Knock-knock

knock-knock, knock-knock! Dang, what is that knocking?

I am sleeping and it is so warm & cozy... dad, wake up! I'm back.

Man, was I in dreamland....

I skied the Elm Creek Relays/TT series tonight. It was a small but fast group. I turned in a time over a minute slower than my previous time. That is no surprise following a week of sub-zero temps and a race time temp of 2F. Cold snow is slow.

After the race, with tonight's temp bottoming-out just like all week, I decided to cut my ski night short . I went home and put in the rest of my workout time on the bike. As much as I don't like indoor riding the trainer did the trick warming up my fingers and toes.

When I wrapped up my training time I still had one more chore to do. My Oldest daughter Katie (9th grader) is in orchestra. Tonight they went on a field trip see an Opera in Minneapolis and the bus was not due back until 11PM.

So at 10:45 I warmed up my car an went to the school to wait for their arrival. My car was soooo warm and before I knew it... well, you already know the rest of the story.

Knock-knock, dad!!

Winter's Dead Center

white & nerdy

As I write this (Fri. eve) the temperature outside is -6F and tumbling towards the teens below. Saturday's forecasted high is -2F. WOO-HOO! you got to dig it, I mean, this is it, the absolute dead of winter! From here on out it's just another day closer to spring...

We have had it pretty good this winter so far, it is mid January and we have had no real long-term plunges into the sub-zero range. I find myself hoping for a good wallop of arctic air this weekend, after all, what is a Minnesota winter without some real snow and cold? As we all know, heading into February, Old Man Winter's grip starts to slip. The sun climbs higher, daylight is more plentiful, and before you know it... dandelions!

Seriously, winters have never seemed shorter since I started xc skiing. Here in Minnesota, at our local latitude, the best we can hope for is a 100 ski day season. Suddenly, a hundred days of winter never seemed so short!

So I say; sock it to us Mother Nature and Old Man Winter! Lets see what you got!!

On a side note, I am pleased to report that I have been successfully hitting the prescribed marks on my training schedule. EVEN if it means mindlessly spinning my white legs on a trainer in front of the tube!

Happy New Year and back to work

Christams was great, but training-wise Christmas week was not good. Starting New Years Eve things have turned around again. Mary and I turned down party invites for New Years Eve opting to spend a family night safe and sound at home. That plan quickly fell apart as our kids all had alternate plans. I guess playing games at home with mom & dad is not so exciting to teen & nearly teen kids.

The up-side? I got to go skiing! So that is how I spent some of the last hours of '07. Actually, you want to know what I was doing in the very last hour of '07? At 11:30 I was at Cub foods in Champlin buying pop for my oldest daughter and her two friends, woo-hoo! I did make it home in time to kiss my wife as '08 arrived (then I hid out in the basement).

Fast-forward to tonight and the "back to work" part. Great ski night with a lot of familiar faces... Amy, Melinda, Dave, Tom, Bob, John, & Neil. I skied my longest and hardest ski of the season so far. Two hour plus with a 2K Time Trial thrown in and a team relay lap race to boot. I went home with probably 25K on my legs, tired, and parched!

Best wishes to everyone in 2008. Bring it on!