More mountain action

For Presidents' Day weekend, we got off Monday! So we went up to Santa Fe for a quick trip. I still can't find a reason not to love Santa Fe, even after visiting the dodgy Sonic where we got panhandled (we were the panhandlees. and we got in really late Friday night and had few choices for dinner. so don't judge).

The main focus of the weekend was skiing, and after a great 3-4" of new snow that fell all day Sunday, Monday was super cold. Does my look remind you of anyone?

 

 I managed to keep all my fingers and toes, thanks to the hot packs my parents gave me for Christmas, knowing my limiter with skiing is the cold. Nobody fell off the chair lift, and J somehow managed to not drop the camera, his poles, gloves, goggles, or anything else (I had a death grip on mine the whole time). That chair lift can take you to some heights, and over areas you do NOT want to go down. I'm not usually scared of falling out of chairs that I'm sitting in. It must have something to do with the heavy skis that are slowly sliding my slickly covered butt toward the edge. We did see some dropped items; the usual poles and gloves along with some unusual mardi gras beads were seen on the way up. Someone also dropped her bra on a tree.

We were sore in lots of new places (like shins), especially after attempting the black slopes, and for me, a few moguls that were bigger than my car. The first time I tried them I spent about half the slope sliding on my butt.

It was good cross training, and we appreciated the warmer temps even more when we got back down to town. I highly recommend taking your mugger with you to Santa Fe. It's beautiful.

Today we did a more true to our sport event: a 5K. It was ugly, even for my lack of speed lately. The first mile was downhill, second uphill, third half and half. I was disappointed to find that the total elevation gain was 160ft. It felt more like 1600ft. I got smoked by one man, but passed Vibram/tights/sleeveless shirt guy early on. The husband closed the gap on me on the uphill, of all places (I'm the short stocky one!), but I solidified my win on the last downhill. Barely. He's gaining on me-- just 14 seconds behind this time. We got 2nd and 3rd OA.  I'm swearing off 5Ks for a while now. They go right into that same category with the marathons: not for me anymore. Except it seems J signed me up for Duathlon Nationals, just a few months away. Better not throw away the racing flats yet.