Heather and I started the day off right by attending the Ski and Tea practice. Costumes were optional but encouraged, in honor of the day. Some of us dressed up, some did not, but everyone was there to work hard. These ladies did 10 repeats up Boedecker hill in an hour. 10! And as hard as i tried to get pictures of their "pain faces", they kept on smiling! Geesh, you'd think they were enjoying themselves or something.

Pain faces below, after a weird gap that i can't seem to get rid off. Click on them for a bigger picture.

I just got an email from then Norwegian consulate, and my personal number is in! That means all i have to do is make a trip down to Minneapolis, sign my name, and i'm an official citizen of norway! Sweet!

Just a few flakes this morning, but still. It's coming.

The Cresthill gang took a little road trip down to Mora today for the Minnesota high school coaches meeting. We came to meet the coaches, maybe sell some DVD's, and help out at the clinic in the afternoon. Well, that, and check out the giant dala horse we've heard so much about.

Turns out, it's not quite as giant as we had expected.


Yea. Liitttle bit disappointing.

I'm finding it harder and harder to get up for our pre-breakfast run. It's been cold for a while, and now that we're close to daylight savings time, it's seriously dark out too. It's a tough sell compared to the comfy warmth of my bed and down comforter. But out of bed i reluctanlty crawl. You gotta want it, right? I want it. And once i'm up, it's not all that bad. Sure, i've got sleep in my eyes and there's a bit of a bite in the air. But the quiet, the stillness, and the killer sunrises over the lake all more than make up for little things like that.

My roomie Zimm, proud of her eco cred, set her sheets out to dry after laundering yesterday. I had to laugh when she tried to bring them in. They weren't dry, just frozen stiff. We may not have snow in the midwest yet, but i'd say that's a sure sign that winters on it's way!

I lived with Bridget for all five years(!) years of college. We were both multi sport varsity athletes, both engineers, both loved making chocolate chip banana muffins. For five years, we traveled the same path. Heck, i think in some states we were almost common law married. After college, however, our paths diverged. I stuck with nordic skiing, she got a high paying job as a chemical engineer. Our once so similar lives are about as different as possible now.

She just hit another milestone on her path, the purchase of her first house. With the economy like it is, she was able to get a great deal on a foreclosure. It's huge. 5 bedrooms, 3 baths, and 3 "living" rooms. Even she doesn't know what to do with all that space, but the thought is that it'll have a great resell value when the market rebounds.

But it needs a little work first, so i spent the weekend visiting and helping her paint. It was weird...seeing what that other path looks like. Would my life look like hers now if i'd gotten a "real" job? I'm not sure, but i know i'm happy with the path i chose. Way less stress, shorter work hours (and mine are outside), and i only have to spend 12 hour days painting when i really feel like it!

I tagged along with Gregg to his ITA community service project today. He's been working out on the LCO reservation, with the Boys and Girls Club out there. He keeps coming home with all these crazy stories, and today i went to see for myself.

The kids were awesome. From 3:30 to 7 it's mostly elementary kids, and they couldn't be cuter if they tried. And boy, do they love Gregg! "Brian, pick me up!" "Brian, look what i can do!" "Brian, give me a piggyback ride!" I was impressed. It looked exhausting. I stuck to just playing tag.

From 7 to 9pm are teen only hours. The turnout usually isn't so good then, and today we just had 2 boys. And what do teenage boys want to do? Play basketball. Great. I blow chunks at basketball. Huge chunks. But we got a 3 on 3 game going with some of the other Club workers, and i was determined to give it an honest try. And...it wasn't half bad! Sometimes, when a random girl jumps in a game of boys, they tend to shut her out and play around her. But these guys passed me the ball! And told me to shoot more, and didn't care when i missed! And the best part was, i actually made a basket! Two of 'em! I am very, very proud. It was a good night.

Ski and Tea is a local women's training group here in the Hayward area. Their motto is "no woman left behind", and you can tell by the sense of encouragement and camaraderie in the air at their meetings. They decided that they wanted to include the CXC ladies in their family, which is awesome! We're doing a series of five clinics with them, each lead by a different athlete. Today was Maria's, but I tagged along to assist and work the camera. It was a huge success, at least in my opinion. We had a ton of ladies get on rollerskis for the first time, and they were champs! Next clinic is Nov 8th, I'm leading. You should come!

Today we did the infamous Whiteface rollerski race. It's about 5 miles straight up whiteface mountain. What does that feel like? Like doing a 50 minute wall sit. Abs burn, butt burns, lungs burn....but mostly, it's just the legs. On fire. If i never have to do that ever again, i would be estatic.

On the plus side, CXC did pretty well. Caitlin won, Zimm, Diggins and Stubes were way up there, Kuzz rocked and Gregg did too.

Womens:(somethings weird with the places, but i'm assured that the order and times are right)
1 8 FSR CXC Caitlin Compton 45:19.9 (1) 45:19.91 (1)
1 4 FU23 USST/SMorgan Arritola 45:27.8 (1) 45:27.89 (1)
2 1 FU23 USST Elizabeth Stephen 45:52.8 (2) 45:52.83 (2)
2 14 FSR USST Lindsay Williams 48:00.6 (2) 48:00.69 (2)
1 25 FJ1 CXC Jessie Diggins 48:36.0 (1) 48:36.06 (1)
1 17 FOJ MCN Adele Espy 49:01.4 (1) 49:01.46 (1)
1 19 FJ2 CraftsTara Geraghty-Moats 49:15.5 (1) 49:15.52 (1)
3 9 FSR CXC Heather Zimmerman 49:17.4 (3) 49:17.49 (3)
4 15 FSR USST Lindsey Dehlin 49:32.6 (4) 49:32.67 (4)
5 10 FSR CXC Maria Stuber 50:16.3 (5) 50:16.30 (5)
3 2 FU23 USST Morgan Smyth 50:17.9 (3) 50:17.91 (3)
6 7 FSR CXC Kristina Owen 52:07.8 (6) 52:07.83 (6)
2 16 FOJ BMA Lucy Garrec 52:57.2 (2) 52:57.28 (2)
2 21 FJ1 BMA Corinne Prevot 53:39.2 (2) 53:39.22 (2)
7 5 FSR CXC Johanna Winters 54:30.2 (7) 54:30.25 (7)

Mens:
1 43 MSR NationRobert Douglas 32:26.4 (1) 32:26.44 (1)
2 35 MSR USST Kris Freeman 34:22.9 (2) 34:22.90 (2)
1 48 MOJ USST/SNoah Hoffman 36:56.8 (1) 36:56.87 (1)
3 33 MSR USST/CGarrott Kuzzy 38:25.2 (3) 38:25.22 (3)
4 38 MSR USST Andy Newell 38:53.6 (4) 38:53.68 (4)
5 44 MSR CXC Brian Gregg 39:04.5 (5) 39:04.51 (5)
6 42 MSR R.N.R Jason Hettenbaugh 39:07.9 (6) 39:07.97 (6)
7 41 MSR Saab FLars Flora 39:55.2 (7) 39:55.23 (7)
1 64 MM1 MWSC David Chamberlain 40:41.0 (1) 40:41.08 (1)
2 54 MOJ BMA Sam Tarling 40:50.1 (2) 40:50.15 (2)
2 63 MM1 RossigEli Enman 40:56.8 (2) 40:56.86 (2)
8 37 MSR USST Torin Koos 41:33.2 (8) 41:33.25 (8)
9 39 MSR SVSEF/Michael Ssinnott 41:56.9 (9) 41:56.90 (9)
10 40 MSR SVSEF Colin Rodgers 42:03.5 (10) 42:03.52 (10)
11 46 MSR CXC Gus Kaeding 42:27.7 (11) 42:27.76 (11)
1 66 MJ1 MMSC Peter Hegman 42:39.7 (1) 42:39.78 (1)
1 29 MU23 SVSEF Ben Knowles 42:48.0 (1) 42:48.04 (1)
12 45 MSR CXC Bryan Cook 43:06.2 (12) 43:06.26 (12)

Complete results can be found at the NYSEF Nordic site.

Who are, in fact, even smaller than i am, and some a lot younger, but whatever.

This morning's double pole intervals were super fun, because all the teams currently staying at the Olympic Training Center did them together. CXC (junior devo and Elite), Sun Valley, NENSA, US Ski Team, and a handful of eastern region college skiers, all barreling full bore down the road together.

And i did good! I managed to keep up with the top girls almost every one! And really, the girls here aren't slouches by any means. I'm super excited about this for two reasons: 1. i'm historicaly super bad at sprinting, so keeping up in 3.5min all out intervals is a GREAT sign, and 2. i really, REALLY don't wan't to get passed in the last 100m double pole sprint for the finish of a 30k race at nationals (getting knocked out of the podium in the process) again.

Although, i gotta say, between Lindsay Williams, Lindsey Weir, Morgan Smyth, Maria Stuber, and Caitlin Compton, it kinda felt like one of those good ole NMU/MTU wednesday night time trials. Ahhh....good times.

I've got some clinics coming up in the Madison and Hayward areas. If you're interested, there's more information on the "Clinics" page.

I am tired. Yesterday was hill intervals in the morning, max strength in the afternoon. Today was a 3 hour skate in the morning, and general activity in the afternoon. Tired+general activity=running through the woods pretending to be trolls. Cuz, you know, we're cool like that.