Sun Valley is for Nordic Skiers

Last friday I was reminded of why I decided to come here and train. We were doing some all out rollerski intervals on the bike path. There was one hard 90 degree corner in the beginning and it had some loose gravel on it. Our coaches were in the process of trying to remove it by sweeping it with their feet when the mayor of Sun Valley drives by and asks what they are doing, then turns around, drives back to his house, returns with a big push broom, and sweeps away the gravel. I thought that was pretty cool and gives a good picture of the support nordic skiers get around here. Nordic skiing is actually a pretty big deal up here, in fact they have pictures of nordic skiers on the little flags that hang from the side of lamp posts on main street.

For Halloween, I was a bag of Jelly Bellies and unfortunately failed to take pictures.......It was great to dress up and check out downtown Ketchum.

Sophie, my teammate from Dartmouth, arrived Sunday night so I am psyched to have some company around the house and a great training buddy. We went for a beautiful run yesterday. It warmed up a bit this week so morning training isn't quite as brutal as last week when it was in the 20s for most our training sessions. Today we did the Canadian Cross Country strength test, which was extremely hard! It involves pull ups, situps, push ups, box jumps and dips. You do each for a minute, then a minute rest, then on to the next exercise. I couldn't do box jumps because of my knee, but I got worked by the test nonetheless. I did the most pullups I have ever done, but failed to do as well as I had hoped on the other exercises. O well now I have something to work on.

There is a hunter that has been coming around the house recently and I hadn't seen the elk in awhile so I was worried they were hoping to save their lives and had moved on, but they back last night so Sophie was able to see them. Daylight savings makes it trickier to spot them as they usually come around about 6 and now its dark at 6. Hopefully they will make it through hunting season!

I will do my best to get some pictures of Sophie and I one our various training adventures this week.