Differences Between Training and Normal Life, Part I:

My deodorant scent during the week: "Sport Fever"
My deodorant scent on off-days or for a night out: "Sexy Intrigue"

Fem's Dream World: Part VII

During my nap today, I dreamt that the team was on a flight to Europe. It was frigid on the plane. Mags was in the seat in front of me, and her feet were frozen solid. I handed her the -20 degree sleeping bag that I happened to have on my lap so she could get warm.

When I woke up, I was curled up in a ball beneath all my covers and my sleeping bag.

(This is what happens when it drops down to 45 degrees in California. Also, when it rains so much that the lake rises and you have to wade in 2 feet of water to get to the dock.)

Fem's Dream World: Part VI

Last night, I dreamt I competed in next week's Cross Country Skiing World Championships. Then I built a life-size gingerbread man and stationed him underneath the Eiffel Tower. I circled the area in a helicopter with my binoculars, making sure no one disturbed my creation. I saw a man break off the gingerbread man's head and start eating it as he walked through the park. I flew the helicopter down beside him and swiped it out of his hand, yelling at him for being so insensitive as to ruin my gingerbread man.

Wisdom from one of my very dearest friends

"There is wisdom that is woe; but there is a woe that is madness. And there is a Catskill eagle in some souls that can alike dive down in to the blackest gorges, and soar out of them again and become invisible in the sunny spaces. And even if he forever flies within the gorge, that gorge is in the mountains; so that even in his lowest swoop the mountain eagle is still higher than other birds upon the plain, even though they soar." -Moby Dick

Nothing like snake pictures to ruin a perfectly good afternoon

I made it back to California earlier this week! I don't have much to report. I've spent the last few days cleaning my apartment, working on schoolwork (I'm a full-time student this semester, online and at UCSD), and training. So I figured I'd just post a pretty picture of where I live and train.

However, much to my dismay, a google images search for "otay lake" comes up with not only pretty pictures like above, but also pictures of GROSS NASTY BLACK SNAKES!!!!!


Terrfied and confused, I researched further. I know there are rattlesnakes all over the place, but it's very rare that I see one. So what's the deal with all the snake pictures? Well, turns out Otay Lake is home to Rosy Boa constrictors (Lichanura trivirgata), which come in tons of different colors-- around Otay Lake, they're black. Some whacko-- I mean snake enthusiast-- has a website dedicated to them.

eww. scary. SNAKES, STAY AWAY FROM ME!!!!!!!

Momentum

"The trick is to leap out of bed as soon as you are aware of consciousness. Up, into motion, no time for doubt, no questions asked. New day. Game on... we are out the door and in the van- on our way to work on the dream. On our way to training. This is a mission. Every day is a mission . Some days the mission is to rest, some days it’s academics, some days fun, but most days the mission is to work. The planning and thinking have been done. This is the time for doing.

Training can be fun. A run through sunbeams splintered by tall pines in the cool of evening, feeling fresh and light, skis in hard tracks, on fast snow, full of life. But today training threatens to be less than fun. Low clouds, dark and cold. We are pushing through a hard ten days of training. No one feels fresh and light. If tall pines and sun exist, I cannot remember having enjoyed running through them. Training right now is nothing more than work, laboring up a gravel road in the light rain and in complete discomfort. It is our last interval. All are head- down, snot and rain dripping off the nose, fully involved in the task. We are a soggy string of runners stretched out up a steep incline deep in the woods. Alone- save for Sten, soaked and shivering, hollering encouragement to us. We are doing it, and even if the act of training itself is less than fun right now, we are working on the dream, and working on the dream is what drives me out of bed each morning. No hesitation, no doubt, up into motion.

To commit to something grand, something that may not be possible, to say “I am going to do it,” even when you may not be able to: That is dreaming. To actually set about the task of living up to your commitment, to begin doing, to tenaciously pursue what you said you would achieve: That is working on the dream."

-excerpt from Momentum, by 2-time Olympic nordic skier Pete Vordenburg

Snowshoe Race Video

Holly compiled a fantastic video of the snowshoe race. I think she got clips of almost all the participants in the 4-mile event, plus some requisite pre-race interviews from yours truly.