Å Gå På Ski

I'll just get this over with quickly: not a good Christmas. At all. Eric woke up sick on Friday morning so didn't make it down. Christmas was really a non-event this year, other than Matt opening a couple of gifts and having my brother Mark and family over for dinner.

I spent the afternoon and evening dinking around with Faceook and my iPod and really enjoyed listening to Matt sing and pick on his new guitar.

Time to move on.

The morning began with a running workout: a run from Panera. Just over 3 miles before meeting the others at 7:30. I think there were 11 that showed up. We went on the roads to the south and east and then made our way up to the lake. I slipped into Silver Lake Foods for a drink and then another loop around the lake. It was then that Trevor called out to me. I decided to join them (he, Jeff and Andy), but was hesitant about being able to keep up with these 3, 3:10 marathoners. After the 1.8 mile loop, I was about 50 yards back and decided not to try to keep up, or catch up. Wasn't going to happen! They're really quick. So I headed out toward the prison to get the extra mileage in on (somewhat) cleared trails rather than the uncleared trails near Panera. When I got back I had in 16.07 miles. It was 12 degrees, but actually quite pleasant. We haven't had much wind this week which has been a blessing. I'm getting tired of wearing two or three pairs of pants, multiple shirts, gloves AND mittens, neck gaiter and hat, etc. when running. I feel like the Michelin tire guy. I stopped in to Panera for a quick howdie before heading out.

Dave and Adam

Liz, Tom, Roger, Millie

I'd promised pancakes for Matt, so when I got home I got right to it. From scratch buttermilk 'cakes.

They were delicious. It was almost 11:00 and I was famished. I had a 90 calorie granola bar after the run, then stopped at HyVee for grapes and carrots and by the time I got home I was ready to eat my fist. So I had oatmeal AND 1.5 pancakes and I wasn't stuffed. Those miles really made me ravenous!

I spent a little time this afternoon working on my little sewing project ...

I'm getting there. it's just taking a while. I discovered I was 4 legs short, so had to whip those up before proceeding. Stay tuned.

Then I needed to get out, so decided to head down to Soldier's Field for a quick ski. Very peaceful. (Note to dog owners: PLEASE do not take your dogs down there on the ski track. When I got there there was this huge dog, looked close to 100 pounds, out there with two skiers. Totally trashed it in spots.)

Really deep snow

It's only a classical track down there, and wasn't groomed with equipment, but it's OK. I skied for 75 minutes then when daylight was waning, put on John's snowshoes for a quick romp in the snow.

It was my first time using snowshoes. I'm not sure if I was doing something wrong, but on the virgin snow, they were sinking and my ski boots were filling with snow, so that didn't last long. But I'd had enough for the day. My ski boots were pressing on yet ANOTHER toenail on my right foot, so I was ready to ditch them and get some food. It was about 5:00 and I was starving again. Ready to eat my other fist!! As I was skiing, I was (kind of) using my math major thinking about workouts and permutations: 6 things (run, ski, snowshoe, swim, bike, Stairmaster) taken two at a time. 6!/(6-2)! That's 30 options for two-a-day workouts (run/ski, ski/run, run/bike, bike/run, run/swim, Stairmaster/swim, ... you get the idea).

Totally useless info: I'm now Facebook friends with 3 rather well-known runners ... Dick Beardsley, John "The Penguin" Bingham, and Bart Yasso. :-)

Spent a little more time with my snowmen ...

before eating yet another salad and a piece of lefse.

Enough for today. Good night.