the day to begin.
We all gathered inside for a quick team meeting/announcements about how the day was going to work, remembering the cause (a past honoree/ski participant had joined us today and he told us his story of getting lymphoma twice (he told us he skied with the team during his treatment the second time, amazing!) and stories were shared of his positive attitude throughout. We also found out that Dana, a team honoree, got a great CT scan result back this week and doesn't have to get another for 9 months!! Go Dana! The smile on her face as she told us the news was priceless.
The day began by splitting up into groups according to ability and style of skiing (i.e., beginner striders (me), beginner skaters, intermediate skaters, etc..) It appears that most people in the team are skaters. They recommend striding for beginners because there is less of a learning curve so I'm just fine being in this group! :) Each group spent the morning (9:30-11:15) with a coach working on technique. Head Coach Larry was heading up my group and as we gathered together, all 6 of us, he tells us all morning we will be working on...HILLS! *gulp* If you remember from my first day out on skis hills were my enemy!!! :) But, if I ever wanted to feel confident on skis, I know I have to learn how to handle the hills...and I felt like I was in good hands with Coach Larry so I thought, bring it on!!
We started on a tiiiiny hill. First we practiced going down with good form. All we would do was go down and concentrate only on staying in athletic stance...knees bent, ankles flexed, slightly leaning forward, arms out like you are carrying a tray or one of those giant athletic balls but down slightly...and looking forward (not down at your skis). Up and down up and down the hill we went practicing this stance because this stance will help you remain (most importantly) standing and in control. Then we practiced how to control our speed by using the wedge (snow plow). We moved to a slightly steeper hill and continued this drill. We'd go up and down the hill gaining speed, using the wedge to slow and stop, parallel our skis back out to continue going downhill, wedging again...as many of those that you could get in on a hill run the better. When you hit the bottom, you ski/stride back up and do it again! Next up was to practice turns. We did the same thing as last time but this time when you're in a wedge, you turn your body the direction you want to go and amazingly, you body just follows along! I thought it was kind of funny because 2 weeks ago I wanted NOTHING to do with hills and here I was everytime I got to the bottom a little voice in my head would scream out like a toddler "AGAIN! AGAIN! AGAIN!"
I cannot tell you how different of a skier I was that morning than I was back in SLC!! First off, I really really believe that my equipment made a huge difference. I am now positive that I had a bum ski that first time out. These skis I rented this time were fabulous, the were so slick and easy to control. Second, I was no longer nervous about it being my first time, I knew what it felt like to have skis on and to be moving along over the snow. But it wasn't those two things alone..I'm not sure what exactly happened to me but I had suddenly become this confident and more surprisingly, fearless skier! :) I was cruising up and down these hills following all of the coach's instructions. The snow had stopped, the sun and blue skies were out...I was wearing a bit too many clothes for the temperature so I was too warm and sweaty but I was actually ENJOYING this!! It was a great feeling. Before I knew it it was 11:15 and it was time for lunch. A quick lunch at that! We had to be ready again by 11:45...so in a 1/2 hour I was able to sit down and eat a hot meal and change out of my big jacket and put on a much thinner workout jacket that I was so thankful I brought! That made for a much more comfortable rest of the day.
At 11:45 the entire team met at the start of a 1.4 km trail loop. We did a "mass start" to start getting us prepared for how the start will be on race day...only with many many more skiers. This is a great thing to practice!! Something I did not get a chance to practice for my sprint-tri and it completely threw off my swim because of it, so I was thankful that they are allowing us to get a feel for a race start on skis. This portion of the day is devoted to pace timing!! We were to do 3 loops (I actually didn't realize this and ended up doing 4) and we got timed for each loop. This is to help give us an idea of how long it might take us to do our decided distances and what kind of pace we can actually sustain for a prolonged period of time. This was a beginner loop, it had small hills both up and down, turns and flat. I clocked in my first loop a little over 17 mins, my second a little over 15 and my final 3 loops totaled 49 mins. I don't think that was too bad for my second day ever on skis! :) I even did that extra 4th loop on the same pace. So here we are, early afternoon and I'd just spent all morning doing hill work, I've just skiied 5.6 k at a decent pace but I'm feeling it. I'm starting to feel tired.
I realize I'm not drinking enough water, thankfully the temps were warm so I didn't have to worry about water freezing in my camelback. I started drinking and had a little cliff bar energy boost snack. The rest of the day was to be spent on our own on the trails of our choosing. I ended up doing 3 trails which I think brought my daily tally to 10k by the end of the day. The trails were gorgeous, tree lined, well groomed (at least compared to the trails I was on in SLC) and fun!! At one point coming back around the loop on my third trail, Lion's Leap, I paused to realize that I was the only one around. I stopped and just took in the silence. It was so heavenly and peaceful...a statement came to mind that Sean Penn (Director of Into the Wild) made at the end of his Iconoclast episode (which if you haven't seen is excellent, I highly recommend watching it if you're a fan at all of the book and/or movie) he did with Jon Krakauer (author of Into the Wild, Into Thin Air and Under the Banner of Heaven) where he's sitting on this front porch of a cabin in Alaska and talking when all of a sudden a pack of wolves start howling in the distance and Sean Penn stops talking and turns his head and listens and when it's over he turns back to the camera and says "Have you ever heard anyone say anything as good as that?" That's how I feel when I'm in nature and you can't hear anything or anyone else except what is going on in the nature surounding you...the only sound was the snow falling from the trees because the sun was melting it and the sound of my own heart and breath.
Eventually I ran into others on trail and I was thankful!! There was one part of returning on the Pony Express trail where I was in the groomed tracks on a hill and I was CRUISING downhill. So, when we had worked on conquering hills earlier, we were not in groomed tracks, so it's much easier to use the wedge to slow/stop yourself. When you're IN the groomed tracks, striding along, it's not easy at all to turn your ski into a wedge. So here I am, cruising and gaining speed on this hill and I remain standing the entire time but in my head I KNOW that I am not in control. One tiny thing could happen and I would go tumbling down and hard, especially at this speed. So I yell out to a teammate next to me that I'm going really really fast and at the bottom of the hill once I was able to stop she gives me some pointers...she tells me you can do a 1/2 wedge where you keep one ski in the groomed track and you can wedge the other to control your speed. The problem was...how on earth do you get your ski out of the track WHILE you're going down hill without falling?! Appearently it's very difficult but I think it's possible with more experience and pracitice. Luckily, Coach Larry magically showed up while all of this was happening so he helps me out. He gives me instruction on the next hill..a hill with 2 turns. He recommmends approaching the hill with one ski in track and one out from the top of the hill and to keep the opposite ski closest to the direction of the turn out and wedged. For example, the first turn on this hill was a left turn so I kept my left ski in the track and my right ski out and wedged and VOILA! I was completely in control of the hill/my speed and the turn!! I was also able to switch out to keep my right ski in track and my left ski out and wedged to make the second right hand turn...woohoo! Coach Larry said to me, and this may have been my proudest moment of the day..."Are you sure this is only your second time on skis?" :)
By the time I got back to the lodge we still had about 1/2 hour before the end of our day so I semi-reluctantly did a few exercises Coach Larry told me to work on. On a flat surface I went down the groomed tracks and back this time using no poles, only my very very very tired legs to move me. Coach Larry also recommended doing as many squats or related exercises as we can on our own training time. I know why...holy cow!! My quads and butt are still sore today, 2 days later.
We skied for 5 1/2 hours with a 1/2 hour lunch...so 5 hours on skis Saturday and I fell only a handful of times...I conquered my fear of hills and I had SO MUCH FUN!! Of course, I was still more than happy to take my skis and boots off, stretch and go with the rest of the team to eat pizza and a have a beer!! I came home early due to a ride issue (the girl I rode up with ~ her car broke down Saturday morning) so I ended up catching a ride home Saturday night..and honestly, I didn't want to go skiing on Sunday after my great day on Saturday...I wanted to ride this high for a little bit longer, at least until next week, because I know not every day on the mountains training will be good ones. We made it home in record time Saturday night and I was thrilled to sleep in my own bed and wake up to a gorgeous SF sunday which I enjoyed with some friends, found out 2 good friends had their healthy and gorgeous baby girl the previous night and 2 other friends got engaged over the weekend as well. Last week was a bit rough on the health news front, it seems my friends and their families have been getting hit pretty hard with diseases, illness and deaths so it was a very welcome relief to receive some HAPPY NEWS...Hooray for the good things in life! :)
Wednesday, January 9, 2008
Look! The Storm's Gone!
Last weekend's storm forced our coaches to cancel our first 2008 ski! It just wasn't safe to travel up there and with road and resort closures we would not have gotten very far even if we had tried! I'll admit, it was nice to have one more weekend in the city before the every weekend traveling begins. I got in a mini workout by doing a little ice skating!
With storm gone, it's time to head north! This weekend I'm tahoe bound! The team will be skiing at Tahoe Donner. I just found a ride today to drive me up there and back and I'll be staying with some of the team who has rented a cabin in Truckee. Should be fun, I'm getting excited to ski with my coaches and teammates!!
Tomorrow night is my fundraising party with 2 teammates. We're hosting a happy hour and raffle prize night with drink special and a DJ. I'm really looking forward to seeing some friends and having some fun for a good cause! I'll let you know how it turns out. :)
With storm gone, it's time to head north! This weekend I'm tahoe bound! The team will be skiing at Tahoe Donner. I just found a ride today to drive me up there and back and I'll be staying with some of the team who has rented a cabin in Truckee. Should be fun, I'm getting excited to ski with my coaches and teammates!!
Tomorrow night is my fundraising party with 2 teammates. We're hosting a happy hour and raffle prize night with drink special and a DJ. I'm really looking forward to seeing some friends and having some fun for a good cause! I'll let you know how it turns out. :)
Friday, January 4, 2008
Firsts
As I was browsing through some of my baby books, old photo albums and yearbooks my mom sent me for the holidays, I came across my page of firsts. First step, first word, first smile, first laugh, first everything! When you're young your whole world is filled with firsts. As you get older and more experienced in your life you have to seek out new firsts. This past weekend I conquered a new first...FIRST TIME ON CROSS-COUNTRY SKIS! Let me tell you how it went...
January 30th, 2007
Debbie and I attempted to go XC skiing at Solitude Mountain, we had a private lesson booked and were not even a quarter of the way up the mountain when we ran into a nasty little white out. After a quick call to the nordic center they told us visibility was terrible up there and it wasn't a great day for beginners...coupled with the fact that it was quickly seeming a little dangerous driving up the mountain in her Prius, we decided to retreat and head back down. Foiled by mother nature....again. But, instead of heading back to the cozy comforts of home and be lazy we decided to go grab Floyd, Debbie's dog, run to REI to rent some snow shoes and since we were all geared up and ready to be outdoors we went to a different area and went snow shoeing instead (another first)!
Debbie on the trail
Frisky Floyd
Me
View of SLC
Snow shoeing was really fun...we went to Mills Creek Canyon and hit this steep trail up but at the top were treated to a lovely view of the city from above. Not to mention, Floyd had a BALL running through the deep snow drifts chasing sticks and us down the trail. We had a great day but this meant that I only had one more day to get on skis before the end of the year! I went to sleep hoping for a better day and another chance tomorrow.
That night we were able to meet up with other friends of mine, Tad and Jodi and their 2 adorable daughters for dinner and drinks. I hadn't been to Tad & Jodi's since my drive across the country when I moved from NJ to SF 5 1/2 years ago. My friend Jennie and I drove a giant U-Haul and stayed 2 nights at their place...pre daughters! So it was a real treat to have dinner with them and for them to meet my friends Debbie and John who moved to SLC from SF last May.
January 31, 2007
SUCCESS! We made it all the way up to solitude (and that is quite the climb up the mountain...the nordic center is sitting pretty at 8,500 feet! Those boarders and down-hillers are even higher up, crazy! We got a goregous day, albeit a bit chilly (a whopping NINE DEGREES!) The sun was out and the skies were blue and the grounds and trees were covered in pristine white powdery snow, so I wasn't complaining (yet). :) It was a winter wonderland and gorgeous every direction you turned. We were late for our lesson but we had a cool instructor who just moved there from Vermont who said we only needed the basics and he could cover those in a 1/2 hour and he charged us 1/2 price so that worked for us!
He got us fitted for skis, poles and boots and off we went. First he taught us stance, how to balance, what we should be doing with our poles and then...how to go up and down hills. That 1/2 hr. flew by and then he left us to explore the trails on our own. We went back to the lodge for a map and more practice on flat trails and then hit a nice beginner trail called Evergreen. It was lined with these beautiful and very tall snow dressed trees. It was so peaceful.
We cruised along Evergreen trail no problem! Evergreen intersected with an intermediate trail called Cabin Fever and we decided to give that a go, we were feeling great! Only a few tumbles here and there but things were going pretty smoothly. It was definitely a challenge though. Our water in our camelback froze, so we had no water. Unfortunately for me, I don't think I was hydrated enough (thanks to that growler of beer tad bought for after dinner last night ;) and for how high we were and how salty it is in the air there. By the end of the day I had a raging headache and felt a little nauseous but thank goodness out on the trail I didn't feel that bad. We were trying to make it all the way down to the Solitude Village, the downhill lodge at Solitude. We could take the trails all the way down there and then take a shuttle back up to return our gear.
Cabin Fever - Can you imagine living here?
Camp Tuttle! along Cabin Fever Trail
After Cabin Fever ended we had two choices: two intermediate trails, New Sensations or Cornocopia. We picked New Sensations and I realized quickly that this was probably the wrong choice for me. I was not at all comfortable going down hills and this trail had a long downhill. I feel at least 5-7 times and I wasn't even close to halfway down the hill. Getting up ON a hill is challenging too, it's not easy getting back on your skis when they're sliding down the hill. Finally it happened...I reached my breaking point for the day. I fell for what I knew in my head was the last time that hill was going to mock me! I literally yelled out "F@ck! I hate this!!"...nice language, I know, but noone else was around to hear except Debbie and the trees. I was cold, my fingers and legs were freezing from constant falling. At this point, as I'm lying there in the snow debating about which option seems worse..continuing down the hill or climbing back UP! Debbie is patient with me and I look at the time on my phone and realize that at this pace we are not going to make the village shuttle even if we do reach the bottom so we had best go back up and back to the nordic center where we started.
Which is excatly what we did! Going back up wasn't as bad or tough as I was anticipating, dare I even say I was maaaybe starting to get the hang of this? Needless to say, the second we hit the lodge and took off the skis I was SO glad to be done for the day. Our instructor was surprised we were out there for that long..3 hours and after checking out the map it seems we went about 4km! That's when it sank in...HOW AM I GOING TO DO 25km?!?! In 2 months time?!? Yikes. A change of clothes and hot chocolate to warm up and I was feeling good about the day, after all, my only goal of the day was to get on the skis, see how it feels..goal accomplished! There is always a learning curve with firsts. I have 2 months with my coaches and team to refine my movements and conquer my hill fear...I can do it!!
NYE Reflections...goodbye 2007...helllloo 2008!!
January 30th, 2007
Debbie and I attempted to go XC skiing at Solitude Mountain, we had a private lesson booked and were not even a quarter of the way up the mountain when we ran into a nasty little white out. After a quick call to the nordic center they told us visibility was terrible up there and it wasn't a great day for beginners...coupled with the fact that it was quickly seeming a little dangerous driving up the mountain in her Prius, we decided to retreat and head back down. Foiled by mother nature....again. But, instead of heading back to the cozy comforts of home and be lazy we decided to go grab Floyd, Debbie's dog, run to REI to rent some snow shoes and since we were all geared up and ready to be outdoors we went to a different area and went snow shoeing instead (another first)!
Debbie on the trail
Frisky Floyd
Me
View of SLCSnow shoeing was really fun...we went to Mills Creek Canyon and hit this steep trail up but at the top were treated to a lovely view of the city from above. Not to mention, Floyd had a BALL running through the deep snow drifts chasing sticks and us down the trail. We had a great day but this meant that I only had one more day to get on skis before the end of the year! I went to sleep hoping for a better day and another chance tomorrow.
That night we were able to meet up with other friends of mine, Tad and Jodi and their 2 adorable daughters for dinner and drinks. I hadn't been to Tad & Jodi's since my drive across the country when I moved from NJ to SF 5 1/2 years ago. My friend Jennie and I drove a giant U-Haul and stayed 2 nights at their place...pre daughters! So it was a real treat to have dinner with them and for them to meet my friends Debbie and John who moved to SLC from SF last May.
January 31, 2007
SUCCESS! We made it all the way up to solitude (and that is quite the climb up the mountain...the nordic center is sitting pretty at 8,500 feet! Those boarders and down-hillers are even higher up, crazy! We got a goregous day, albeit a bit chilly (a whopping NINE DEGREES!) The sun was out and the skies were blue and the grounds and trees were covered in pristine white powdery snow, so I wasn't complaining (yet). :) It was a winter wonderland and gorgeous every direction you turned. We were late for our lesson but we had a cool instructor who just moved there from Vermont who said we only needed the basics and he could cover those in a 1/2 hour and he charged us 1/2 price so that worked for us!
He got us fitted for skis, poles and boots and off we went. First he taught us stance, how to balance, what we should be doing with our poles and then...how to go up and down hills. That 1/2 hr. flew by and then he left us to explore the trails on our own. We went back to the lodge for a map and more practice on flat trails and then hit a nice beginner trail called Evergreen. It was lined with these beautiful and very tall snow dressed trees. It was so peaceful.
We cruised along Evergreen trail no problem! Evergreen intersected with an intermediate trail called Cabin Fever and we decided to give that a go, we were feeling great! Only a few tumbles here and there but things were going pretty smoothly. It was definitely a challenge though. Our water in our camelback froze, so we had no water. Unfortunately for me, I don't think I was hydrated enough (thanks to that growler of beer tad bought for after dinner last night ;) and for how high we were and how salty it is in the air there. By the end of the day I had a raging headache and felt a little nauseous but thank goodness out on the trail I didn't feel that bad. We were trying to make it all the way down to the Solitude Village, the downhill lodge at Solitude. We could take the trails all the way down there and then take a shuttle back up to return our gear. 
Cabin Fever - Can you imagine living here?
Camp Tuttle! along Cabin Fever TrailAfter Cabin Fever ended we had two choices: two intermediate trails, New Sensations or Cornocopia. We picked New Sensations and I realized quickly that this was probably the wrong choice for me. I was not at all comfortable going down hills and this trail had a long downhill. I feel at least 5-7 times and I wasn't even close to halfway down the hill. Getting up ON a hill is challenging too, it's not easy getting back on your skis when they're sliding down the hill. Finally it happened...I reached my breaking point for the day. I fell for what I knew in my head was the last time that hill was going to mock me! I literally yelled out "F@ck! I hate this!!"...nice language, I know, but noone else was around to hear except Debbie and the trees. I was cold, my fingers and legs were freezing from constant falling. At this point, as I'm lying there in the snow debating about which option seems worse..continuing down the hill or climbing back UP! Debbie is patient with me and I look at the time on my phone and realize that at this pace we are not going to make the village shuttle even if we do reach the bottom so we had best go back up and back to the nordic center where we started.
Which is excatly what we did! Going back up wasn't as bad or tough as I was anticipating, dare I even say I was maaaybe starting to get the hang of this? Needless to say, the second we hit the lodge and took off the skis I was SO glad to be done for the day. Our instructor was surprised we were out there for that long..3 hours and after checking out the map it seems we went about 4km! That's when it sank in...HOW AM I GOING TO DO 25km?!?! In 2 months time?!? Yikes. A change of clothes and hot chocolate to warm up and I was feeling good about the day, after all, my only goal of the day was to get on the skis, see how it feels..goal accomplished! There is always a learning curve with firsts. I have 2 months with my coaches and team to refine my movements and conquer my hill fear...I can do it!!
NYE Reflections...goodbye 2007...helllloo 2008!!
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