Gone

I have been in Paris for 4 days now.

The week was a little agitated. The afternoon before I left, I received a phone call from a potential employer asking me to come visit their company. It is located about 2 hours and a half from Hamilton, and it was too late for them to wait for me to come that day. I told them I was leaving the country the next day, that I tried to postpone my ticket, but it would be much much cheaper for me to just fly back even next week... Which I offered to do of course.
I haven't heard anything from them since, which is probably not a good sign.
Anyway that kept me anxious as I was trying hard to keep packing. It really looked like a great job... We'll see

The trip went well. We woke up at 5am, which was the time we were supposed to leave for the airport. I realized a new PR getting ready in less than 7 minutes. Who can beat that?
Oggy drove a little faster than he should have and got me at the airport by 6am, in time to check in with no rush.
So there I went. It was hard to say goodbye, even just for a few weeks.
Then things went smoothly except maybe for the 2 kids who couldn't stop kicking my seat during the overnight flight. But I got both my huge bag and my skis, I was barely late at the arrival, and I had my personal driver Milouze ready to pick me up.

It's funny how I didn't imagine I would feel depressed coming to Paris. Probably because I didn't want to be here now, with no real idea of where I will go next. Or because of the sad circumstances that make this country now forever different to me.
But I have to keep moving. A lot of things to take care of, and also I have to try to enjoy this forced exile and to find a way to come back to my new home.

Season 32

I'm back... and season 32 has started.
Now that I am officially unemployed (or should I say "actively looking for a job") I can workout, go out and do all the stuff I never had time to do!
Well not quite.
Work has not let me go yet. I still have to finish that paper.
Life has not made things easy either interfered with my motivation over the last couple of weeks.
But the earth didn't stop. Time is ticking and days flying by. I have to get going.
Has I write these lines, I have 4 short days left in Montana before my forced vacation in France.
The snow finally came (not too much but almost enough) and with this I declared started my 32nd ski season.
I know, the first winters were not quite ski-seasons, and it might be more accurate to start counting from the day I actually stepped on skis for the first time. But see, I don't remember when that was.
Anyway. My rule, created a couple of years ago, is that I have to ski at least n days during season n. It gets more challenging every year which is really cool. Of course, beyond the nth ski day, it becomes the more the better...

So here we go: n=32 (I am so geeky I know)
and here went day 1 and day 2!

Day 1 was on November 28th at Lookout Pass with Oggy and Junior. They always open early because they always get tons of snow first. I haven't gone there for the last 2 years: it's not really my favorite hill. They do get powder, but when it happens, the road gets really bad, and it's not quite steep enough to really take advantage of it. I guess this time it wasn't an issue. No fresh snow, and barely enough coverage on the lower portions of the area. I can't believe they even opened some if it. It was baaaad. I still had my workout since I had the good idea to take my teles that day. It was cold enough too... For recovery we headed to the Syme hotel in Hot Springs were we met Oggy's brother and the brother's girlfriend. Nice hot water soaking, decent dinner, great breakfast, and back to the Bitterroot Valley.
So I am still not super fond of LP, but I have to admit I love being able to ski in November...

Day 2 was a short, sunny, very cold day. On Wednesday, December 2nd, I headed all by myself to Lost Trail. It hasn't opened yet but they had already started working on grooming the runs. The Gnome Collector, who had called me the day before to brag about a trip to Big Sky, actually showed up too. Ha ha. I was ready to go when he arrived so I figured I would see him on the hill later.
I chose to hike up Speedway to the top of chair 1. As cold as it was, I had taken off 3 of my layers by the time I reached the halfway point. I should always hike on freezing days.
I picked Thunder as my first run. hmmm. Nice fresh powder, but not too good of a base. Quick feeling with my pole indicated about 4-5 in of depth hoar, a 2-3 in easily breakable icy layer, and on top probably 6in of fresh snow. So I could feel the rocks underneath more than once. Not that great. The snow was quite heavy too.
I reached the forest road where I put the skins back on. I figured there was no point in going further down, it would only get worse.
On the road, I found the tracks of the Gnome Collector and followed them. They were going all the way to the top of chair 1 and then snowboarding down the South Face, which is what I also did (wait SKIING! me not snowboarding!). It turned out to be quite good!
Unfortunately, because of a poor choice of socks, the blisters has started and I decided to head back to the car instead of climbing for another run.
And my conclusion for day 2 is : Lost Trail is still the best area around here.

So what is coming up now? Well I have one more chance to go before I leave: that would be on Wednesday. Mrs K talked last night about going to Lolo Pass. That would be nice...
But will I have time? I have to take Buster to the vet, find him a cat-sitter for January, write my paper, pack my stuff, interrupt my phone, insurance contracts, go to the bank, write my paper, pack my stuff, write my paper...arrrrrrrrrrrgh

Ryan Creek, MT, last night

Born a few dozen milleniums too early

Global Warming Could Forestall Ice Age

Another good time at the Wilma

On may 8th the Gourds were playing at the Wilma, in Missoula.

It's usually not my favorite type of music, but for some reason, I don't know if it's their style, or just because they're really really good, I just love them.

And I think the last 3 times I went to a concert, it was to see them...

Oh wait! No! In between there was also the great Michael Franti... Still at the Wilma...

Go see their website and listen!

Witch doctors and plane seats

My favorites are the PTs. They just saved me when I couldn't move or do anything.

About a month ago, I flew to DC for a "retreat". It was an interesting trip for me because I had never seen Washington. I didn't have much free time, just enough to enjoy a fantastic "steak tartare" at the Café du Coin (hmmm flavors from home!) and long expected sea food at the Sea Catch. I also went for a walk to the National Mall. I wish I had more time to visit the Smithsonian and all these museums. I had to make a choice... and opted for the American History Museum, but on my way there I walked past the Museum of Natural History and couldn't resist. 

I first walked through the Mammalian museum and was chased by a herd of little screaming creatures. I moved on to the dinosaurs and fossils and was very impressed by how they present evolution using words and concepts understandable by kids. Who soon followed me in the fossils hall and drove me out of it.

I then went upstairs to see only the first half (unfortunately) of the exhibition called "Written in Bone: Forensic Files of the 17th-Century Chesapeake". Amazing! They illustrate with remains of settlers the way they can discover all sorts of information just by looking at human skeletons.

I had to run out though to be sure not to miss my plane. Which could actually have been a good thing? It turns out the flight from DC to Denver was quite bad, my neighbor being physically unable to fit on her seat, and therefore occupying half of mine. I have this bad habit of not moving during a flight, just trying to sleep, hoping I won't wake up before it's over. I did because my neighbor needed to get up a few times. It wasn't that bad, except for 1) the water she finally spilled on my lap, 2) the fact that I spent 4 hours crooked on an uncomfortable seat.

But what can you do? I could have complained but the plane was packed and I couldn't see how it would have improved my situation. It might have allowed me to vent some of my frustration, and made my neighbor feel embarrassed or upset. great.

The bottom line: I woke up the next day unable to move my back. Had issues in the past, and probably very unshaped abs, but this hadn't happened to me as far as I can remember.

It took me 2 days before being able to go back to work, and 2 weeks and a half before being able to workout again - and this only with the help of my heroes the physical therapists. Chiropractors couldn't help me there. I have to say I feel almost like a professional of lower back issues. I'm ready to help anyone in need...:)

Of course, this affected my ski-days-count (i still made it ti 20, which means I need to find a way to go 12 more days before the end of spring), and also I couldn't continue training for the triathlon and decided to cancel my participation...

Oh well. I have since resumed training (next race should be June 21st), hope to keep this blog a little more updated, and at the same time find a job for next year. Ouch.

Day 15

A little more snow fell on the Bitterroot last week. Unfortunately, it stopped on Thursday, and once again I went to Lost Trail to ski packed snow.
In my future life, I'll be able to take ANY Thursday off to ski powder. And ANY Friday off too. ANY day off.
The weather was nice, not too windy, not too cold.
I took the teles again, I feel I can cheat less and less.
Oggy took me with him at the end of the day to sweep the SacJack trees and Sacajewea. There's nothing like having the whole mountain for ourselves...
The weather forecast looks good: snow likely everyday. Hopefully, some fresh snow for Saturday this time...

Where was I at...?

I might want to get used to the never ending cold. I have to admit that every day is a surprise, since every day it seems I have a different cold... Today is the dry coughing stage. I had congestion, tears, congestion, runny nose, sore throat, on day off (so I went swimming and running... how smart!), then back to the runny/congested nose friday...

Week end and dry air did not help so much.

What's tomorrow?

My training is not going so well so far.

Looking back at last week, I missed the 2 spin workouts, one run and one swim... which is what? 2 thirds of what I had planned?

I decided to re-try the same program this week...

Monday was skiing so no swim - I already have to catch up

Tuesday run cancelled too... but did pilates in the evening.

Wednesday: Spin+ transition run 10 min. check

Wednesday night: swim 2000yds : I'm leaving in a few minutes.

Let's see if I can complete the program before Sunday.

BIG!

Monday, third day of our trip, we skied Big Sky.

No fresh snow, once again, although it was pretty cloudy most of the day. 

We took the avalanche gear, because I was really hoping we'd get to ski the BIG couloir... the one that starts from the right side of the peak.

I didn't happen. The Ancient chickened out and convinced Junior and I that it was icy. I believed him. I thought I saw big bands of ice going across the thing while we were in the tram. I t was probably just some weird shadows...

We had a good day, though. Did a few runs from the very top, the afternoon I skied with Oggy and even convinced him that he could ski the Liberty Bowl with us. Of course, at that point, he was by far the fastest on the run and after 5 turns and the Ancient and I begging for rest (and air), trash talk had started.

After a long good day, we met a friend of Oggy who had skied the Big Couloir twice and loved it. No ice by the way. Darn it! Next time, no matter what the weather is, what the snow is, I AM DOING IT!!!!

Ran back to the condo, took a quick shower and jumped in the car with Junior (5 hour drive and he was still talking...) while Oggy and the Ancient stayed for a few more days on the slope of that big mountain. I hate work.

Day 13

So Bridger was day 12.

On Sunday, we decided to ski Moonlight Basin. Still no new snow... I figured I'd work on my (poor) tele skills, and it turned out to be a very very tiring day!

We parked at Moonlight Lodge, a very fancy place, and probably very expensive, however, since we took passes only for Moonlight Basin, the tickets were not too expensive. And it was really not crowded at all, which I thought was surprising considering how nice the weather was.

I had a hard time skiing down black diamonds, however, by the end of the day I felt confident enough to follow Junior and the Ancient up the headwaters. This is the wall that tops the ski area. You have to hike a little bit to get to the chairlift that goes up there. And wow! it's steep! OK, I cheated a little bit, and went down doing alpine turns, but believe me, it's still a good balance exercise!

The Ancient and I decided to call it a day and meet Oggy at the lodge while Junior kept going. I felt a little old that day. The hot tub was barely enough to relax my poor legs, and by 10pm, everybody was sound asleep (it might be due in part to the fact that we each ate a pound and 1/4 of meat for dinner?).

On the snow again

Fresh snow seems to be on the way... good news after a week end that looked more like spring than sometime in February! Nice week end though, a very welcome break away from work.

Friday after work, Junior and I jumped in the ski-mobile and headed to Bozeman. A long trip made shorter by Juniors never ending well of stories and anecdotes. We arrived a little later than expected, and met Oggy and his friend the Ancient at the Bozeman Inn. The place is just fine, and cheap.

Not advertising for anyone, I have to say that there is a very nice place for treats, Bean and Leaf or Leaf and Bean downtown, where we had our breakfast before going to Bridger Bowl.

I have skied a little bit in the Bozeman area last winter and had good memories of the ski area. I wasn't disappointed. The snow was not very good, and runs full of moguls, but the terrain is really fun and we had a great time. Our legs worked hard. We finished our day by taking the new lift, Shlasman, that was added on the southern side of Bridger: it takes skiers almost all the way to the ridge! Just a few feet and you're on top! The beacon is required to go there, and I have only 2 of these, so the Ancient and Oggy stayed while Junior and I went up. I would probably not have done that on a regular day, since Junior had no idea of how to use it. He didn't even know how to turn it on... But Saturday was definitely a day with non-existent avalanche danger. That was fun! a little scary sometimes, because the cliffs are just there, unmarked, and since we didn't know the terrain, it was a little bit a random navigation.

The chair closes at 2:30 so we could take it only once. I have to go back on a good snow day.

After skiing and Costcoing we met Francis for a pizza, a very entertaining evening, and finally left Bozeman for Big Sky. The roads were dry, no traffic, and we got to the condo in less than an hour.

Week 1

Today is the first day of my "official training plan" - an 8 week training program based on different books and websites i read and browsed through.
Little problem though: I caught the Grettelbug.
Little Grettel coughed in our face last week. I thought it was funny, but did not realize that Oggy would get that sick. And now it seems to be my turn...

Well anyway, here was the initial plan for this week:
monday: swim 2000yds
tuesday: run 3miles (morning), pilates or yoga (evening)
wednesday: spin (45min) followed by transition run 10min (morning); swim 2000yds (evening)
thursday: run 3 miles (morning); stretch (evening)
friday: spin (45min) followed by transition run 10min (morning); beer (evening)

no long run or long ride over the week-end yet: I will be skiing.

So, I'm starting quite well the training by not swimming today... Hopefully, I won't get as sick as Oggy and Francis, and will be able to catch up quickly...

PS:I got my 2 days of skiing despite the bug... a little bit of tele saturday at Lost Trail on hard packed snow, a little bit more of tele on 2 inches of fresh snow sunday, still at Lost Trail... Not much, but I guess we can't complain about "only 2 inches" this season...

Not too good

at posting these days...
I'll blame it on the lack of snow. I'm in trouble: my goal was to ski more than 32 days these season and I'm now at... 9 days... gloups.
Let's say the winter is a little late. I really have to work on my tele skills, though, so even if the snow is not that great, I should go. I will go.
OK I am going this week end and the one after (let's see: that would add 5 days)... and well I will have to catch up doing lots of spring skiing.
I added the mini me on the site: it comes from the nike+ website and it's supposed to represent my activity level. The more I run, the more agitated it gets. It should help for motivation.
I signed up for the griz tri and I realize that I still really, really suck at running. My heart goes through the roof, and my knees are screaming...
Please, reader(s?), help me becoming a runner (or at least, help me enjoy it...)
It's a little more than 8 weeks from now, so maybe I'll start talking a little bit about it since my ski season is not that great.

It's not nice

to laugh at other people's misadventures, but sometimes you just can't help it...

560

victims already (more than)


picture from AP/EYAD BABA

I don't even want to talk about my days 3 and 4.