(2 hrs) Jog over to pick up Crash and Logan's friends Skye and Sadie. Crash gave me a tour of all the new future singletrack- flagged but goes over piles of logs and debris right now. Logan and Sadie went nuts.
3 PM
XC Skiing40:29 [3] 6.23 km (9.2 kph) +72m
Out with Bash and The Dog They Call Bro-dy.
Spectacular afternoon,sunny, crisp and dead calm.
First time I've been able to take the big guy out skijoring. Forgot how much fun it is.
Running race 2:45:13 28.21 km (5:51 / km) +552m5:20 / km ahr:176 max:197 shoes: La Sportiva Crossover GTX
Oracle Trail Race
Bit fresh at -27C and "-44 windchill" but the layers were good and cold wasn't a factor. Beautiful running in brilliant sunny snowy woods.
Hunter led out the lead pack of 6 at a fast pace, and I dropped to the back, but accordioned up to 2nd out of the first aid station as my insulated bottle was good and I didn't have to stop here or AS2. Small nav error by our group had us passed, but I was just behind the new leaders at aid station 2.
I was surprised to see a big pack ahead of me but when I passed MsGally and Nick he said they were misdirected and and he had 3.5k less than me on his GPS. The markings were pretty ambiguous or sparse in places, only flagging tape, no arrows or distances and some volunteers unsure of the course.
I moved into 3rd I was told. At AS 3 I was hoping for a drink but they didn't have cups ready.
Still good until near AS2/4, where a well-meaning marshall directed me back around the South loop and my race-addled brain didn't realize it for 1km. Between that and a missed turn I had 15 min of errors mostly in the last 5k. Passed Ms Gally *again*, and she was looking strong.
Not actually sure how I finished, as it seems almost everyone ran a different course, and sadly I'm not sure all racers or RD knew it.
Kudos to the volunteers though toughing it out in the cold.
Solid run on very nice trails, but ended up pretty dehydrated and was glad I brought my own post-race warm drink. Left leg was tight the whole time.
Note- My insulated bottle was good but only holds 500ml. Carried a spare jacket, mitt covers, ultralight pants and kahtoolas just in case but didn't need any of it. Toe heaters with thinner socks were perfect.
Woo hoo, finally *just* enough snow to ski to work.
The Palgrave Glacier was surprisingly good- the open bits were rock-ski only.
My left leg has been tight for a couple of weeks now, but it felt good with easy classic.
XC Skiing30:00 [3]
Ski home in marginal conditions. AKA 2016 superb conditions.
Met Crash, and AD and Sadie raced and romped around like crazy beasts as Skyerocket was the ref.
Misc
Strength50:00 [3]
Caron's boot camp. She blamed me for the extra-hard pushup option, but also threw in the dreaded split-leg core stuff that had me asking Barrie for the tiara and doing the easier version.