Skiing with an Angel

The day is over--
My love waits for me.
We slide through
deep soft snow
As the sun sets.
Striding side-by-side
Talking over the day.

He, in a blue jacket
and blue cap
Blue eyes sparkling
at the blue sky.

After an hour,
Our trails merge
Into one.

The sun is down,
shadows grow,
A dark blue stain
spreads across his back
in the shape of wings.

I follow my angel home. 

Guest blogpost by Ben Melby: A Runner's Perspective on Skiing

Ben and his friend Peder Arneson skiing at Maplelag

VO2Max – the maximum amount of oxygen that you take in and transport throughout your body – the basis for endurance strength. As a life-long competitive runner, endurance strength is what I work to improve, to get fitter and faster. This is not only a benefit for local road races, but for general quality of life: improved sleeping, improved energy, improved mental clarity, improved calmness and well-being.

I have asked and received a lot from running. And those gifts are never more vitally important than during the deep freeze of Fargo winters when general mood and quality of life can be difficult to maintain, and getting out for runs (or motivating to run on an indoor hamster wheel) can be even more difficult to maintain. So how do I manage to not only maintain but continue improving, living to the ‘max’?

Cross country skiers have the highest reported VO2Max of all endurance athletes—higher than Phelps, higher than Bolt, higher than Kipchoge, higher even than a doped-up Armstrong. Nordic skiers, by virtue of their full-body demanding activity, have the best heart, lungs, and endurance strength of them all.

When running gets hard, the skiing gets exciting and invigorating, lifting one right out of seasonal affective disorder. When the Fargo winter threatens to lower one’s fitness and quality of life, get out skiing. Lindenwood Park, Edgewood Golf Course, Viking Ship Park, or the short drive out to Maplelag or Spidahl’s resorts—Fargo has a lot to offer the runner turned skier when the summer turns winter.

I now find myself looking forward to winter, snow, and (to a degree) cold. Now it is an opportunity to improve my running, my fitness, and my quality of life. When spring road race season returns, I am ready: mentally and physically at my ‘max’.          -Ben Melby

Ben out skiing at Maplelag Resort

Embedded Cheering at the Finlandia in Bemidji

Buena Vista ski area north of Bemidji--the hill on the left is the one that Finlandia skiers have to ski up.

Enrico and I drove up to Bemidji, Minnesota Friday night after work to have a little getaway for the long weekend. It also happened to be the Finlandia ski race weekend, which is one of the big races that the NDSU Bison Nordic Ski Club races in. I had the idea that we could cheer on the Bison and get a little skiing in on our own.
"Would you like to do the 10 K classic with me?" I asked Enrico.
"O.K," he said.

On Saturday morning,  it was 8 below. It was then that I found out that Enrico had not brought his ski boots. Maybe when I asked him to ski 10 K, he meant 0 K, as in zero kilometers. He encouraged me to participate without him, so we headed up to Buena Vista, a ski area north of Bemidji. I got checked in and soon found myself at the start line, cheering on the Bison skiers who were doing the 25K freestyle, 25K classic, and 50K. The 10K skiers like myself started last. I had never skied here before, so the course would be new to me. There was a very small field of 10K skiers--at first it looked like we would each have our own start lane, but then a couple of the Bison skiers came up--Andrew and Klarissa, who is a downhill skier just learning to cross-country ski. Good for her!

 This was the first time I've been in a ski race in several years, and I was feeling some pain after that big uphill when I was reminded that all the skiing I do is on flat terrain. However, I felt toasty warm after it (and my poor husband was probably freezing), my kick wax was good, and whatever glide wax was on my skis from last time they were hot-waxed (maybe 2 years ago?) was okay. I would catch up a bit to the guy in front of me in the bright orange jacket whenever we got to a downhill section, so at least my wax was not the worst it could be. I just focused on using my best technique and enjoying the nicely set tracks, soft snow, and new views.

At the first checkpoint, I met up with one of the two Bison skiers who had also elected to do the Tour, a nice young man named Andrew. He did not have good glide wax AND he was doing skate technique, so it was rough going. I cheered him on.

Shortly after that, those of us on the 10K followed a sign to turn off the main trail. We skied a brief shortcut before rejoining the main route. Now there were skiers passing us--both skate and classic skiers doing the 25K freestyle, classic, or pursuit (half of each) and the 50K skiers. This was fun for me because I could glance to my left when I was being passed and if I saw a bright yellow lower leg, I knew it was a Bison skier, so I cheered them on. "This is the way to be a spectator," I thought, "Cheer from inside the race."  Let's call it embedded cheering. I was warm, getting a good workout, and getting to see the technique of lots of different skiers while encouraging them.

After awhile, I caught up to the man in the orange jacket again. He was setting a good pace, so I was content to stay behind a few lengths. But then he stepped out of the track, looked back, smiled, and said, "Have a good time," so I had to pass him. I put a bit more effort into my pace for a few hundred yards, so he wouldn't regret ceding the trail to me.

The trail curved around the back part of the downhill ski area and a few sections were quite steep to get up. One longer steep section was kind of discouraging, so I settled in for a long herringbone slog. I did not try to run or jump up that section. Then we came to one of the ski lifts. I eyed the snowboarders descending the trail above me. There was no border between the downhill slope and the cross-country trails, so I just wanted to make sure they didn't run into me. I was glad to pass that section.

The trail curved around some more--it was really lovely and there were some fun downhill sections, a couple of which were quite fast, but with a good track that slowly evened out at the bottom, so it wasn't too scary. One of the NDSU skiers--Mitch, I think--passed me and called out, "Looking good!" Those Bison skiers are so kind. I'm here to cheer THEM on, not vice versa!

Soon I came to an intersection, and the people there kindly pointed me in the right direction for the 10K, and then I was descending toward the stadium area--I could see Enrico at the bottom of the last downhill where I had to make a right turn and head up the slight uphill toward the finish line. "Don't crash," I thought. I made it around the corner with a few step turns, then focused on making my best strides to the finish.

At the finish, there was Andrew, and he kindly gave me a cup of Gatorade and said he thought my time was about 42 minutes, judging from his own time. The race organizers don't give bibs or track the time of people doing the 10K tour, so I was glad to get this information, even though it's just an estimate.

I then had to ski a bit to "cool" down. After that, Enrico gave me a coat, and we cheered on more Bison skiers who were finishing their various events. Enrico and I didn't stay for the 50K finishers, though, because we wanted to get to the ski shop before it closed to see if we could get some boots for him.

This was a fun event, and I highly recommend embedded cheering--so much warmer than standing on the sidelines!

Sunset Ski

Photo by Enrico Sassi

Enrico and I didn't get out to ski until 4:37pm, and sunset is now at 5:44pm, so we set out at a good pace. There were several people out enjoying the +6 temperatures and new snow that accumulated over the course of the day. I saw my colleague Ben Melby out skate skiing. That was a bit more difficult with the new snow.

It was really beautiful as the sun got close to setting. When I turned around at the I-94 bridge to ski back, I saw another skier coming toward me, but then he disappeared. Later, I saw him behind a tree. It was Enrico, who was making a video of me skiing toward him. I like this photo he took with the light reflecting off the tracks. 

Coming out of the Deep Freeze

I was supposed to be in Atlanta today for a work meeting, but the blizzard caused my flight to be cancelled and my earliest rebooking would have brought me there for just the last 30 minutes of today's meeting, so I reluctantly cancelled the whole trip. So . . . I was just hibernating at home, and by hibernating, I mean catching up on all the little tasks that have accumulated while I tried to get some bigger projects going. It wasn't until 3pm that I stirred from the couch to venture outside for today's ski. Good timing too, because the temperature had just hit the high for the day--4 degrees ABOVE zero.

Nevertheless, I was feeling a bit reluctant to venture out in the cold, so I did some things that are a bit self indulgent. First, I put little foot warmers in my boots. Next, I wore three layers on top. Then, I started listening to Led Zeppelin on my iphone to get a little pumped up. Finally, I boiled some water and put it in an insulated bottle to take with me. I headed out to the trails. We have had so much snow! But the ever-attentive Fargo Parks had groomed the trails. I skied down to the classic track and planted my water bottle in the snowbank for later.

Ah! Groomed trails courtesy of Fargo Parks.

I then skied up to the dog park. Strangely, my kick wax was no good--I was slipping quite a bit, so I came back, waxed up my other classic skis with special blue and headed out again. I got it right this time. Good kick. I skied to the I-94 bridge. Along the way, I passed a man and a woman, two women, one man, another man, and on the way back I saw another man. When I passed the two women again, they had stopped,  so I stopped to chat with them. We remarked on the good grooming we have enjoyed this year, the warmer temperatures today, the pleasure of sunshine, and the ample snow we've had this year.

As I continued, I ran into one of the single men I had passed before, but he had his facemask down this time, and I realized it was John Pfund. John was president of Prairie' Edge Nordic Ski Club when I first moved to Fargo, and I remember meeting him at Edgewood Golf Course. He was so welcoming, so I really wanted to get involved with the club. He introduced me to some of the wonderful local skiers here. It was good to see him out on the trail again.

I also passed my husband, Enrico. I got a trailside kiss from him before continuing on. I stopped at the place where I had my waterbottle and enjoyed rehydrating with some warm water--ah! Sometimes simple pleasures are just the best. This was a little trick I employed when I was training for the Iditasport. On a four-hour training ride, having something warm to drink was a great pleasure.

Today, I was out for about an hour and a half. One of the things I find interesting about skiing on consecutive days is noticing what is different each day. For example, I saw these tracks that were intriguing. What do you think happened here?

Post Blizzard Ski

NDSU had a late start (10am) this morning, but I couldn't go skiing because we had to shovel out our driveway. It was quite an effort because1) the windblown snow was tightly packed and 2) our snowbanks are getting quite high, so we have to lift our shovels way up to empty them. Uff da!

After work, I headed out to the trails. The temperature had warmed up to six below and the sun was shining. Fargo Parks had not set the tracks, so I had to break trail. It was interesting to see how the wind had blown debris over the newly fallen snow. There were also all kinds of beautiful patterns from all the wind yesterday.

It was cold, though! I could see where the deer had bedded down next to the trees along the trail in Ponte Park. I turned back at the rocks, because my feet were getting cold. I could see Enrico coming toward me. I swung my legs to warm up my feet and then we skied back together. While I headed back to the house, he continued skiing on to the dogpark. I got the dog. Noko was very excited to be outside after being trapped at home during the winter storm. However, the sun was setting, so we all headed back home after our short outing.

I'm missing the beautifully groomed trails and warm temperatures in Vermont.