So Nordical

It turned out to be a pretty darned nice day.

It didn't look that way this morning.

After getting a mere three hours of sleep last night, and only a couple more the night before, I was starting to get pretty glum. Plus, the cloudy skies weren't helping my outlook.

But, I was pleased that we had gotten some more snow yesterday because I have been missing being able to cross country ski. So I headed up to Sundance again this morning for a little Nordic action.

It was cold when I arrived. As I started off up the trail I worried that I hadn't dressed warm enough. But really only my face and lips were cold. I thought they might freeze, crack, and fall off. It was snowing and the wind was blowing.

But that was only for the first five minutes. I had made a wise decision as I left the Nordic Center's yurt: I choose to head straight up Connor's Climb. That sure warmed me up quickly. After that, life was beautiful.

After I got over feeling cold, I noticed that I wasn't gliding as nicely as I felt I should be, and I was feeling tippy. Was it the fact that I hadn't been skiing in three weeks and had lost my form, or was it that my body just wanted to fall over and take a nap?

After getting to the top of Connor's Climb I found that one of my favorite trails was un-groomed. Yay! I love skiing in the powder! But I didn't realize what a hip flexor workout I was getting myself into. I climbed Felonious Colonious in at least six inches of powder. It was more like I was snowshoeing with really long snowshoes. I reached the summit and came down one of the steeper climbs: Ten Lashes. With so much powder, I was able to descend it without snowplowing at all and really didn't go too fast. After that, I was feeling so brave, I went out seeking other steep parts to come down. Which meant I came down Jerry's Lunch. I actually found that part to be less steep than Ten Lashes.

By the time I had gotten to Jerry's Lunch, my left heel was beginning to sting. I tightened up the boot, hoping that would fix the problem. No luck. I tugged at my sock and tights. That didn't fix it either. So I headed back around Lena's Loop and returned to base.

I walked into the yurt and told the guys that I had a blister. One of the guys sat me down, took off my sock and bandaged me up. This is the same guy who had insisted on waxing my skis when I had walked in that morning. Great service! Anyway, he did a super skilled, albeit interesting, bandaging:


So much tape for just for a quarter-sized blister on my heel! But it felt better, so I hit the trail again. By now the sun was shining, and I could really enjoy myself...until the other heel started stinging. What the...? I still haven't figured out what caused the blisters today. I've never gotten a blister in these boots before. Anyway, that pretty much cut my time in the snow short. I was done.

I was shocked to come home and check my GPS stats. Apparently, I hit a new world's record for cross-country ski speed: 65.3 MPH! Wow! Something is definitely wrong with my Garmin.