Snow Skiing

Man do I miss skiing! Just thinking about that today, realizing it has been now over a year since I have last been skiing. I am just looking at the fact that skiing would have been my first "endurance sport". My family had always done their skiing in one simple way. Be the first out on the mountain, eat quick and keep skiing until they kick you off the mountain! Now as my parents are getting older, being first and last is not so much as important as it used to be. I can appreciate that seeing as this is a great way to spend some time with them. Unfortunately the economy has been in the crapper for the last 2 or so years and my ability to go on a vacation without my lovely wife Jennifer has disappeared. Jen does not care for skiing all that much, however I have managed to get her to go a few times. I really think she loved Telluride!

I love skiing anywhere. I was fortunate enough to have grown up skiing every year in Steamboat Springs, CO and miss it so. ( I hear the Marathon is a great one to!)I have skied Colorado, Montana, Canada, Nevada, and California. I will admit in a desperate moment I even skied in North Carolina. So, skiing is in my blood and until today never thought of it as an endurance sport. Most people would disagree I suppose, but I ski different than most. Balls to the walls, full throttle and as long as I can. I remember in British Columbia there is a ski run that is 7 miles long, I would do that as much and as quick as I possibly could. My goal was to get down faster each time, and to not wreck myself doing so. This I guess is endurance, I would like to think so. Jen would comment on why I had to be first on the lift, first on the run and why do we always have to stay till they close the lifts? I guess I was just doing what I was taught, get as much out of the day as you can while there is still daylight!

The part about wrecking myself is something that is always a possibility. I have had my share of yard sales and thought I had broken limbs, but alas no crash was so sever that I had to go to the hospital. Crashes have occurred in such fury that I actually landed off a jump so hard I thought I had lost my arm. A pinched nerve actually caused my arm to press against my body in a fashion where I lost all feeling for 20 minutes. Watches have been lost, skis have left me on the run while they have journeyed down by themselves. Trees have attacked my knees, and bananas in pockets have been exploded and smooshed. Oh man do I love to ski! But man oh man do I love to run trail. The same experiences can be said for hard trail running. Tree limbs threaten to poke your eyes, rocks smash themselves against you in furious running and falling will smoosh what ever is in you water bottle holder. Roots will grab your feet just like the bumps (moguls) will take you out of your boots if you hit them to hard. Trail running and skiing are very similar in my eyes. My concept of most things is a bit skewed though. Come to think of it, skiing all day and signing up for night skiing that same day sounds like a good idea, to me.

Endurance sports can be viewed in many ways, some more extreme than others. Skiing in my opinion has just become another endurance sport today. Maybe not as extreme as running up the mountain like in the Speed Goat 50K, but if you make it hard, skiing can be a helluva challenge.