New Years

On 2pm New Year's Eve day I headed out of the Shark Mountain parking lot with Josh and Alyssa. We were off the the Bryant Hut to meet Jeff and some other friend's who had been doing some backcountry skiing. We were on backcountry skis (which I was less than thrilled about but, my dislike for skiing outweighs my love for my husband). The 2 days of skiing were my workouts for those days although those who know me know I would have much rather been swimming, biking or running (or at least cross country skiing). Anyway, I sucked it up for Jeff as sometimes we have to remember to do things other than triathlon!

The first half of the 14km in flew by as there was quite a bit of downhill. When we reached a map at 7.5km in Josh pointed out the "Half-way Hut" on the map. I looked at my watch and it was 4pm. It said 16km to Assinaboine Pass. I started to panic. Alyssa assured me it was only another 7km but the map said otherwise; I was confused. We went another 3km and stopped for a bathroom break. I was not happy and was really starting to worry. As Josh was off at the bathroom I expressed my concern to Alyssa that we could be in trouble. Then Alyssa explained that the hut Josh pointed to and the hut we were going to were 2 different huts and that she was sure we only had another 4km to go. My mood completely changed. I was so relieved! We got back on the trail and after 2km my wonderful husband and his buddy Brad met us. Jeff took my heavy pack and we finally made it to the hut around 5:45pm.

We ate, drank and chatted until midnight. Most of us watching the clock to see how much longer we had to go. We popped the champagne I had carried in at midnight and then all went to bed. Yes, the boys were fairly tame this New Years. The next morning we had an amazing breakfast of scrambled eggs, toast and coffee before we hit the trail. As soon as I put my boots on though I could feel how sore my shins were from the previous day. We got to the map point again so I knew we only had about 5.5km to go. This is where my shins jumped from a 4 on the pain scale to a 5 on the pain scale. Within 1km more it jumped to a 6 and then a 7 and then an 8. We still had 1km to go. I would so much rather have IT band pain from running or chamois pain from a long bike! This really hurt and it was from a sport I don't love. I got fairly grouchy and knew I would miss my bike or run the next day because of sore shins from those darn ski boots! I winced in pain and had to stop a fair bit over the last km. Alyssa and Shawna were so kind to stay and ski with me and sympathize with my pain.

In any event I made it back to the truck (whew! It was over!). Seriously though my husband appreciates my efforts to do his sports since I am so wrapped up in triathlon all of the time. Training can take many forms so if you need to make the effort to do things with your spouse or significant other, make sure you do that. I saw today and will get a brick in tomorrow. On Sunday Jeff and I will get a cross country ski in which is great training ,and a happy medium for a joint sport for us.

I hope everyone had a great 2008 and is looking forward to a wonderful 2009!