Cross Country Ski Race

So I am sitting here folding clothes, and I just folded a free t-shirt that I got. It was made by Sundance, and whoever designed it, wasn't thinking very clearly, it is a dark green with a silkscreen on it with black ink...yeah pretty much unreadable unless you are way too close. The shirt says, "Free your heel, and your mind will follow." Well the story of just how I got this shirt is a funny one...

At the time I was working in a laboratory on BYU's campus. One of my fellow lab mates told me of an upcoming cross country ski race that was happening at the Sundance Nordic Track up in Provo canyon. She knew that I cross country skied and suggested that I go up and enter the race. I asked her if the race was both skating and touring.

At this point, if you don't know much about cross country skiing, you need a quick lesson. There are two VERY different types. Skate skiing is more similar to rollerblading on snow with really long blades. You push out on your skis as you go creating V lines as you go along the trail. In order to skate ski, you must be on groomed trails, it doesn't work on snow that you "sink" in, so if the trail isn't groomed the snow must be firm and not powder. The other type of cross country skiing is referred to as Classic or sometimes touring. This is the type that most people are familiar with--parallel skis going forwards and backwards (see nordic track). This type of skiing can be done on either groomed or in back country, anywhere there is snow really. These two types are so very different that you don't skate with touring skis, and you don't tour with skating skis. As you might guess, skating is MUCH MUCH faster if you know how to do it properly.

So back to my story...my friend assured me that there would definitely be classic skiers as well as skaters. This put my mind at ease since I only owned classic skis and never learned to skate (someday, someday). So I thought about it, and decided to go--with the assurance that my friend would be coming as well. The morning of the race arrived, I think you can guess what happened. Yeah, I was one of like 3 people on classic skis, surrounded by skaters. This wasn't going to be pretty. And my friends? Oh wait....I was there all....by....myself. Ok, I can do this, I mean what have I got to lose besides ALL of my dignity.

The skaters were off, I could see them for the first few yards, but soon...well soon I was just enjoying a lovely little stroll through the snow all by myself--which on a regular cross country ski day is wonderful, but on a race day, somewhat humiliating. However, in these circumstances I usually say, who cares, no one here knows me, I'll likely never see any of these people again...and just laughed it off as I crossed the finish line LONG after the leaders. Naturally, Murphy wasn't done with me yet, as I was nearing the finish line there was one of the staff from my high school..."Hey there! I know you..."

Well, at least I got a free t-shirt at the drawing afterwards.

Fall 2008

So where was I this last Monday to take such wonderful fall pictures? Maybe I was in Maine? New Hampshire? Vermont? Nope, the middle of northwest DC. In fact these pictures were taken just 5 miles from the White House. One of the things that I love about DC is the parkways that we have, particularly the Rock Creek Parkway and Rock Creek Park (where these pictures were taken; and coincidentally made famous nationwide when Chandra Levy's body was found in the park). You can be right in the middle of the city and you feel like you are miles away from civilization. What's even better is that my two favorite parkways are the Rock Creek Parkway and the George Washington Parkway...and from where I live the two fastest ways to get to the DC temple is by using one of those two parkways.