More fun from Bozeman

So a really exciting NCAA tradition is that we get a piece of mail everyday from Barb! It is soooo fun. Each morning we wake up bright and early and hit the ski trails and when we are finished with the morning ski, Bud presents us with a piece of mail.

Day one's mail included a Norwegian proverb that went something like this. To ski is to be happy, to go on a ski tour is to never be sad.

After our first day on the Bohart trails we were all certainly quite

happy and far from being sad.

On day two we tested out some classic kick and how our lungs would respond to going hard at altitude. The workout of the day was easy skiing with a short interval ladder on the upper section of the course.  The lungs burned, but our legs were quick and Bud says we were looking pretty good.  Day two's piece of mail was chocolate and the quote, "Excess on occasion is exhilarating. It prevents moderation from acquiring the deadening effect of a habit." W. Somerset Maugham

Perhaps there is an excess of snow, sun, fun, and friends, but I would say it is a good and exhilarating thing.

Today we got down to business.  We tested skis and glide and took an easy tour of the race course.  We did some low resistance speeds and skied the downhills hard.  The course is tough but fun and we are looking forward to racing. 

Today's mail included the Zen saying: No snowflake ever falls in the wrong place and we also got some very inspirational cards from Andrea. The afternoon then brought a serious shopping excursion to Target. It was epic. 

 (we might have bought overpriced matching t-shirts yesterday...)

 This evening we had a banquet where we received our much anticipated shwag.  We were left a little bit disappointed by our briefcases to say the least... The highlight of the night might have been the entertainment provided by the MSU rodeo team.  Those cowboys sure know how lasso.  We also both made the stage for Academic All-American...little dino thinks there might have been an adding or a rounding error but we won't tell.  

Bud and Aubrey are now waxing our skis so that we can rest our legs for tomorrow's big race. The nervousness is setting in but we are getting ready to go mad fast and in this field of only 39 super fast skiers we are at least sure to make the first page...