Hero?

If someone calls you a hero and you don't know who they are does it still count? Even if they are a self proclamed lunatic?

I really can't take credit for his claims of heroism I am just passing along blogging etiquette that tenacious-t passed to me.

Night Ski

I went to the North Loop to ski right after work. Man it gets dark fast. I got in about two laps before it got dark, then did two more. After I was done I checked my split times and laps 3 and 4 were faster than 1 and 2. I may try to ski more after dark. All 4 laps were consistant though 16:17 to 16:32 but not an easy work out as my average heart rate was 152. Hopefully I can get both to come down as I get more efficient on skis.

I am starting to feel comfortable on the skis, most of the time. I can feel the instability when I don't bring my feet together and I try to hockey skate. The up hills are still tough but I think I have the down hills mastered. 8 laps in the last week at the North Loop and no wipeouts on the big downhill left-hander.

Kids say the darndest things.

Kids are great, especially when they are young. Although they have a knack for being brutally honest. My girls are 5 and 7. I know I have been slacking off on my training now for a while and I got an eye opener tonight. Madelyn (7) told me I "need to spin more" while patting my stomach and Grace (5) said I could be santa.

Point taken.

The Great Germ Spreader

We have a towel dispenser in our office that takes the rolls of cloth towels that Leef collects washes and returns. Whenever I use the towel and it runs empty I took the used roll out of the dispenser and replaced it with one that was bound up with a rubber band from in the cabinet under the sink (as did everyone else). I left the used towel roll on the floor and assumed the service that cleans the office was putting them with the other used ones collected from the other 4 bathrooms in the building to be cleaned. Well as it turns out they were picking them up off of the floor and wrapping them up nicely with rubber band and putting them in the cabinet under the sink!

Nice!

Food, Fun and Skinny Skis

Tami and I went Little Falls for dinner Friday night (that right Little Falls). We went to the Black and White. At first glance it looks like a little dive but the white linnen gives a glince of hope. The service was so so, our dinning mates ordered a bottle of wine and she brought the wrong bottle, already opened, twice. The second time the Amo's didn't say anything and drank it. But the food was excelent! Top notch, top notch! The best meal I have had in Minnesota out side of Minneapolis.

After the meal we headed back to St Cloud for a Holiday/NWO8 celebration at The Shop. Had a few drinks, watched some mountain bike action and talked Skis and Bikes.

Saturday I tackled my honey do list in the morning and when I mentioned going for a ski after lunch was reminded of the errand list that was building. So I headed west into the maham that is St Cloud on a Saturday afternoon two weeks before Christmas. Two hours later after hitting the Dry Cleaners, Bank, Gas station and trying to find a pair of kids snow pants I was on my way east to the North Loop.

After I skied a lap I saw the Anderson's packing up to leave. Kyia and Mr. Anderson gave me a few tips and I went on my way. The next three laps went much better than the first as the advice made a world of difference in my technique. Thanks!

Sunday after church and lunch we went over to the Amo's to borrow from their ski cache for the wife and kids and go have a run at it. Then the 9 of us went over to Riverside and had a ball. Madelyn got in the classic track and was gone. After Grace got over her fear of falling, by falling, was smooth and steady. And Tami, who is fighting a cold had fun out side for an hour at 6 degrees.

It is bed time for the kids and I have a late hockey game in Sartell so I am done for now.

Rollers aren't that hard

This guy spend way to much time on his rollers.

Stupid roller tricks

And the Winners are...

I know you all have been awaiting the anouncement of the winners of the snow poll (scroll down on the right). I have been waiting to see who claims it.
Doc is one winner. He already claimed one of his prizes (getting to ski on his guess) the other prize will go to... WHO? The first to respond gets the glory of recognition here.

What a prize.

Don't worry if you didn't win, more polls to come.

Quest Part II

I went out for round two of my quest to learn to ski last night. Yes, I think it is a Quest.

I went to Riverside a little before 5 and skied two and a half loops. It went ok, I keep having to tell myself to slow down and glide as the hockey player in me keeps trying to come through. Every once and a while I have to quit using my poles and think speed skating and it’s longer smoother strides than hockey. Playing hockey is all about reacting, quick starts, quick stops and accelerations. Skiing demands more consistency and rhythm.

After 45 min of steady skiing my lower back and calves were killing me so quit for the night. Man have I got a long way to go before February.

The trail conditions were much better than Sunday and that helped a lot. I did leave a few divots in the trail from my hand, knee and rear.

Down hills are still scary and up hills are still tough but I am starting to feel comfortable on the flats.

Does anyone know the length of the Riverside loop? Skinnyski list 15k but the loop in the park isn’t that long. I am going to guess around 2k???

First Ski Pics

My instructors, aren't they cute.

Yep after one hour of tripping and falling I was still smiling, kind of.

Snowy Sunday

Sunday the kids and I were out in the snow just about all day. We shoveled our driveway (yes they helped), built a neat snow fort out of one of the piles, got out their little XC 120 snowmobile and pulled each other around in a sled behind it and went sledding at Riverside.

We went over to the Shop to pick up my skis and I got a few tips. I met the Amo’s at riverside and they really helped me get the feel of it. After Bryan took away my poles and had me point toward my glide ski with my opposite hand and Sheila told me to think speed skating it started to come together. After a couple short laps of that we grabbed the poles and went through the different techniques, V1, V2, open field, etc. All in all it felt pretty good, down hills are scary and up hills are tough, but not bad for my first time out.

I had a hockey game also last night and it felt weird skating after skiing, but it came back quick.

The Wild are winning again, they beat Vancouver last night and now lead them by 2 points atop the Northwest division.