The Winter Blues (August 28th, 2006)

It's been a little quiet around here lately. Nearly everyone has been bitten by some virus or another in the last few weeks. Those who haven't been sick yet have been hiding from everyone else. I came down with something last week and just as I thought I was getting over it got struck down again (much worse) this weekend. The joys of communal living with poor ventilation mixed with questionable personal hygiene. But I'm not here to complain. There have been some highlights in the last week, hopefully going through them again will help me forget how much my body hates me right now.

Last Friday was a great day. I had a free day on the mountain, my first in nearly two weeks. I decided to spend an hour on the bunny slope, working on some freestyle moves. I discovered that freestyle can actually be hard work and was quickly sweating. I didn't want to go back down to take some layers off, so I just started stripping at the top of the bunny slope. First my jacket, then my long underwear top, leaving me with just a t-shirt on. But that wasn't enough, I ended up taking off my snow pants AND sweat pants, leaving me with long underwear tights, a t-shirt, and my snowboard boots on. Needless to say I got quite a few questioning looks, especially from concerned parents. I even had a curious ski patroller come over and check to make sure everything was okay. But the end result was worth it, my freestyle is looking a lot better.

When I got home Friday night I decided to go to the gym. I can tell it's a top notch gym because I've stumbled across several ski teams training there. Friday was a real treat because the Finnish women's ski team was there. There were 6 of them and a couple of trainers in one corner, working hard, chatting unintelligibly, wearing Finnish flags on all of their gear. Surrounding the team was a group of a dozen gym guys, working out way harder than they normally do, using mirrors to glance over at the team whenever possible. Obviously I was a part of this group. Surrounding our group was a another dozen female gym regulars, staring disgustedly at the men and chatting to each other in hushed whispers. It was quite a scene all around.

And speaking of ski teams, the US team was available at Coronet Peak today, signing posters, helmets, etc (sadly Bode wasn't there, but Ted Ligety, winner of the Olympic Gold for men's combine, was). I wandered over during lunch, tempted to get some autographs. However, the line consisted solely of 6 to 10 year old kids in ski school, staring at team with glazed over eyes, afraid to say anything. I couldn't bring myself to stand in line with 50 ski schoolers, so I was forced to watched from a distance, pretending that I didn't actually care that much. :)