Izaak Walton Inn -- Girls' XC Skiing Weekend

This weekend my buddies Leanne, Allison and I stayed at the Izaak Walton Inn in Essex, Montana.  Essex is nestled in the "Middle Fork" area on the boundary of Glacier National Park.  The Inn is a really cute lodge and a great place to stay and play in the snow.  It is an older lodge so the rooms are characteristically small but cozy and super pleasant.  There is a bar in the basement with pool, ping-pong and Brazilian young bartenders studiously making drinks from the book.  It's a great place to go for the weekend.

Me and my friend

We skied twice on Saturday -- once before dinner and beers and once after.  There is a lighted 1k loop that we did 4 times in the dark.  It's really a great place with nice groomed XC ski trails. 

It's a little harder to get the skis on after dinner

2 degrees is plenty warm

Leanne has a 10 month old so I felt privileged to be part of a weekend away with her.  I forget sometimes how much harder it is for moms to work in this type of weekend.  It was great to catch up and hang out.

winter wonderland

I think I will now start training in earnest for Susitna.  Through Sunday.  Then I will taper.  This weekend was good training because I figured out that my Camelback doesn't freeze very quickly at all if I blow the water back in after drinking.  This is even without putting it under my jacket.  It got pretty cold this morning too.

I have a cold

I have a cold because I packed more action into this past weekend than my body was really up for. First, I participated in the "Whitefish Whiteout" (recreational division, not the one where speedsuits were the norm). This was a "ski mountaineering" race. Although I did the easier division, I still got last place, which was because I largely side-slipped (which is not skiing but more like tenously making it down in the slowest manner possible sideways) the black diamond downhill run, but I had fun.

Dave and Amber did really well, I hope they don't kick me off the C Team

You can't hurry 69

It's hard to tell but there were a lot of speed suits (spandex unitards)

I also competed in a roller derby meet -- I went almost straight from the mountain to the bout venue.  This in of itself wasn't too physically taxing, other than falling down a lot, but the part where we stayed out really late afterwards probably did me in.  Evidently, I'm no longer 21.

I'm wearing the red helmet

Roller derby is not unlike playing dress up as a little kid

Nonetheless, I got up and did a little XC skiing with Ted early-ish and then met up with my Canadian buddy Brenda for some skiing.  She convinced me to try a difficult black diamond tree run and while I made it down it was probably something she regretted.  I became paralyzed by fear of falling in a tree well (death traps made by our pondorosa pines and snow) and spent some time engaged in a mental breakdown.

Some snowboarders did this to Jesus, not us

It was a great weekend but no surprise that my not-so-young-anymore body is revolting.  Almost everything I did  this weekend was pretty random and outside the real of anything I would have ever thought I would ever do, even a year ago.  I hope this keeps my mind young despite the truth my body speaks.

I'm like, so totally excited now. Yes, for Susitna.

This weekend I went to Utah and hung out with Meghan Hicks and a couple of her friends in the Uintas of Utah.  Meghan lives in Park City, which is a fun little ski town, and put together this adventure that was too good to pass up.  Indeed, we had a wonderful time playing in the snow and I even turned off my cell phone for more than 24 whole hours (to make up for the time spent at Deer Valley on Friday where I was glued to my stupid smart phone, returning emails and phone calls and generally fitting every bad stereotype of lawyers). 

I had the opportunity to practice running with a sled.  My friend Andrew loaned me his sled, which was pretty awesome because he has logged probably 1,000 trail miles on this sled.  He has won the Susitna and won the Yukon Arctic Ultra and done all manner of arctic nonsense.  He gave me some advice too.  I feel really lucky to know so many people (three!) with experience doing these oddities.  

Up until this weekend I was looking forward to Susitna but never thinking it would be enjoyable.  After spending a weekend in terrain that, though at 8,500 feet or so, resembles my fantasy of Alaska I am downright stoked for Susitna.  There's something exhilirating about open snowy expansive terrain.  Of course, we had great weather this weekend and I expect that's a critical factor in the "fun" thing.

Pictured above was our weekend home -- the Colton Guard Station.  For a USFS cabin it was pretty luxurious with a wood stove and an actual propane powered stove, like a real kitchen one, and it was really clean and lovely.  I am motivated to do more of these weekend trips and would like to try renting a nearby cabin before winter is over.  Perhaps the dogs can pull the sled.

One of the things that struck me about the weekend as well is how lucky I am to know such cool people like Meghan.  She, like Jill (one of the three!), is someone I met through Keith and Leslie who I basically met through blogging.  These are all people whose paths I would likely cross anyhow given our common interests and often similar race schedules, but it's pretty neat (and efficient) that one can make such awesome friends in such a strange way.  Anyhow, Meghan is a uniquely cool chica and little does she know that I spent my morning run planning our Himalayan vacation for 2012 or 2013.

Powder Sunday with the C Team

Yesterday the self-named "C Team" (Dave, Amber and I) went out for a ski tour/powder day in the "Middle Fork."  Avalanche danger was high due to weird weather we've had, but we promised ourselves we would be careful and pay attention and not take risks.  The snow we found was pretty stable except for a little fracture and it was perfect skiing.  There was a skintrack set already and we ran into the folks who set it (including a guy I know - how cool to run into people you know in the backcountry) -- they were doing laps on the mountain we went up once and skied down in powdery bliss.  However, getting up was frustrating as I was forced to learn kick-turns pretty quickly on the go.  At one point I informed Amber that "I just want off this mountain" which she found entertaining.  However, forced to do many more kick turns, suck it up and just keep going, I improved in a short period of time and gained confidence on the side of that silly mountain.  However, I didn't actually take pictures due to my level of "worked up-ness" which is a shame since it was so beautiful.  Dave took some and I lifted these from him.

Amber doing something



Amber doing her tele turns

My ski down and out was pretty ridiculous as I was fatigued after the emotional drain of kick-turn central.  However, it was still fun and a great powder run.  The sun was out and it was a beautiful day.  Getting all the way back to the car involved going through relatively tight trees on a slick skin track but I managed to make it home in one piece, though with a lot more bruises than I care to admit... all in all a fantastic day but I really need to improve every single aspect of my backcountry skiing.  Practice... Regardless, I got in 6 solid hours of "training" for Susitna :-)

A woefully inadequate photo retrospective

I began trying to remember whether anyting notable happened in 2010 and whether I can find anything meaningful or interesting to say about my year.  My initial thought was: "no, in fact you rarely do anyhow."  Then I thought: "but it was a lot of fun."  Below is a photo retrospective of some of the fun.  I chose one photo per month, stealing the idea 100% from Jill Homer, however unlike Jill, they are not super thoughtfully chosen and only represent but one picture that I like or that has meaning to me.  There are obviously many more but these are some highlights of my year. 

JANUARY -- great run with great ladies in the Grand Canyon

FEBRUARY -- It's always fun to see my friends in Banff

MARCH -- my ski buddy Corey (who snowboards actually)

APRIL -- a super fun road trip to Spokane (for a 50k) with this motley crew of males (Brad, Footie, Erich and Jordy)

MAY -- the Park and trail running with Quinn

JUNE -- the Park and more trail running

JULY -- Angie and our infamous snow hike of 2010

AUGUST -- more fun in the Park with friends



SEPTEMBER -- a hike to end all hikes

OCTOBER -- I actually did a race

NOVEMBER -- Yanksgiving in Banff

DECEMBER -- my first roller derby bout!


A pretty good year -- can't complain.  I hope 2011 is also a good year.

A good day

Things have been busy with work travel but the nice thing about holidays is that you can get away with cutting out of work at noon on a Thursday to spend some quality snow time with friends.  Amber, Dave and I hiked up Big Mountain and were disappointed by the endless ugly views.  It's tough living here.

lifted from Dave's blog

 Happy holidays everyone!

Weekend Above the Clouds

Our little mountain valley frequently sees what is known as an "inversion" -- where the clouds hang low above the valley, socking everything in (rather drearily I might add).  But, if you can get on top of a mountain, you can soak in endless sun and, if you're lucky, warmth.  It was opening day on Big Mountain (Whitefish Resort) and while cold, it was beautiful.  Friday morning I had skinned up with Dave and we experienced great snow.  This picture below is of me -- or my light at least.  I was behind Dave.

lifted from Dave's blog -- this is what pre-work skiing looks like

The snow was pretty good yesterday on the mountain but the whole mountain was carved up by the swarms of skiers who made it out for opening day.

Today my friend Amber and I played around on Blacktail Mountain, which is not open yet, and had an amazing day.  We did about 4 laps up/down in approximately 5 hours.  It's a lot of work but it was so incredibly beautiful and we skied some perfect untouched powder.  I can see why people get addicted to powder skiing -- it's like floating.  

We were met with perfect bluebird skies and warm winds above the inversion.  

As the sun started to descend we saw a gorgeous alpinglow (sp?).  This picture doesn't do it justice.  But you can see the blanket of clouds.  It's like being in a plane.

A fantastic weekend.  Good friends, good snow, good exercise, good everything.  Amber remarked that the world would be a better place if everyone could regularly experience what we were able to experience today.  I agree completely.

Yanksgiving

Some good writeups about our holiday weekend in Canadia can be found here and here.  I didn't partakte in all the running though -- Keith and I hiked up Sunshine on our skis and I did a solo 2ish hour run along the Bow River.  It was beautiful.  But...

All I've really gotta say is POUTINE!  And maybe Weight Watchers...

It's Winter!

 Yesterday my friend Shawn and his friend Nate and I headed up to the mountain f/n/a "Big Mountain" to earn our first turns of the season.  The thermometer on the Subaru read 20 degrees and figuring that sounded pretty warm, we decided to ignore the wind that was whipping around us and visibly blowing trees.  "If it's windy in the Valley it's probably going to be windy up high" I keenly observed.  "That's what we would normally say" said Shawn.  We all laughed and pulled up to the nearly-empty parking lot to gear up and head up the mountain.

First, I should note that there is a lack of pictures here because it was so incredibly horrible that the last thing I could think to do was snap pictures.

Shawn is a snowboarder and had his board on his back -- it acted like a sail.  The short skis he was wearing were definitely not providing enough surface area to let the skins to their thing and adhere to the snow.  I know things are very wrong when I'm ahead of Shawn -- he's an uber athlete.  Nate had already darted far ahead.  I kept looking back to see Shawn blown backwards, sliding around, falling and generally looking miserable.  I figured he'd rally and since it was so horribly windy and cold, and because my hands were becoming painful clubs, I hurried up the pitch hoping to find shelter from the wind where I could wait for Shawn.

He never appeared.  I figured he turned back, and thought to take my skins off and head back myself since I had the car keys, but it felt too cold to stop and I was nearly to the Summit.  I completed my mission and found respite from wind at the Summit House where I removed my skins, put on about 5 coats and began my blissful and hard-earned powder run down (a different run, out of the wind). 

Shawn ended up waiting something like 45 minutes for me in the cold, since nothing was open, but managed to forgive me (I think/hope).  We had both planned originally to hike up today (Sunday) as well, but agreed that it was maybe not so awesome when the wind and cold brings you to your knees.  It's a really good reminder about how mean winter can be if she wants to, which brings me to:

My shell sled for Susitna came.  I need to make it into the gear-hauling machine it is destined to be.  I need to get out and find out what it's like to run with a sled full of gear.  After yesterday's punch-in-the-face of winter, I'm thinking I will need many balaclavas and a lot of hand warmers.  If the weather turns like it did yesterday at Susitna, there's no reason why I am subjecting myself to that for 40+ hours.  Rest assurred I'm not that crazy.  Call me weak if you want...  I like my fingers and toes.

Such a Softie

I basically took an entire month off from exercise.  Had a fun time in San Francisco and Vegas and saw Grandma in Florida.  I ran once that I can recall during that month, did no Crossfit and did virtually no skating/roller derby.  I think it's good to take break.   That said, I feel awfully "soft" about now and definitely need to get back into the swing of things.  Remarkably, I didn't gain weight.  However, I probably have half the muscle and twice the fat :p 

November 1 marked the date on which I would return to exercise, and I was sad to realize how quickly I appear to lose strength.  I know that endurance endures with little maintenance (for me anyhow) but my first Crossfit workout back was depressing.  I wanted to cry.  Not only do I have some weird mobility issues going on in my shoulder that prohibits me from lifting over my head, but I can only squat about half the weight I was able to squat a month ago.  It's pretty depressing but I have my work cut out for me.

Time to trade in the beer for vegetables

At the same time, I need to figure out how I'm going to train for Susitna.  It gets pretty dreary here in these winter months, and I now remember why I committed to no early season races last year -- I hate running here in the winter.  I figure I can get by though on the following "training" "plan" -- I am interested in your thoughts on this approach:

M = 2 hour roller derby (p.m.)
T = a.m. 5 mile run, p.m. Crossfit
W = a.m. or lunch Crossfit, p.m. 2 hour roller derby
R = a.m. 5 mile run, p.m. Crossift
F = rest
S = something long (7-12 hours) (Ski touring, snow-shoeing or running)
S = something sort longish (skiing (even a day of downhill), ski touring, snow-shoeing or running)

Between now and Susitna I will aim to do 2-3 12 hour runs with my sled on snow...  those will probably be in January/February.

I hope this will suffice because I simply cannot bear the thought of running long every weekend in the dreary sadness that is road-running during the winter.  Just thinking about it makes me want to cry.  I ran a little under 12 road miles today and although I was in good company, I wasn't really digging it.  So, hopefully this will end up being a sufficient plan.  I know my Swiss-German friend will be underwhelmed, but this is the best I can reasonably do.

Trying to keep up

I have been busy -- with all manner of personal and professional noise, both bad and good.  It's one of those times where all I can do is try to keep up and get everything done.  These pictures convey an opposite message.  Don't be fooled.  :p  

Too busy to blog.  What has this crazy mixed-up world come to?  All is well, but I am going to need a lot of coffee :-) 

Firetrails 50 -- exorcising the misanthrope

Saturday I ran the Firetrails 50 in the East Bay Regional Trails in California.  First the basics: I finished in 11:41, thought it was a very well organized and lovely race and had a wonderful weekend with my girlfriends Cheryl and Jenn, including the huge treat of getting to see Meghan Hicks.  I should also mention I finally got to meet her boyfriend Bryon who is a really cool dude.

photo courtesy of Jean Pommier

This race was a good lesson in head space.  I was in San Francisco hanging out and having a good time and started the race with the sense that I really couldn't be bothered to spend a whole day in the Bay area running.  I looked around thinking about how if I wanted to spend the day outside, why was I running in Oakland, CA?  It seemed insane.  Ridiculous.  I started thinking about when I should drop.  Except what would I do all day?  My friend Beat was incredibly nice enough to drive us to the race, so I'd have to wait for him.  I knew there was a keg so I figured a day draining a keg was better than a day running in Oakland.  (It wasn't really Oakland exactly but nearby so I'm calling it Oakland).  It was hot.  My skin was surely melting right off.  Why is California so hot?  Why do I keep coming here?  Why do I run long distances?  It's sorta dumb. 

My iPod started fizzling out.  That was it.  If my iPod died I was for sure dropping.  That was the last straw.  By mile 17 or so I'd had it.  But then my iPod worked and I finally hit some shady single track.  And I saw Cheryl, who provided me with my super cute plaid running shorts which were acquired on a particularly bad day last week.  She flew in from Chicago to run the marathon and hang out.  It's hard to be cranky around Cheryl.  She just won't really let you be cranky.  That's one of the reasons I love her so.

The ultimate cheerer-upper was seeing Beat sitting on the side of the trail with his laptop open trying to work.  He was on-call and had been paged.  Seeing such an absurd sight was enough to make me smile and move on.  And when I told him about how much I hated everything he made me feel really guilty and bad -- misanthropes don't feel guilty and bad.  The exorcism had begun.

Sigh.  I actually though it was all really pretty.  Even here in beautiful NW Montana you don't see the ocean and the Golden Gate bridge.  Beat started talking about how wonderful life is.  I felt all warm and happy inside.  I felt the goodness of life.  The power of sunshine and endorphins compels you.

I realized I was almost half way done.   It wasn't so bad.  I was enjoying myself.  I hadn't fallen too far behind. My friend Jenn was running her first 50 and flew all the way from Georgia to be there.  I could be bothered to finish afterall.  I finished with Jenn and our friend Chris who was pacing Jenn.   The misanthrope was gone and I was downright cheery.


Jenn and Danni



Cheryl, Danni and Jenn

So, I finished.  It was good mental practice to see how much head-space matters in ultrarunning. 

"Taper"

This weekend, which by the way was an incredibly sunny and warm weekend, I hitched a ride in the Hammer Nutrition van to Missoula where I had a pleasant and lazy weekend. 

Saturday I ran 8 miles in the Rattlesnake while Jill, Beat and Dave mountainbiked.  Sunday I "volunteered" at my friend Mike's 30k trail race (he was RD), which was a fundraiser for the XC team he coaches, which meant laze around in the sun all day.  I did talk up a new Hammer product to someone.  (Hammer version of Nuun -- it's awesome). 


the beginning of the run, before they hit the trailhead

 It was a weekend filled with nothing but good folks, good weather and beer and ice cream.  I hadn't planned to run on Saturday at all but Beat, who was in town visiting Jill, demands that I start "training" for Susitna.  He appears to have caught on already to my M.O. which is to train minimally and complain incessantly about how fat and out of shape I am.  There's nothing like being yelled at in German (he's Swiss but does a good mean German) to motivate.

stolen from Jill Homer

This picture is of Beat mountainbiking.  I didn't take any pictures from my run but I was there, somewhere behind Beat.

I am running the Dick Collins Firetrails 50 this weekend, and am looking forward to seeing friends.  My knee is hurting though and I tweaked it worse this morning on my run when I about tripped and fell on my face.  I am going to rest it the rest of the week, stretch and cross my fingers.  The last thing I want to do is give myself a bum knee for ski season.

Through the rest of the year I am for reals going to drink a lot less beer.  And I will train.  I will.  I don't want to be yelled at in German.  It's my Jewish side.