Happy Place

Most of the times I'm out running, hiking, snowshoeing or cross country skiing, I easily get into a rhythm, which allows me to enjoy what I'm doing and quiet my mind, reaching a "happy place," so to speak. Although I love skiing, I definitely struggle more with it as a discipline. Running and hiking are so natural to me. Skiing takes a bit more work and some days I just don't have it. And today, well, it was just one of those days. We headed over to Great Glen around 11am, hitting a lot of mid-morning traffic as well as a few rain and sleet showers on the way. However, by the time we had reached Gorham and stopped for lunch, the skies had cleared and the mountains peeked out from the clouds. Perhaps it was going to be a nice afternoon after all!

We put on our waxless skis and got onto the trails around 2pm. But the snow was bizarre. They had received a foot of snow on Friday/Saturday, so things were soft, but there was a glazed layer on top, presumably from the earlier rain/sleet. My skis just would not kick. And with my struggles, I just couldn't find a rhythm. Getting frustrated, I shouted "I am not in a happy place!" Poor Snowman, now he had to deal with me for the rest of the ski... but we continued to ski through the trail system, as I didn't want to just give up and go in, and we finally managed to hit a good long section where the snow had softened up and I could actually kick and glide. Yes! A happy place at last.... sometimes I guess, you just have to work through it to get there.