I was driving over to meet Ronsse to carpool to practice the other morning. It was 49°F and raining, I would even go so far as to say pouring. I was far from excited at the prospect of putting on my ski boots and watching the rain drip off my helmet in front of my face for two hours. It seemed like maybe a good morning to stay home and read some of Nabokov's delightfully morbid short stories. But Ronsse was waiting to carpool and the rest of the team was waiting at Potter marsh and it was probably going to be raining the next day too so it's not like waiting for good weather was an option.

Ronsse got in the car and said, "it's been forever since I've been rollerskiing in the rain.."

"me too," I replied glumly before she could finish with,

"I'm excited about it!"

as much as I hate admitting that my mom is ever right there's something to be said for attitude.

I was dead set on cleaning off my klister-caked classic kickers when I got home tonight. (Someone slap me please, I alliterated and I can't stand alliteration, it's like a black hole of stupidity used when one isn't actually paying attention what's being written, imho.) Then one of my friends sent me a link to the following article on procrastination. The immediate effect was to feel better about myself and the secondary effect is that my skis are still oozing klister onto the floor.

...that would be perfectly fine by me. I'd gotten spoiled by my entirely moose-free glacier-maroc-glacier month and running in Kincaid this morning was constantly irked by the forgotten presence of moose scattered throughout the trails. They're such nuisances, like over-sized rodents that can seriously obstruct your forward momentum. And I'll tell you what's wrong with moose these days, they lack respect, that's what. Fear me, moose, FEAR ME. I probably spent a solid five minutes this morning yelling at moose. I was only successful at getting them to move about half the time. No respect for their human elders, that's the problem. I come from the species that harnessed FIRE, invented the WHEEL, walked on the MOON. I am IMPORTANT. This is a fact that those moose don't seem to appreciate. It deflates my ego and it pisses me off. If you're not Alaskan and think that moose are a novelty; if you think, "oh, let's take a cruise up to Alaska and buy a cute little stuffed animal moose to bring home as a memento." Don't think that, come up to Alaska, bring a gun, and take home an entire full-sized moose. Better yet, take home a couple. Because I am so over moose.

In pretty much the most disgusting moment of the week, Miss Kassandra Rice drank a coffee mug of bacon grease. I think the incentive was $100 but I'm not positive. This is not how one should dispose of bacon grease.




Kate Arduser, Katie Ronsse, Kikkan Randall, & Taz Mannix hanging out in the upstairs living room. Taz is working and the other girls are watching, I believe, video from Kikkan & Jeff's wedding. Aw... cute. This is typically my realm as well, if you look at the table you can see my textbook, paper & calculator.

Katie Ronsse, Kikkan Randall & Jeff Ellis waiting to depart Eagle glacier Sunday afternoon.

This is post clean-up and pre-departure but the downstairs living room usually seems to look like this-- people draped over all the couches.

My favorite quotes from the week:

"...and that's the difference between slipping around and climbing trees."
-Erik Flora on some technique/waxing point.

"Are you telling me we've eating 25 sticks of butter?"
-Dylan Watts on hearing that there were only 7 sticks of butter remaining 3 days into the camp.

I also picked up a new phrase from Jeff Ellis which is, unfortunately, not appropriate for publishing.

A very small person skiing across the glacier.

Dlyan Watts standing on the ridge where we had a new trail for our OD on Sunday.

Ellis's footprints heading out to the wax trailer one morning.

We didn't see much this week but the mountains around here always are spectacular when you can see them.

Being right back up on the glacier last week made Morocco seem like a crazy dream. I was amazed by how quickly my body adapted from glacier weather to highs every day between 40 & 50° and back to snow flurries almost every day. I missed a few workouts due to getting delayed on the way back but it was still a solid week of training with some L5, L4 & L3 workouts as well as some good video sessions and feedback from Erik on technique.

There's a pair of skis leaning in my entryway. Classic skis. With klister oozing down the entire length by now, I imagine. I try not to look at them. I try not to see them. I know for a fact that I would feel better about life if I took ten minutes and took them into the garage and cleaned them and put them away. It's been on my to-do list for, well, months now. The longer I wait the more the klister petrifies into unmanageable amber. Furthermore it's right by a coat hook so every time I hang up my sweatshirt I have the take extra care to keep the sleeves from swaying into contact with the kick zone.

And for some reason I don't strike people as a procrastinator.

This is a pretty interesting map of America published by the Center for Disease Control charting the percentage of obese Americans from 1985 through 2006. Startling, really, especially since it only covers 21 years.

Check it out HERE.