As a matter of fact...

I DO go to the bathroom outside.  This has very, very little to do with the rest of this post, but while killing some time in the Northshire bookstore I saw this and had an awkward moment of laughing out loud while everyone else was silent.  A similar scenario occurred when I saw this book:

It is a parody (thankfully and hopefully), but Goodnight Moon was one of my favorite books growing up, so I was saddened in a hysterical way when I came across this title.  I did purchase a book, Double Cross by Ben Macintyre, which chronicles that adventures of d-day solider spies.  Nerdy, I know.  But it's like an adventure story except with real world people which just raises the stakes infinitely. 

Now for three things that I don't joke about:

 Breakfast:  This has become a pretty standard first course of breakfast for me, but today I decided to make it photo worthy.  The base is some Chobani yogurt (Ah!), topped with some nectarines (questionably in season but still good), with a crown of my absolute favorite, raspberries.  Then there is some wonderful granola sprinkled on the top.  So simple, so good.

 Dinner:  Here is one of our home cooked meals from the past weekend.  It turns out there were a lot of vegetables--even brussel sprouts.  I'm not even sure if I like brussel sprouts that much, but they were on the table so I ate them (obviously).  We also adventured out and tried some scallops (good) and some butternut squash with asparagus (better).  And then for dessert we had some ice cream (the white chocolate raspberry chocolate truffle kind--better-er) with some raspberry chocolate chip cookies on the top (best).  Is there anything better than a fabulous meal? Unclear.

Dessert:  I don't mess around when it comes to baking.  Pictured above is probably one of Erika's and my best creation yet: a maple bundt cake.  We got the recipe from the Martha Stewart American Cookbook, and as Erika aptly concluded, "She may have not done everything right, but she did know how to cook."  True statement.  This cake was incredible, like happiness solidified in a maple-y, sugar-y, over the top amazing-y cake. YUM.

And I don't quite remember what we were cooking when we came across this cool thing, but its cool so here's a picture.

Two yolks in one egg! BONUS!!!!!!!

Oh yah, we workout (cue LMFAO song):

This picture isn't posed at all...regardless this is the top of a big hill that Erika and I biked up a couple days ago.  It was really cold, and we are complete novices (or just really tough guys...yup going with that one) and didn't wear gloves, or shorts (who needs feeling in their fingers? Not this kid).  But after biking uphill for awhile we recovered and had a wonderful time.

Here is Erika and I doing some solid level 3 (threshold) striding intervals up the Stratton Access road.  Its got really nice new pavement, and is perfect for any level three type stuff.  I had definitely felt better in my life, but also much worse.  As it turns out after that day I developed a little sniffles, but I've been pounding the vitamin C and some really nasty zinc chews and feel a lot better today.  So I'll keep today pretty easy and hope that this sucker is gone for good!

This sucker is probably not gone for good:

As it turns out the mouse is actually really smart (and also strong seeing as it ate some powerbars) and didn't stick his head in the trap like he was supposed to.  Therefore he didn't die.  So when we (by we I mean Eric Packer) let him go he just scurried off no harm done.  Probably just a flesh wound.  So he'll be back.  As will I in my next post!

Hugz and Kissez

Race then Rest!

Woof.  The Lake Placid camp was great, but man I was one tired pup after the whole week.  The week of intensity ended with a classic sprint simulation which ended up being really fun.  At first I wasn't that amped on it--I was tired, a little bit cranky and my muscles did NOT want to cooperate.  So the qualifier wasn't the greatest--I gotter done but in no spectacular fashion.  But then I worked into the heats a little bit and got the super sweet chance to move up into the A final and that was awesome.  I definitely need to work a little bit on sprint heat tactics, and there is no better way to do that then practice with the best in the country!  It was really awesome to be able to be a part of that, so thanks NENSA and the USST!  Below are some pictures from that day.

Here I am in the first heat I did.  This was coming off of a decently sketchy downhill turn.  No one fell which is super, but there were definitely some close calls.  Maybe the most terrifying noise in the world is that off metal bearings scratching at the pavement as the skiers tried to make the turns.  In the heats the girls were all pretty careful--we were choosing life over death.  The boys were maybe a little more aggressive, but still no causalities so woo!. Faster skier photo (this one and then the next two!)

We also got lactate tested after the qualifier and then again after the last of our simulated heats.  After the qualifier I was 9.9 and then after the last final I was 9.6.  I'm not entirely sure what this means, whether these are good or bad numbers, but they are the numbers I had!

Sophie, me and Ida (in that order left to right) lead off the pack for the start of our last heat.  The course was pretty difficult.  It started on a steep uphill that turned into a more stridable one, then shot down two really fast hills, followed by a bit of a double pole zone and then a nasty uphill finish.  I think I need to work on my double poling the most, and it was awesome to be able to see where I need to improve vis-a-vis the top sprinters in the country!  Shout out to Soph for winning the whole thing!

Here we all are after just finishing the qualifier I think and getting our lactates tested.  I was a big bleeder that day, and went through a whole lot of bandaids in an attempt to not blood stain my poles. yuck.  

After the sprint, Sophie, Erika and I all headed back to Hanover to hang out at Dartmouth for a little bit.  I missed all of my dartmouth college buddies and so it was great to catch up with them and I also got to meet all of our new freshman which was awesome.  I also did a real world activity and got my oil changed and my tires rotated.  I feel like the Jiffy-Lube guy could sense that I knew absolutely nothing about cars, but I just kept saying that all I wanted was a tire rotation and an oil change.  Every once in a while its good to do a real person activity :)  Erika did a great job keeping me company during this grown up experience.

After staying in Hanover for two nights (and two off days which were well received)  I headed back up to Stratton and went to the Peru fair!  The delicacy for the day was a quail shish-ka-bob which was delicious.  Erika and I also munched on some kettle corn, and waited for a very old man to read through 36 raffle ticket numbers.  We didn't win anything.  All I want is to win a raffle some day.  Setting high goals for the future.

Here is me having a staring contest with an Alpaca at the Peru fair.  If only those little guys knew how much their fur was worth.  I wanted to pet them, but wasn't sure if that was allowed.  And after the duck incident (see previous post), I wasn't about to take any chances. Erika Flowers photo

Speaking of small animals, we have a mouse in our apartment.  It scurried across my feet this morning at breakfast, and Erika and I are determined to get rid of that little sucker before Sophie comes back to us from Boston (hi Dan!).  Erika and I are planning a wonderful dinner with some Raspberry Oatmeal bars for dessert (English Matrimonial or Princess bars are real baking names for them--whatever you call them they are delicious).

But basically my body is feeling a lot better after a couple days of recovery, and I'm looking forward to jumping back into some training.  And my new skis came from Fischer! Christmas in September.

hugz and kissez!

If you give a duck a scone...

Here Soph and I are starting our wonderful 2 hour classic.  It was an absolutely gorgeous day, and I got an even better view as I got to ski behind Soph the entire time ;) She is a great person to follow--super smooth and super talented.  So lucky to have her as a training partner and friend!

One of my favorite books growing up was "If you give a mouse a cookie," which then was followed  by the even better sequel "If you give a moose a muffin" (obviously that book was going to be better because muffins are prominently featured in the title).  The general premise of both books is that if you give a mouse a cookie (or a moose a muffin), then he is going to want some milk.  And if he wants some milk then he is going to want more and more and more.  Turns out this story has its roots in reality.  

After a great classic ski with Soph (see above picture), Soph, Erika, Jessie and I went to an amazing bakery and got some excellent scones (Raspberry White Chocolate--YUM).  We then went down to the waterfront to enjoy our scones on the wonderful day, and ran into a team of ducks.  At first they seemed really cute and really friendly, and in Jessie's favorite term "really nice."

This is me and my duck friends.  If you look closely you can see the brown sign warning people like me to please not feed the ducks.

But for some reason I couldn't get the stupid ducks to come closer to me for a picture.  So I had the brilliant idea of feeding the ducks a piece of my scone to get them to come a little bit closer.  They did in fact come closer.  Too close.  One sort of nipped my finger with his beak and I freaked out a little bit.  And then the ducks gained a lot of confidence, so while we were taking the below picture, one of the ducks ran off with a chunk of Jessie's cookie.  Instead of being called friendly, Jessie dubbed the ducks devious.  So my next endeavor in life is writing the book "If you give a duck a scone..."  Then he is going want some cookie.

Here we are in front of Lake Placid--little did we know that the ducks were enjoying a chocolatey feast

 The next day we started off with some super fun skate speeds.  I have been working really hard on improving my skate technique, and there is no better way to do this than follow some of the best in the country at max speed.  Below I follow Ida in one of the uphill skate speeds.  The way the speeds were organized was on a continuos 20ish minute loop with 3-4 speeds dropped in.  Its a good way to practice reacting to mass start tactics, and just really fun.  As long as you don't fall.  Every time I started a speed I would sort of pray that I didn't end up on my belly on the pavement.  Not only would that be sort of embarrassing, but it would hurt a lot.

Uphill skate speed practice. Amy Caldwell Photo

We also practiced going down hills really fast.  As Jessie very wisely pointed out earlier in the fall (I can't believe I'm already saying "earlier in the fall"), at least half of a race is downhill (in most cases--not so in climb to the castle, see below pictures).  So it is super important to be able to go really fast down hills as well.

Here Erika and I work on our downhill speed.  These are the most frightening, because if you fall, it will hurt really bad.  I have yet to ever have a serious roller ski accident so I probably am not as scared as I should be.  USSA Nordic photo

There are a lot of boys at this camp.  Here is a shot showing just how many there are.  All that testosterone makes the boys more amped and makes them go faster.  It probably also makes the girls go faster.  Amy Caldwell Photo.

And finally here are some pictures from the Climb to the Castle courtesy of faster skier. Obviously no downhill here.  I think I sort of look like a ghost in the solo shot.  It's scary, I don't really like the vacancy in my eyes, but I think it rather well depicts not only the epic-ness of that day, but also just how hard that race was.  The other picture is a shot sometime within the first mile or two of Jessie leading, with me next then Ida and then Sophie.  It was a lot more fun skiing in a group than by yourself (as I learned).

Well that's it for now, hope everyone is having great days!

hugz and kissez

Epic

I am writing this post from Soph's and my abode at the Olympic Training Center in Lake Placid, where we both are somewhat corpse-like after our epic Climb to the Castle.  The Climb to the Castle is an annual event put on by the NYSEF (New York Ski Education Foundation), and it is literally 5 miles of uphill.  It is unlike any other ski race (thankfully), and today it was even better (worse?) due to the wind and rain that greeted us at the top.  At least it was epic.

On our off day Erika and I took a little walk (to loosen up the legs!) and went to Pike's Point.  It's beautiful.  Erika went swimming, I did not.  I prefer just lounging in the sun.

This terrible epic-ness of today contrasts sharply with the past couple days I've enjoyed. Following the running time trial (see previous post on Roses and Thorns), we enjoyed a day off in which Erika and I got our domesticity on.  Our biggest success was rice crispy footballs for the football fanatics on our team (Skyler and Gus), but they were enjoyed by many.  We also made some muffins, as well as some cookies that unfortunately were terrible.  They held a lot of promise--the main ingredient (besides the absurd amount of flour which is why they were not good) was pretzel m&ms.  Whoever invented the pretzel m&m is a genius.  They are hands down the best version out there, and arguably the best candy known to man (maybe a bit of an exaggeration, but then again maybe not).

Erika using some artistic skill to decorate the footballs!

Completed footballs! They were really delicious--I mean how can you go wrong with chocolate rice crispies, peanut butter, marshmallows and footballs?!?

The next day we headed out to Lake Placid, but not before stopping at an AMAZING breakfast place in Manchester.  The little hole in the wall is called Up for Breakfast, and you literally have to go up because it is on the top story of a building.  It was stellar, and a good way to start off the 3ish hour drive.  Upon arrival at Placid we did a nice easy run and settled into OTC life.  The OTC can get a little dull at times, but by watching a lot of movies, reading a lot, and spending a lot of time in the dining hall we make the time FLY by (times flies while your having fun!).

The next day we did some speeds in the morning followed by an easy skate ski in preparation for the epic-ness that was today.

Now for the race.

In my typical fashion I started off probably too hard.  But for me I find that unless I get off to a good hard start, I have a lot of trouble getting myself into racing mentality.  So I generally go pretty hard from the start, hang on, hoping for the best but also expecting the worst.  The idea is that with every year I will be able to hang on for longer.  So far, so good, as this year went a lot better than last year--almost 9 minutes so! Here is a link to the results--hopefully some more pictures and a full report will emerge at some point http://blogs.fasterskier.com/insidetrack/2012/09/15/stephen-claims-third-climb-to-the-castle-victory/. If any good pictures surface I will be sure to post them!

I started off with the lead group of girls (minus Liz Stephen who was leagues in front of everyone--way to kill it!), and then started to feel the pain train around 2ish miles.  So I dropped off the pace a bit, but managed to keep things going well until the end.  I think I ended up 7th and the 3rd U23, so both things I am really happy with!

Gus, Sophie, and I after the finish, all sporting our matching beanie hats.  That is Gus, smiling.

And now we just wait until strength time (as if my legs already aren't sore enough!)  But I'm pretty stoked, so it will be lots of fun.  And maybe going to Ben and Jerry's tonight...what's not to love?!?

Hugz and Kissez

Roses and Thorns

In high school (and okay occasionally in college too) we would play a game called roses and thorns.  Basically the premise of the game is to say the rose of your day (or week or month or whatever) and then the contrasting thorn.  Roses are good things, while thorns are bad things.  And as Poison has assured us, every rose has it's thorn (or Miley Cyrus in her version...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqv9IyrcLfc).  Either way, for this blog that's what I'm going to do.  My roses and thorns for the last day in a half or so.

ROSE:
Dinner at the Caldwells.  I get probably a little too excited for dinner at the Caldwells, but that's only because every time I go the meal somehow manages to be better than the one before (Thanks Lilly!).  She really outdid herself this time with prosciutto wrapped shrimp and nectarines AND pineapple all on one shish-kabob and grilled to perfection (Thanks Sverre!).  Lots of delicious sides, and then to top it all off some super good fudgey brownies from the new Bromley Market near Peru, VT.  So good.

THORN:
I can't sleep past like 7.  So while sleeping over at the Caldwells (thanks Isabel for letting me use your bed) is a definite Rose, I really wish I could sleep in.

ROSE:
Breakfast.  We made waffles.  Enough said.

ROSE:
Strength.  I really like our new strength program.  It makes me feel really intense because its a lot of lifting really heavy things, while still looking good (naturally).

THORN:
Running time trial.  This was not that much fun for me.  It was supposed to be an 8.8 mile run (which in and of itself is a pretty long time), but then Erika and I got a little lost so we added some to that, and then I bonked a little bit (a lot a bit), but the Rose for this thorn is that I did in fact finish even if it wasn't my greatest showing.  Sometimes that's all you can ask your body to do in a race--finish!
 

I think I have about 3ish or maybe 4 miles left at this point. Not such a happy camper

Another Rose:  I have the best teammates ever!  Erika and Soph give me some wise words following the running time trial.  Loves of my life!

          Another Rose!  We all wore pink on accident one day, and I love pink!

ROSE:
Date night with Erika.  Dan (hi dan) and Soph made Soba noodles and dumplings together, which left Erika and I on our own.  We decided to whip up a little pizza with some pesto, arugula, italian sausage, peaches, and fresh mozzarella.  Yummy in my tummy.  We followed that up with some left over brownies and ice cream, then a showing of Snow White and the Huntsman.  I never knew that Snow White could be so dark!  But it was really good.

Our masterpiece!

This is another obvious Rose.  Erika working on some striding technique, while I got to hitch along for the ride.

THORN:
I woke up this morning and I am incredibly sore.  My hip flexors feel like rubber bands that are pulled just a little bit too tight and are about to snap.  So this leads me to my last...

ROSE:
It's a good thing we have an off day.  Erika and I have some intense baking planned (domestic divas), so our apartment will be smelling like yummy baked things.  We leave for Lake Placid for a week tomorrow so I guess I actually have one last Thorn...

Thorn:
Packing. Yuck.

But you can't end on a Thorn, so my actually last Rose

ROSE:
I have more roses than thorns!

Hugz and Kissez!

Apples on Apples

It got cold here!  We went from wearing sports bras and shorts to long sleeves and capris in just one day...definitely a shift but now we are entering my favorite time of year and I am psyched.  I absolutely love fall.  The leaves are just beginning to turn, the air is nice and crisp leaving everyone all rosy cheeked at the end of workouts, and of course lots of apples!  Following a couple hard workouts--the double pole test, a 50 mile bike ride with ridiculous head wind, new strength, and some L3 skate intervals--we all went apple picking at the Mad Town Orchard near Manchester and MAN did we bring back a lot.  But I'm getting ahead of myself--


First the double pole test.  It was my first time doing the Stratton double pole test, and it was HARD.  It was about 4 minutesish I think, and there is a steep pitch right at the beginning, followed by some rolling parts and finishing with a nice gradual hill that feels really hard after 3 and half minutes of pounding.  It went well, I PRd (well obviously with it being my first time), and 20 out of the 23 people who did the test PRd.  Obviously they are doing something right here! Following the test we did some speeds, working on quickness.  I had the pleasure of doing a couple with freshman Scott Mooney (pictured below), and he is a quick one!

After the test I hustled up to Middlebury to do the Kelly Brush ride.  It is an amazing event filled with lots of wonderful endurance athletes all fundraising for the Kelly Brush Foundation.  Kelly suffered a severe spinal injury while downhill racing in one of the carnivals, and lost the mobility in her legs.  But instead of just remaining dormant, she picked up hand cycling and help found the Kelly Brush Foundation, which aims to encourage safe ski racing, help those athletes with spinal cord injuries, as well as support research into curing paralysis.  The course was wonderful, minus the absurd head winds.  It took so long to do 50 miles, but it was definitely worth it!  Here is the link to the organizations website if you want to learn more! http://www.kellybrushfoundation.org/

Following the ride, I bustled down to Stratton to do day 2 of our new strength program. HOLY BUCKETS.  My bum is still so sore from some lunges, but I definitely feel my self getting stronger.  My bum continued to become more sore as the next morning we put on a bit of an interval show for the NENSA coach's symposium.  We did L3 skate intervals at BMD, and they were quite nice.  We had a large audience, so I think we were all trying extra hard to look our best, but it was a quality workout at the perfect temperature. After the intervals I got to have lunch with Cami--my coach at Dartmouth--and it was so nice catching up with her.  Makes me miss school ! (well not the homework part necessarily but everything else :)

Here Jessie, Erika, Sophie and I lead Scott down the hill.  The intervals were awesome especially because the younger girls would hop in for a couple minutes to ski with us as part of their workout.

Here we are finishing an interval, Sophie and I (with Jessie) are both checking our heart rates to report to Sverre who did a great job tracking our average and max heart rates along with how long each loop took.  Both of the above photos are from the SMS blog!

To recover from the the intervals, we all went apple picking.  At first I didn't have to walk, because Jessie just carted me along.  It was quite nice, but it turns out going downhill is a lot easier than going up hill (who new??).  But either way we got a LOT of apples, and so last night for dinner every item (except for the bread) had apples in it.  Sophie and her boyfriend Dan made us some really good butternut squash apple soup, then we had pork seared with apples, an apple goat cheese salad, and then to top it off apple crisp!  Needless to say, I think we are all set on apples for awhile.

                 This is me in my cart.  Eric Packer photo this one and the next two)--he's     really good!

Apples!

Erika and I have matching boots, and we both really like wearing them. Twinsiez! 

And now Jessie, Eric, Skyler, and Andy are all headed up to Lake Placid for the USST camp, and Erika, Sophie and I will join them there on Thursday!  So its just us girls for a little bit, and tonight we are going to Sophie's house for a sure-to-be delicious dinner, followed by waffles in the morning!  Yum.  And I'm sure some more baking will commence in the next couple days--gotta stock up on yummy goods before heading to the olympic training center in Placid!

hugz and kissez!

First Figs!

Today was a great day of firsts.  The first time I made french toast without mom, the first time I got the pleasure of taking Jessie shopping, the first time I actually stretched without it being associated with a workout (hi Gus), and probably most exciting, the first time I baked with figs!

First things first however--a brief recap of the last couple days (which coincidentally had some firsts in them as well!)  It was my first time doing ski walking intervals with the lovely ladies of the SMST2 team, and they actually weren't that terrible!  We were supposed to keep them pretty easy given the 100K ski that we had just completed (woof), and it sort of felt like a harry potter world because of all the mist that was covering Stratton.  Then it was our first time doing the new strength plan!  The day before Gus had asked us if we were planning to walk or sit the next day, and when we gave him a questioning look and said "yeah," he laughed and said too bad that wasn't going to happen because we were going to be too sore.  The strength was pretty hard, but being the first day we didn't do the full weights so we were able to sit and lay down.

This morning I managed to sleep in until 8:24, which is a big deal because my roommate and I, Erika, have been having some serious troubles sleeping past like 7.  Which is a pain.  Either way, I slept till 8:24, and because we had an off day we decided to make some brunch!  Below is a photo that Sophie took of the delectable meal: French Toast with bacon and chobani (told you we eat a lot of it!) and peaches and some real maple syrup (which Jessie ate even though it wasn't hungry jack).  That was super yummy.

       A wonderful picture Sophie took of our lovely brunch.  SO GOOD SO YUMMY

                                     Erika got a little excited

After we cleaned up from Brunch, Erika Soph and I walked down to the school (a whopping 20 minutes) and did some stretches.  Soph has some really tight hamstrings which makes her back a little sore, so she is working hard on becoming more flexible.  Then we walked back (again a blistering 20 minutes), and got ready for a big day of shopping in Manchester.  Jessie keeps saying how she needs to buy regular clothes (she has an affinity for the workout clothing, which she totally rocks regardless), so we went into Manchester with that mission.  But first we stopped at the North shire book store for lunch.  They have AMAZING chicken curry salad, which is just AMAZING.  But then we went to my favorite store, JCrew.

If I could live in one store for the rest of my life, I'm pretty sure it would be JCrew, or Nike, its really a toss up.  But for this blogpost I'm going with JCrew.  Everything in that store is beautiful and stunning and I wish I could have all of it.  And the one in Manchester is an outlet store...so everything is cheaper which makes it doubly exciting. Jessie didn't end up getting anything at that store, but Erika, Soph and I all left with some purchases.

AFter getting nothing at JCrew, Jessie had some success at the Gap and at Banana Republic.  She got a SUPER cute dress, and a really nice shirt that is very versatile. Jessie is taking a class right now, so she had to go study,  so Soph and I went grocery shopping.  One of the great places in Manchester is this little fresh market, duttons, with all sorts of good produce.  At duttons there was a picture of a goat named Sweet Sophia, and that was so crazy because Sophie's spirit animal is a goat.  So obviously that trip was meant to be.

                                          Sophie's alter ego

At this point I was hungry (what's new), and luckily it was time for dinner at SMS, and the cooks there have been killing it.  The food is amazing, but the only problem is they don't have dessert.  Dessert is more or less a food group for me, so we have been doing lots of baking at night.  This night we made Fig bars, which is something I've never done before.  Figs are Soph's favorite (besides Jelly Beans, but I have yet to figure out how those might work in a cookie or bar...), so Erika and I whipped up a batch of those which are cooling on the counter right now!  They smell AMAZING, and here is the recipe. http://www.ellesnewenglandkitchen.com/blog/2010/9/13/fig-nut-bars.html

Me pouring the fig "paste" onto the butter-sugar-oatmeal base, then adding the top layer of the butter-sugar-oatmeal.  GET IN MY BELLY.  

And Now I'm impatiently waiting for the bars to cool, because otherwise they would totally fall apart.  The next blog will report on their overall quality (which I expect be high) and also a finished picture! Alright well tomorrow we have Yoga in the morning (namaste) and then the double pole test in the afternoon, which will be another first!  I'm super pumped to be here and wouldn't have it any other way!

Until next time,

Hugz and Kissez

Oh and here is a picture of an apple-cinnamon muffin I made earlier in the week.  They were also quite delicious.  Have I mentioned I like (love) muffins?

My first blog (WOOOOOO!!!!!!)

Hi! If you're reading this, it most likely means you already know who I am, and are at least marginally interested in what I'm doing.  SO, currently I am in Stratton, VT taking my off term from Dartmouth (NOT dropping out) and focusing on becoming a super speedy ski racer.  I'm living in a nice little (little) apartment with Sophie Caldwell, Erika Flowers, and Jessie Diggins.  I've never blogged before, but I just finished up a creative writing course this past Summer at Dartmouth so hopefully that helps me out in this latest endeavor.

                                     Yummy Market in Maine!

I just got here last week, and it has been busy busy.  We were in Maine for a week training with the Maine Winter Sports Club, getting in some solid intensity and speed (and surfing and cooking of course).  Once we got back from Maine, we completed our 100K ski, which was a really long time.  6 hours.  I have officially given myself a sports bra tan line for the remainder of the winter, so at least I have a permanent souvenir from that experience.  It was really long, but Soph, Erika, Jessie and I managed to keep ourselves busy.  One of the topics we discussed was our spirit animals.  Sophie was a goat, Jessie was a chipmunk, Erika a gazelle, and I was a hybrid squirrel-honeybadger.  We were shocked when we realized that during the entire ski our future weddings didn't come up, not once.  In addition to fun conversations, we all participated in a "secret skier" gift exchange.  Andy gave me some sweet sweat bands, and I gave Skyler some sunscreen and some muffins!  For being 100K the ski went by pretty quickly.

                           Me sporting my new sweatbands from Andy

              Tanning in the scenic Shaw's grocery store parking lot in Maine

Gus kindly gave us an off day today, and to kick it off right Erika, Jessie and I whipped up some pumpkin-pecan-blueberry pancakes.  THEY WERE SO GOOD.  As part of my effort to keep myself entertained in between training sessions I have decided to work on some fundamental recipes in preparation for my future dream job of owning a bakery (the Rustic Muffin).  So far I've made three kinds of muffins--Zucchini blueberry, lemon raspberry, and peach banana.  With fall quickly approaching I've started looking at some more fallish recipes, primarily those involving apples and pumpkin (and chocolate of course).

                       Raspberry Lemon Muffins for Skyler's Secret Ski Gift!

To finish the day up we all went over to Andy Newell's hand-built cabin for some nice labor day burgers, quinoa salad courtesy of Paddy Caldwell and his roommate Jordan, and a nice broccoli salad made with CHIOBANI (AH--we literally eat like 6 containers per day).  For dessert we had some sunflower cookies courtesy of Sophie (who knew nut-less cookies could taste good?!?) and the classic Lily Caldwell brownies (so delicious, every time, they never fail).  And then I decided to start a blog, and so that's happening.

Andy showing us how to grill burgers in his super cute overalls

On the docket for tomorrow is a nice easy run, and then I'm not really sure what we are doing the rest of the week but it will be lots of fun.  All I know is I am pretty tired, and can't wait to make some muffins tomorrow (and then foodgawk for awhile to find other yummy things to try).

hugz and kissez

PS Mom I hope you enjoy this!