Ever so slowly, I have been learning to cross country ski. I’m actually a reasonable down hill skier, but cross country skate skiing is a whole other animal. It requires balance, grace and coordination which are not in my arsenal of talents.  This winter, I’ve made a little progress and decided it was time to challenge myself. In other words, it was time to sign up for an event that would scare me into trying a little harder.

The City of Lakes Loppet is a cross country ski festival. There are various races and events all weekend long. There are snow sculptures and bike races on ice in addition to ski races, a luminary ski event at night and tours. I signed up for the REI Tour, which is a non-competitive event that takes skiers 10k through a beautiful park, woods, across lakes, and then finally into Uptown. It is the shortest event that they offer for adults and is advertised as the flattest.  The day before, Mike and I headed to Uptown and picked up my packet. Expo! There is nothing I like better than an expo. It was fun to walk around and see all of the cross country ski equipment and skiers. I came home excited, waxed my skis and set out all of my clothes. Running clothes transition nicely to cross country ski clothes, so I felt like I was ready to go.

It turns out that a friend from my running club, also named Beth, wanted to do the same event. She and I are both relatively new to skiing, so we decided it would be fun to do it together. We were right! It’s been snowing here the last week, so with the temperature in the 20’s and some fresh snow, the stage was set for a great day.

Here we are before the start:

Mike came out and was my personal sherpa and course photographer. He was able to find us about 4 miles into the course skiing on what I think was a river between two lakes. I’ve never even walked on one of the frozen lakes here, so it was fun to get to ski on a few different lakes. The best thing about lakes is they are flat!

There were a few steep hills on the course, but since it wasn’t a race we just took our time and worked our way up. There were also some really fun downhills. There was a classic ski race going on that shared our course at times. It was fun to see the serious racers in their colorful race suits and it’s amazing how fast they ski.

Many times throughout the race, Beth and I talked about how surprised we were that the skiing was so much fun. She and I both have been skiing only on hilly courses and have felt like cross country skiing was a little frustrating and pretty difficult. This course had many flats and downhills and it was amazing what a difference it made. I was able to get in a groove on the flats and I wasn’t so tired when we did have to go uphill.

It was so fun to ski into Uptown where they have all of the festivities and snow sculptures. Here we are skiing towards the finish:

Just like a road race, we were greeted by volunteers who removed our chips and placed a medal around our necks. Here we are showing off our hardware with one of the snow sculptures:

So after an hour and fifteen minutes of skiing, we were still smiling. I’m so happy that I did this event and having a friend to do it with made it so much fun. It was also great having Mike there for support. I kept telling myself before we started that if I was really struggling that I could just call Mike and he would pick me up. While I was fine once we got going, it helped me be a lot more relaxed about the whole thing knowing that if I was having trouble that I wouldn’t be stranded.

I think I may have caught the cross country skiing bug! I’m going to try to find some flatter trails and work on my hill technique. Most of all, I need to get out more often and practice. I hope next year’s event not only has great snow and weather, but that I’ll be a little more graceful and coordinated. It doesn’t hurt to hope!

In the fall of 2007, my son joined his school’s cross country ski team. It looked like a lot of fun and the team was always in need of parents who could ski to help out at practices. Over the holiday break, the team went away to a cross country ski “resort” where they basically skied, ate and slept for three days. I saw the pictures, and I think “rustic” would be the kindest way to describe the accommodations. Since they are teenagers, they don’t care much about the surroundings and had a blast skiing and hanging out. The team needs a few parents each year to come along and help, but the catch is that you have to know how to ski. Although I can downhill ski, I had never been on cross country skis. I asked for skate skis for Christmas and made it a goal to learn to ski well enough by the time he was a Senior to be able to go along to camp.

It’s two years later and my son is now a Freshman on the team. That first year, I skied a few times and succeeded in aggravating my already nagging IT band problem. Since I was training for my first marathon during that time, I gave up the skiing for the season. Last winter, I tried again with limited success. I skied a half dozen times and didn’t get past being petrified. I still hadn’t made it to the point that I was having any fun.

Yesterday, my son’s running coach emailed that he was going skiing today and would I like to meet him and get a few pointers. Yes, I would! I waxed my skis, changed the tips on my poles from roller skiing tips to snow tips and scrounged up my lobster mittens. Part of me was worried that he would laugh and say that I was doing it all wrong. The other part of me was hoping that he would laugh and say that I was doing it all wrong. Maybe if I was doing it wrong, that would mean that the right way was somehow easier than what I had been doing. It certainly couldn’t be any harder because, geez, my way was just so hard!

The good news is that I was doing it right which is, of course, also the bad news. We went to a flat area and he showed me a couple drills to do without poles. Apparently, gliding requires standing on one ski at a time which requires being able to balance on one foot while moving. Balance is not one of my strong points. After getting warmed up, we did a short loop course which had some down hills and, unfortunately, some up hills. Going up hill is challenging to say the least. I think my triceps are going to hurt tomorrow.

After making it around, we did a couple more drills and I started to get the idea of gliding on one ski at a time. Notice that I said that I got the “idea”, I don’t think there was actually a lot of gliding going on. We took another lap around the course. Even though I was getting tired, I felt like I was getting the hang of it and forgot about being afraid. It was a beautiful day to ski. After a stretch of very cold weather, today was in the mid twenties, the sun was shining and the course through the trees was peaceful.

Ever since I set the goal of learning to ski, my heart just hasn’t been in it. I’ve taken little steps toward that goal, but I’d never been able to actually picture myself doing it and enjoying it because it is so difficult. Getting some expert help and encouragement has made me excited about really dedicating myself to learning how to do it. Normally I’m rooting for a snow-less winter so that I don’t have to fight the snow during my runs. Now I am torn! There is snow in the forecast for next week, and I find myself pretty excited about it. Maybe I will make it to ski camp after all. I’m sure my son will be thrilled. Ha!