Wacky Weather

Yesterday was the Great Glen Nordic 300. I wasn't planning to race, but Snowman had to be up to work, so I thought I would go up, ski and help out a bit with the race. In the end, Jeff ended up driving up with us yesterday morning, which worked out great. Despite the early hour, everyone was bright and cheery, and conversation spanned from the Paleolithic diet to skiing, running, work, etc. As we went through North Conway, rain began to fall. The temperature was 47. It was windy. Hmmm.... Temps dropped as we got closer to Great Glen but it was still raining and still windy. Not ideal. Then, just as the race was about to start, the rain turned to snow. Still not ideal, but much better!

After the cannon fired, Snowman and I headed out to ski backward on the course, so that Snowman could capture the smiling faces of all the racers as they skied by. I stayed on the course for a ways until Snowman decided to stop and wait for the racers. As I wanted to get in a good hour-long ski, I decided to tour the rest of the system. I haven't been skiing at Great Glen all season, and was happy to be skiing along, enjoying the snow and the woods. There was a light layer of fresh snow atop the groomed trails, and although this meant it was slow going, on my waxless classic skis it was awesome! Nice kick, and no thought of slipping. Perfect. I went up and out on Dugway, one of the black diamond trails which winds along the back of the system. No one was out there. It was just me. Very peaceful.

I made my way back to the race course, and cheered on Jeff as he skated by, as well as the other racers. Everyone was working hard in the soft snow but seemed to be having fun. Or at least as much fun as you can have when you're in your first lap or two of a 5 hour race :-)

I spent the afternoon helping in the timing shack, and was impressed by how everyone did out there! The male winner completed 15 laps, while the woman's winner completed 13. Jeff completed an awesome 10 laps, or 50k. Way to go Jeff :-) We had to hang out and wait for Snowman to finish up a bit of work before we stopped for a yummy dinner and beer at Moat Mountain Smokehouse on the way home. The perfect end to a good day.