Back in Anchorage

After Anchorage's long fall of ice and earthquakes, it was good to arrive home and find the town blanketed in snow and in a not-destroyed state.  The five hours of daylight up here means plenty of time to catch up on sleep after a challenging week of finals. In the short time that the sun is up, I've been getting out to enjoy the snow and get some good training in before senior nationals.

I got to demo the purple cow suit in the first race of the Besh cup series

15k sure seemed longer than I remember

Alyeska, our local ski resort, received several feet of snow in the week following my return so I figured I had to go ski a few powder laps.

Trying to remember how to ski with my heels locked in

 As it turns out, Jack, Maggie and I aren't the only cows out on the ski trails in Anchorage. Rumor has it that a steer escaped from a rodeo this summer and has been living in one of the parks on the outskirts of town. Deep snows and lower daylight hours have pushed it onto the groomed and lit ski trails in the past few weeks, where it has been sighted frequently. No word on whether fish and game plans to round it up, so I've started skiing with a lasso in my water belt just in case.

This photo was posted on Anchorage's nordic ski association website with a caption that read "cow"

Speaking of Jack, he just returned from a semester in Norway and we got together to crush some intervals this morning. Looks like the Norwegians might've taught him a thing or two about skiing and it'll be great to have him back training with the whole team in less than a week.

After stopping to pillage a few coastal villages in England, Jack's longboat sailed into the port of Anchorage on the 18th

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all!